Paul Kiernan

Paul Kiernan is a Staff Engineer at Reddit in San Francisco. He enjoys software development, particle physics, cooking, and travel.

What are these squiggles?
This animated background is a simulation of a Bubble Chamber, an instrument that was used to detect electrically charged particles in the earliest days of high-energy particle physics experimentation. The patterns demonstrate properties of natural geometric decay as charged particles move through the magnetic field of the Bubble Chamber. I find them to be a strikingly beautiful natural phenomenon.