A Suitable Job for Me

One of the things that attracted me to IU was that, even though I'm a philosopher of science, I like being in the same department as historians of science (I'm looking forward to the history of science class I'll be taking next semester). But back when I left school I wanted nothing more than to be a scientist so I went to UNSW to study chemistry (I continued to like it well enough to work as a chemist for a while between undergrad and starting grad school here).

Now the two loves are coming together as the head of the department, Prof. Bill Newman, has hired me to help him reconstruct Newton's alchemical experiments! Today I had a look around the lab and bought some chemicals for the next experiment. (No, we're not aiming for the Philosopher's Stone just yet. But the Bloomington campus does look a lot like Hogwarts!)

The project looks like a lot of fun. Some of it is just writing experiments for teaching purposes, to provide some history along with the chemistry. But there is a lot in Newton's notes that really can't be understood because he used mystical language. It's hoped that some of his terms can be deciphered by examining what it was he saw, so I will also be trying to reverse-engineer those experiments.

My visa only allows me to work on campus so this really is perfect for me. Also, I'll finally be elegible for a Social Security Number, without which life in Indiana can be very difficult.