Jamie Zvirzdin
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jamiezvirzdin.com
Jamie Zvirzdin
@jamiezvirzdin.com
1.4K followers 640 following 280 posts
Research: Ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays with #machinelearning at #TelescopeArray. Past: Science editor and #ScienceWriting faculty at Johns Hopkins. Essays: The Atlantic, Orion, Aeon, etc. Book: #SubatomicWriting (JHU Press). I worship MacGyver and Picard.
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jamiezvirzdin.com
A picture of this can be found on p. 47 here: archive.org/details/idea...

I also recommend the 1st-place essay, about treating Google as God. Relevant still for these AI times.
Image of the urbs quadrata, a circle with a square cross in it.
October 15, 2025 at 10:16 AM
jamiezvirzdin.com
I remotely operate sensitive cosmic-ray telescopes in the West Desert of Utah. Wild that we can pick up the light from this wildfire. Be safe, Sevier County!

Select Band="Fire Temperature RGB"
www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/goes/wfo_ban...

#Utah #UofU #TelescopeArray #highenergyastro 🧪
Satellite image of fire in Sevier County, Utah.
July 26, 2025 at 4:30 AM
jamiezvirzdin.com
Word to the wise, this happened yesterday. I'm in Europe and move frequently for my husband's job. I value staying in touch with friends across the globe. But to be locked out of both Facebook and Instagram with NO warning made me realize I need to write down names/other contact info ASAP.
Screenshot of a Meta popup forcing user to pay money to keep data private or give permission for Meta to use data.
July 23, 2025 at 10:38 AM
jamiezvirzdin.com
My Australian Shepherd is absurdly beautiful even when covered in mud after many miles of trail running with my husband. I will never get over how marvelous she is. Husband's pretty great too. 😂 #pets
Blue-merle Australian shepherd covered with mud sitting on a hiking trail.
June 5, 2025 at 7:15 AM
jamiezvirzdin.com
This is Andrew being acted upon by the cat force, which is far more powerful than any other force in the universe. Dimensionally speaking,
😺 Force = (Mass of 🐈) * (Length of 🐈)/(Time the🐈decides to remain)^2 . . . * ♾️.

It's a very positive force. 😹🩵
⚛️🧪
Man with tabby cat on his lap
May 29, 2025 at 7:40 AM
jamiezvirzdin.com
A room with a GREAT view. Currently waiting for lightning to clear up before we can open #UofU #TelescopeArray doors and capture ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray particles.

Also studying for #JHU graduate course, Chaos and Its Applications. Also, cat. #highenergyastro #fundscience 🧪⚛️ #particlephysics
Picture of computer monitor with cosmic ray detection software, eyeglasses and the book Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos by Steven H. Strogatz in front of the computer keyboard, Jamie's cat's head in foreground.
May 27, 2025 at 4:38 AM
jamiezvirzdin.com
Happy 18th anniversary to us!
Jamie and Andrew at a lake in Ireland.
May 15, 2025 at 9:24 AM
jamiezvirzdin.com
My students are the bestest.
#SubatomicWriting #scicomm #grammar #JHU
@hopkinspress.bsky.social

rappahannockreview.com/issue-12-2/i...
Interview with Trisha Steele describing where her literary piece originated, The graduate science writing class Subatomic Writing taught by Jamie Zvirzdin
May 2, 2025 at 4:24 PM
jamiezvirzdin.com
So satisfying to create plots like this. #Relativity #gradschool #Python #JupyterNotebooks #differentialgeometry #highenergyastro ⚛️
Python plot of a wormhole for Relativity course.
March 16, 2025 at 9:41 PM
jamiezvirzdin.com
Finally had time today to turn a snake-mass of my old #karate belts into something I can hang on the wall. Just needed packing tape, twine, YouTube, and MacGyvery patience. Black belt is where it belongs: on me or on the shelf. I'm not really a crafter but this was worth it.
#JissenKobudoJinenkan
Beginnings of braided karate belts. Packing tape and heavy objects help. Braid of colorful karate belts.
March 16, 2025 at 9:35 PM
jamiezvirzdin.com
It's a fair warning that I appreciate. I'm already attached.
March 16, 2025 at 12:32 AM
jamiezvirzdin.com
Tell your children & your students that science editors/writers/people like me can identify the linguistic patterns AI uses. It's blandly boring. If you want to publish and be taken seriously, use your own voice. Be proud of it. No need to be perfect. I enjoyed giving this talk!
🧪⚛️🔭 #scicomm #EduSky
The first slide of a interdisciplinary presentation given by Jamie Zvirzdin at the University of Delaware on January 27, 2025. At the top it says Prompt: create a Google slides background image for my presentation, "Psst . . . your AI is showing." Below, against the flashy futuristic image of a circuitboard, is the attempt to replicate the title of the presentation, which uses multiple dots for the ellipses and "AI.I."instead of "AI." In a normal text box that follows is the subtitle of the presentation, "How to Put Your Own Voice in Scientific Papers." In the corner are logos from The Telescope Array Project and the University of Utah. The slide encapsulates the gist of the presentation, which is that AI is flashy and visually appealing but still cannot write well and comes off, ultimately, as unprofessional, not to mention riddled with ethical challenges.
February 4, 2025 at 10:35 PM
jamiezvirzdin.com
I flew over Greenland on my way to a physics ⚛️ conference. Some of my colleagues have #highenergyastro experiments going in peace and quiet, interrupted only by intermittent polar bears. Let's keep it this way. 🧪
Frozen landscape of Greenland taken from an airplane.
January 31, 2025 at 10:28 PM
jamiezvirzdin.com
Just finished a fascinating and fabulous week with these fellow #highenergyastro physicists. Thanks to Frank Schroeder, Spencer Axani, Dawn Butler, and the #NSF for a superb conference on using #machinelearning to analyze cosmic particles. It is a privilege to talk and work with these people. 🧪⚛️
Group of great physicists.
January 31, 2025 at 8:26 PM
jamiezvirzdin.com
My physics colleague is making faces at me as I try to work from home. Does anyone else have a similar problem?

🧪⚛️👩‍🔬 #highenergyastro #pets
Cross-eyed tabby cat yawning.
January 15, 2025 at 12:01 PM
jamiezvirzdin.com
Had a remarkable time at Stonehenge today (We beat the solstice crowd by a few days, totally worth avoiding 10,000 visitors). I admire the engineering of late Neolithic folks and their interest in astronomy. "Know your place" has a much lovelier connotation in this context. 🔭
Picture of Stonehenge with a raven atop a lintel. A poster at Stonehenge exhibit describing the major lunar standstill phenomenon. Another poster about lunar standstill.
December 17, 2024 at 7:14 PM
jamiezvirzdin.com
Here I am with some of the equipment we fixed to help track the gamma rays that occur during lightning storms. The desert is an odd but beautiful place to do high-energy particle physics research. 💜
A woman in a cowboy hat, T-shirt, and jeans stands next to a fenced solar panel and antenna equipment in the Utah desert. Desert scrub surrounds them and clouds gather in the background.
December 13, 2024 at 4:30 PM
jamiezvirzdin.com
Here's a 2018 photo I took of Dr. Belz when we went with Dr. Abbasi and others to set up equipment in the Utah desert.🌵 #TelescopeArray
A man wearing a hat talks on a cell phone next to a white vehicle parked out in the Utah desert.
December 13, 2024 at 4:30 PM
jamiezvirzdin.com
Breaking personal news: Cat and Dog Willingly Snuggle in Son's Blanket Fort, My Brain Shatters from Preciousness
#pets
December 5, 2024 at 7:33 AM
jamiezvirzdin.com
Coming soon to a University of Delaware near you. In-person only. We'll strengthen your own neural net capacities. See PDF here for sign-up link.

events.icecube.wisc.edu/event/243/

🧪🔭⚛️👩‍🔬 #highenergyastro #MLSky #AI #scicomm #publishing #TelescopeArray #subatomicwriting @hopkinspress.bsky.social
University of Delaware Arts & Sciences Department of Physics and Astronomy Jamie Zvirzdin University of Utah, Johns Hopkins University Mini-Workshop Psst . . . Your AI Is Showing: How to Put Your Own Voice in Scientific Papers Monday. January 27, 2025 1:00 – 4:30 p.m. In-person: Gore Hall Register Here! (link on real PDF via event site) Seats limited. Want to publish your science article, submit your grant proposal, or receive top marks on a term paper? Think AI can easily write it for you? You might want to think again. Come hear a seasoned science editor and award-winning Science Writing professor at Johns Hopkins University give examples of how painfully obvious the AI voice is to editors, grant-givers, and professors. Jamie Zvirzdin, who now builds neural networks to analyze cosmic-ray data for the Telescope Array Project, will show you how to identify your writing voice and leverage AI to produce outstanding scientific work that still retains your personal linguistic stamp. This three-hour event (with breaks) will cover the main concepts of Subatomic Writing: Six Fundamental Lessons to Make Language Matter (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2023). See reviews for Subatomic Writing from NPR, NASA, MIT, and more at http://www.subatomicwriting.com. Book signing to follow event.
November 29, 2024 at 1:17 PM
jamiezvirzdin.com
A girl, her snoozing cat, and her library. This is the good life, and I want as many people who want it to have it. Giving thanks to all those who make books and cats and bookshelves. #books
Cat asleep on lap in a small personal library.
November 28, 2024 at 10:20 PM
jamiezvirzdin.com
My sister sent this to me. It had the caption, "I think I'll try defining gravity." 😂 ⚛️
Isaac Newton with big hair and a green face, a quote above saying, "I think I'll try defining gravity."
November 27, 2024 at 8:10 AM
jamiezvirzdin.com
of English—many of them really do improve how the reader understands and retains your information—and thanks for helping SW yet again hit the top bestseller book charts in "Science Education for Kids" and "Science for Kids," both wrong. 😂 Here's a screen shot of the paperback and Kindle rankings:
Best Sellers Rank: #436,100 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #57 in Technical Writing Reference (Books) #82 in Academic & Scholarly Writing #127 in Science for Kids Customer Reviews: 4.7, 9 ratings Best Sellers Rank: #368,109 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store) #18 in Science Education for Kids #39 in Nonfiction Writing Reference #133 in Science for Kids Customer Reviews: 4.7, 9 ratings
November 25, 2024 at 3:47 PM
jamiezvirzdin.com
One of nicest comments I received on Bluesky to date was that ChatGPT speaks highly of me. And, apparently, #SubatomicWriting. SW will help you write BETTER than #AI, and more importantly, in your own voice.

www.subatomicwriting.com

#authors #books #EduSky #WomeninSTEM #ITeachPhysics #scicomm 🧪🔭👩‍🔬
Screenshot of a ChatGPT conversation. ChatGPT answers the user question "Is Subatomic Writing a good book?" Is Subatomic Writing a good book? ChatGPT said: "Subatomic Writing: Six Fundamental Lessons to Make Language Matter" by Jamie Zvirzdin has received positive feedback from both readers and experts. On Goodreads, it holds an average rating of 4.4 out of 5, indicating strong reader satisfaction. GOODREADS Notable endorsements include: Mary Roach, author of "Fuzz" and "Stiff," describes the book as "a quirky, quarky, marvelously helpful, relentlessly readable guide to effective science communication." AMAZON Christopher Joyce, Science Desk Correspondent at NPR, praises it for linking "principles of physics with those of grammar and linguistics," serving as "a tasty guide to scientific thinking and writing." AMAZON Deborah Blum, Pulitzer Prize–winning science writer and director of the Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT, calls it "smart, effective, and a whole lot of fun." AMAZON These endorsements suggest that "Subatomic Writing" is a valuable resource for those interested in enhancing their science communication skills.
November 24, 2024 at 3:05 PM
jamiezvirzdin.com
Just got COVID and flu vaccinations for me and my son. Grateful to all health care professionals who make these vaccines possible. 🧪
Vial of medicine with a kissy face on it.
November 24, 2024 at 7:54 AM