Happy Bloomsday and the origins of quark

This article just appeared on NPR's Science Friday.

The Quark’s Literary Origins

James Joyce in Paris. By Patrick Tuohy

Happy Bloomsday! Each year on June 16, literary geeks worldwide honor the life and work of Irish writer James Joyce (Ulysses, Finnegans Wake, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man).

In celebration, artist and writer Jonathon Keats shares his essay on the naming of the quark — a name inspired, in part, by Finnegans Wake. The essay is from Keats’ gem-filled book, Virtual Words: Language on the Edge of Science and Technology. You can listen to our 2010 interview with him on scientific etymologies here.

Read the essay here.