Stephan Matthiesen

Work - Interests - Hobbys - Information

Pongo and Mouse and the leaves on the path

"There are awfully many leaves on the path in Craigmillar Castle Park", said Mouse.

Mouse (a soft toy mouse) looking at leaves on a path

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A short history of temperature measurements and temperature scales

Today, temperature seems a straightforward idea that is easy to measure. But like all scientific concepts that are tought in schools, it has not always been so obvious. Thousands of years, many careful and dedicated researchers and knowledge exchange across times and cultures were necessary before we began to understand what actually lies behind the feeling of warm and cold.

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Model forecast evaluation - Poster at EGU 2013

A poster summarising the ongoing work on characterising the model errors of plume forcasts during the BORTAS project. The poster was presented on 10 April 2013 at the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union in our session on "Impacts of boreal wildfires on tropospheric Ozone" (for more details on the session, see also the outline of our sessions in English or German).

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The surface temperatures of Earth - Presentation at EGU 2013

This presentation "The Surface Temperatures of the Earth: Steps towards Integrated Understanding of Variability and Change" introduces the oral part of the session on "Taking the temperature of the Earth" at the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union in Vienna. It summarises the recommendations that we developed in the EarthTemp Network for improving our understanding of Earth's surface temperatures. The talk was presented on 9 April 2013 at 10:30 (see also the outline of our sessions in English and German).

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Patterns in Nature (OLL Jan-Mar 2013)

Ten evening sessions on the mechanisms of pattern formation in Nature, running from January to March 2013 as part of the open studies programme at Edinburgh University.

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An e-book reader as a mobile research library?

Is an e-book reader a suitable tool for carrying your research library with you? Like most scientists, I have a large collection of research papers (as PDF files) and want to have them with me, so that can read when I'm on the bus, in a café, waiting for a lecture to start, or in the evening in bed. At conferences or meetings, I often want to look up details or show a figure to a colleague. Here are my experiences using an e-book reader: in short, it didn't work. Instead, an inexpensive tablet computer is a better choice.

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Climate and human history (OLL Jan-Mar 2012)

The Open Studies course "Climate and Human History" at the Office for Lifelong Learning, the University of Edinburgh, looks at the impact of climate and climatic variations on certain periods of world history. It runs for 10 afternoons from 19 January 2012, each week on Thursdays at 2pm-4pm.

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Patterns in Nature (OLL Jan-Mar 2011)

Ten morning sessions on the mechanisms of pattern formation in Nature, running form January to March 2011 as part of the open studies programme at Edinburgh University.

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Climate and human history (OLL Jan-Mar 2010)

The Open Studies course "Climate and Human History" at the Office for Lifelong Learning, the University of Edinburgh, looks at the impact of climate and climatic variations on certain periods of world history. It runs for 10 afternoons from 12 January 2010, each week on Tuesday at 2pm-4pm.

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Were the Mausoleum and funeral of Augustus designed and manipulated for political reasons?

The Mausoleum of Augustus, which was built in 28 BC, was one of the major buildings erected by Augustus Octavian. Given that Octavian was a shrewd politician, who was able to play the power games of his time very successfully, one would expect that he designed his Mausoleum not only because he needed a decent family tomb, but that the building also served a political purpose.

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