Friday, January 20

Something fun, as Valentines approaches:

Celebrate your love for chocolate at Taste: Chocolate at Monticello with a full day of chocolate-themed events. Learn how chocolate was a favorite of Jefferson's and how it was prepared and served at Monticello. Enjoy a chocolate-making demonstration and savor several pairings of chocolate and Virginia wines.

Saturday, January 21

Scientists' greatest pleasure comes from theories that derive the solution to some deep puzzle from a small set of simple principles in a surprising way.  These explanations are called "beautiful" or "elegant".

Historical examples are Kepler's explanation of complex planetary motions as simple ellipses, Bohr's explanation of the periodic table of the elements in terms of electron shells, and Watson and Crick's double helix.

Einstein famously said that he did not need experimental confirmation of his general theory of relativity because it "was so beautiful it had to be true."