Herring Brain Box

Abstract

This bonkler head asset is a cartoon image of the briefcase of cards (Zettelkasten) maintained and curated by Conyers Herring. The list of cards is a carefully curated list of references to the scientific literature containing many of the highest quality proofs, experiments, and scientific arguments underlying the many subject areas of physics.

Conyers Herring

Conyers Herring was the founder of the theory division of Bell Labs during it's period of greatest productivity in basic science.

He was one of the leading theorists of condensed matter physics (then called solid-state physics). He made many research contributions, but a major theme was to develop and exploit the idea of band structure. That is that in a solid when atoms are arranged in a periodic lattice, the quantum wavefunction of the electrons in the solid must have the same periodic symmetry as the crystal lattice. This has massive consequences, and largely explains whether materials are metals of insulators, how heat and charge are transported in metals, etc. More advanced work from Herring analyzed the topological properties of electronic wavefunctions in solids and how they are derived from the electronic states of the free atoms.

Zettelkasten

The Herring Brain box is one of the greatest Zettelkasten of all time. It represents an encyclopedia written by a single person, fully biased toward that individual's exquisite taste.