Carl Willis
@carlwillis.bsky.social
I am Professor of Practice on the Nuclear Engineering faculty at the University of New Mexico, where I teach classes and supervise the AGN-201M nuclear reactor.
I'm a husband, and stepfather to three wonderful kids.
🚫MAGA 🚫bots 🚫scams
Opinions my own.
I'm a husband, and stepfather to three wonderful kids.
🚫MAGA 🚫bots 🚫scams
Opinions my own.
Pinned
Carl Willis
@carlwillis.bsky.social
· Jan 20
Introducing the #HobbyNuke feed, a way to keep up with the amateur / avocational / student nuclear physics community on BlueSky--focusing on experiments, demos, projects, & gear (toys). To submit posts to the feed, tag posts with #HobbyNuke or ☢️fun (I will add you to the approved list). #NukeSky
Taylor Wilson and Chloe graced us with a visit at the UNM nuclear reactor. He's now working on the frontiers of radiobiology (among other things).
January 8, 2026 at 9:33 PM
Taylor Wilson and Chloe graced us with a visit at the UNM nuclear reactor. He's now working on the frontiers of radiobiology (among other things).
A trip to visit Dr. Tim Koeth, @univofmaryland.bsky.social. I got a couple of my nuclear engineering summer campers and a current UNM NE student in to see the UMD nuclear reactor at power...and Tim's cyclotron, making neutrons!
January 4, 2026 at 11:30 PM
A trip to visit Dr. Tim Koeth, @univofmaryland.bsky.social. I got a couple of my nuclear engineering summer campers and a current UNM NE student in to see the UMD nuclear reactor at power...and Tim's cyclotron, making neutrons!
Another December highlight: 12-year-old Aidan McMillan's hobby Farnsworth fusor in Dallas, producing around 150000 neutrons / second from deuterium fusion, built over three years of effort. He has great mentorship, especially regarding safety, which is obviously important for kids. #HobbyNuke
January 4, 2026 at 11:10 PM
Another December highlight: 12-year-old Aidan McMillan's hobby Farnsworth fusor in Dallas, producing around 150000 neutrons / second from deuterium fusion, built over three years of effort. He has great mentorship, especially regarding safety, which is obviously important for kids. #HobbyNuke
A solstice celebration in Butcher's Hill, #Baltimore was a highlight of my holidays, something I found refreshingly original. The crankie theater featuring Ravioli and Dorito is the work of @marthasi.bsky.social.
January 4, 2026 at 10:52 PM
A solstice celebration in Butcher's Hill, #Baltimore was a highlight of my holidays, something I found refreshingly original. The crankie theater featuring Ravioli and Dorito is the work of @marthasi.bsky.social.
WaPo wants my subscription dollars back. But as long as this is a Jeff Bezos-owned rag, they have no hope of "holding power to account" and no chance of getting me to subscribe again. Laughable.
August 11, 2025 at 12:00 AM
WaPo wants my subscription dollars back. But as long as this is a Jeff Bezos-owned rag, they have no hope of "holding power to account" and no chance of getting me to subscribe again. Laughable.
Reposted by Carl Willis
Nobel prize winner George Akerlof (my former colleague) on the firing of statistics officials:
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/o...
Opinion | What to Do When the President Acts Like a Five-Year-Old?
www.nytimes.com
August 3, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Nobel prize winner George Akerlof (my former colleague) on the firing of statistics officials:
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/o...
☢️fun gamma ray spectrum of the day: photonuclear activation from a 15-MV cancer therapy accelerator. As part of our summer camp, we ran 5000 MU (5 kGy in water, basically) with an HPGe detector in the vault. Some of the observed nuclides are formed in the detector itself, some in the linac head.
August 2, 2025 at 4:52 AM
☢️fun gamma ray spectrum of the day: photonuclear activation from a 15-MV cancer therapy accelerator. As part of our summer camp, we ran 5000 MU (5 kGy in water, basically) with an HPGe detector in the vault. Some of the observed nuclides are formed in the detector itself, some in the linac head.
"Experience Nuclear Engineering 2025"--a pilot one-week residential summer camp for high-schoolers--concluded at #UNM this past weekend. I had a lot of fun planning all the hands-on components, including #nuclear reactor operations, and made a lot of new friends! ☢️fun #NukeSky
July 30, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Albuquerque rose to the occasion today to send a message of resistance against the lawless Trump regime and its sycophants. I saw a lot of enthusiasm and homemade signs.
June 15, 2025 at 1:46 AM
Albuquerque rose to the occasion today to send a message of resistance against the lawless Trump regime and its sycophants. I saw a lot of enthusiasm and homemade signs.
The UNM NE Department is hosting a FREE residential summer camp July 20-26 for HS students. See link in attached flyer for details. #Nuclear #Engineering @unm.edu @unmengineering.bsky.social #NukeSky ☢️fun
May 16, 2025 at 9:22 PM
The UNM NE Department is hosting a FREE residential summer camp July 20-26 for HS students. See link in attached flyer for details. #Nuclear #Engineering @unm.edu @unmengineering.bsky.social #NukeSky ☢️fun
#UNM Nuclear Engineering is hosting a residential, hands-on summer camp for HS students, July 20-26. It's FREE to attend--and should be a lot of fun. I'm director. Spread the word & register here: experiencenuclearengineering.totalcamps.com/About%20Us
Questions? Let me know!
#NukeSky ☢️fun
Questions? Let me know!
#NukeSky ☢️fun
experiencenuclearengineering.totalcamps.com
May 15, 2025 at 7:49 PM
#UNM Nuclear Engineering is hosting a residential, hands-on summer camp for HS students, July 20-26. It's FREE to attend--and should be a lot of fun. I'm director. Spread the word & register here: experiencenuclearengineering.totalcamps.com/About%20Us
Questions? Let me know!
#NukeSky ☢️fun
Questions? Let me know!
#NukeSky ☢️fun
The Mind Research Network (www.mrn.org) on UNM North Campus uses a nice 3-tesla MRI for research. If you're in #Albuquerque, sign up for a study, contribute to important research, get cool images & corporeally experience Faraday's Law. T1- and T2-weighted examples of my own dome attached.
May 15, 2025 at 7:41 PM
The Mind Research Network (www.mrn.org) on UNM North Campus uses a nice 3-tesla MRI for research. If you're in #Albuquerque, sign up for a study, contribute to important research, get cool images & corporeally experience Faraday's Law. T1- and T2-weighted examples of my own dome attached.
Reposted by Carl Willis
Gingersnap is home and ready to #chonk out after getting treated for hyperthyroidism with iodine-131. His head reads about 10 mR/h at 10 cm. Not great, not terrible, as they say. ☢️fun
April 19, 2025 at 6:30 AM
Gingersnap is home and ready to #chonk out after getting treated for hyperthyroidism with iodine-131. His head reads about 10 mR/h at 10 cm. Not great, not terrible, as they say. ☢️fun
F-18 is widely used in medical PET imaging. I ran a gamma spec on a discarded F-18 vial (F-18 all decayed away, no activity measurable on a Geiger counter), and the traces of radioactive Re, Co, Cr, and Tc point to a variety of proton reactions on W, Fe, and Mo in the cyclotron target! ☢️fun
April 13, 2025 at 10:35 PM
F-18 is widely used in medical PET imaging. I ran a gamma spec on a discarded F-18 vial (F-18 all decayed away, no activity measurable on a Geiger counter), and the traces of radioactive Re, Co, Cr, and Tc point to a variety of proton reactions on W, Fe, and Mo in the cyclotron target! ☢️fun
It's wages-of-sin-are-death Wednesday out on Central Avenue. I was invited to "get up with Jesus on the cross today," which I politely declined.
March 5, 2025 at 8:39 PM
It's wages-of-sin-are-death Wednesday out on Central Avenue. I was invited to "get up with Jesus on the cross today," which I politely declined.
Jeff #Bezos is a disgrace--an enshittifying force in US civics and the marketplace, along with fellow dissipated plutocrats / trumpanzees Musk & Zuckerberg. Accordingly, I've decided to unsubscribe from his rag (WaPo) and his junk emporium (Amazon Prime). Feeling better already.
February 27, 2025 at 5:25 AM
Jeff #Bezos is a disgrace--an enshittifying force in US civics and the marketplace, along with fellow dissipated plutocrats / trumpanzees Musk & Zuckerberg. Accordingly, I've decided to unsubscribe from his rag (WaPo) and his junk emporium (Amazon Prime). Feeling better already.
In "honor" of the appointment of RFK Jr. as Secretary of Health, I made a short video that looks at the kinds of radioactive products that flourish in the alt health and wellness ecosystem of a society struggling with declining information literacy. #NukeSky ☢️fun www.youtube.com/shorts/S4Qjz...
Contemporary radioactive quackery
YouTube video by Carl Willis
www.youtube.com
February 14, 2025 at 9:04 PM
In "honor" of the appointment of RFK Jr. as Secretary of Health, I made a short video that looks at the kinds of radioactive products that flourish in the alt health and wellness ecosystem of a society struggling with declining information literacy. #NukeSky ☢️fun www.youtube.com/shorts/S4Qjz...
For sale: Polimaster PM1703GN PRD. Working fine (both gamma & neutron response). This device uses both CsI and LiI scintillator modules and reads in roentgen units for gamma and counts/sec for neutrons. Has data logging abilities. $200 OBO. #HobbyNuke
February 5, 2025 at 10:30 PM
For sale: Polimaster PM1703GN PRD. Working fine (both gamma & neutron response). This device uses both CsI and LiI scintillator modules and reads in roentgen units for gamma and counts/sec for neutrons. Has data logging abilities. $200 OBO. #HobbyNuke
For sale: Exploranium GR-100 PRD, working fine but heavily used, with scratches on the screen! The GR-100 is the gamma-only version of this detector (though it has a neutron indicator lamp). It's a little CsI scintillator with dosimetric readout and data logging. $150 OBO. #HobbyNuke
February 5, 2025 at 10:26 PM
For sale: Exploranium GR-100 PRD, working fine but heavily used, with scratches on the screen! The GR-100 is the gamma-only version of this detector (though it has a neutron indicator lamp). It's a little CsI scintillator with dosimetric readout and data logging. $150 OBO. #HobbyNuke
He's a big trump donor & climate denier. Like any of this cabinet, I'd wait to offer congratulations publicly unless & until he demonstrates an ability to be reasonable and not corrupt in office! Perry didn't know what DOE did 😂, but merits an attaboy (I suppose) for not being flagrantly corrupt.
The American Nuclear Society congratulates Chris Wright on his confirmation as the 17th U.S. Secretary of #Energy. America's #nuclear professionals stand ready to help make nuclear technology a key contributor to U.S. energy abundance and economic prosperity. www.ans.org/news/2025-02...
American Nuclear Society welcomes Senate confirmation of Chris Wright as U.S. Secretary of Energy
www.ans.org
February 4, 2025 at 3:16 AM
He's a big trump donor & climate denier. Like any of this cabinet, I'd wait to offer congratulations publicly unless & until he demonstrates an ability to be reasonable and not corrupt in office! Perry didn't know what DOE did 😂, but merits an attaboy (I suppose) for not being flagrantly corrupt.
Reposted by Carl Willis
Using Pu-242 has resulted in some of the best colors I’ve ever seen as a chemist. 🤩
@realtimechem.bsky.social @berkeleylab.lbl.gov
#plutonium #realtimechem #fblockrocks #radiochemistry
@realtimechem.bsky.social @berkeleylab.lbl.gov
#plutonium #realtimechem #fblockrocks #radiochemistry
February 2, 2025 at 4:09 AM
Using Pu-242 has resulted in some of the best colors I’ve ever seen as a chemist. 🤩
@realtimechem.bsky.social @berkeleylab.lbl.gov
#plutonium #realtimechem #fblockrocks #radiochemistry
@realtimechem.bsky.social @berkeleylab.lbl.gov
#plutonium #realtimechem #fblockrocks #radiochemistry
Reposted by Carl Willis
The New York Times is so blatantly in the tank for Trump.
Calling Canada and Mexico "recalcitrant" is just beyond the pale. It's straight up propaganda.
Calling Canada and Mexico "recalcitrant" is just beyond the pale. It's straight up propaganda.
February 2, 2025 at 1:46 PM
The New York Times is so blatantly in the tank for Trump.
Calling Canada and Mexico "recalcitrant" is just beyond the pale. It's straight up propaganda.
Calling Canada and Mexico "recalcitrant" is just beyond the pale. It's straight up propaganda.
Reposted by Carl Willis
Several conversations today w people in the key executive departments. And while the particulars are hard to pin down my impression is that the Musk take over stuff is considerably worse than is being presented in the press. By this I don’t necessarily things they *done* yet but the level of …
February 2, 2025 at 5:09 AM
Several conversations today w people in the key executive departments. And while the particulars are hard to pin down my impression is that the Musk take over stuff is considerably worse than is being presented in the press. By this I don’t necessarily things they *done* yet but the level of …