Physicist, Director for the @aboakademi graduate school.

Åbo, Finland
Joined April 2015
Ronald Österbacka retweeted
Replying to @elonmusk
@elonmusk Elon, I want to tell you something as a Ukrainian. For years, many people in Ukraine admired and respected you. I was one of them. I personally saw you as a technological genius, a visionary, someone who was building the future while others were still living in the past. And that is exactly why your growing hostility toward Ukraine is so difficult for me to understand. Ukraine is not a perfect country. We have corruption, political failures, and many problems. Nobody denies that. But tell me, which country is perfect? Ukraine is also a country of incredibly talented engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, developers, artists, and ordinary hardworking people. We build world-class technology, innovate under impossible conditions, value education, and have repeatedly shown the world what courage, resilience, and human dignity look like. We are a country that voluntarily gave up the world's third-largest nuclear arsenal in exchange for security assurances. We are a nation that stood up in 2014, during the Revolution of Dignity, because we refused to live under authoritarianism and Russian domination. We wanted freedom, democracy, and the right to choose our own future. And today, we are fighting for that same freedom. Every day, Ukrainian civilians are killed by Russian missiles, drones, and bombs. Children lose their parents. Parents bury their children. Entire cities are destroyed. Millions of lives have been shattered. These people are not dying because of Zelenskyy. They are not dying because of Ukrainian corruption. They are dying because Putin chose to invade another sovereign nation and continues to wage a war against its people, cities, culture, and identity. Yes, corruption must be fought. Yes, every dollar of international aid must be accounted for. Ukrainians themselves deserve transparency and justice more than anyone. But corruption does not justify invasion. Political failures do not justify bombing children. And no amount of criticism of Ukraine changes who crossed the border with an invading army. You seem to believe that giving up Donbas and Luhansk could bring peace. But why should we believe Putin would stop there? He already violated Ukraine's sovereignty after promising to respect it. He took Crimea in 2014. He fueled war in Donbas. And in 2022, he launched a full-scale invasion. What makes you think another territorial concession would finally satisfy him? History has shown us what happens when democracies believe they can secure lasting peace by rewarding an aggressor with someone else's land. We have seen this before, in Europe, in the years leading up to World War II. Peace built on surrender to a dictator is not necessarily peace. Sometimes it is simply an invitation to the next war. Elon, you are a man who talks about the future of humanity, about making civilization better, about taking humanity to Mars. But what kind of future are we building if we accept that powerful dictators can erase smaller nations simply because they have more weapons? Ukraine is not asking the world to pretend we are perfect. We are asking the world to recognize that we have the same right to exist, to be free, and to determine our future as Americans do. And one more thing: Ukrainians have never been your enemies. Many of us admired you, believed in your vision, and appreciated what Starlink made possible during the darkest days of this war. That is why your words hurt more than you might realize. You have enormous influence. Your voice can shape how millions of people understand this war. I still want to believe that the man who dreams of advancing humanity can recognize the humanity of people fighting simply to survive. It is not too late to stand on the right side of history. Not on Zelenskyy's side. Not on any politician's side. On the side of freedom. On the side of human life. On the side of a nation's right to exist. That is all we are asking for. 🇺🇦
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Ronald Österbacka retweeted
Navier-Stokes Millennium saga continues. Here are my slides and a summary from a recent talk. Disclaimer: this is a physicists view of the problem & solution! 🧵
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Ronald Österbacka retweeted
3-dimensional flows are almost the same, except there is an extra term...
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Ronald Österbacka retweeted
On siis taas tämä aika vuodesta, kun somen tylsämielisten osasto naureskelee humanististen tieteiden tutkimusaiheille. Nyt sitten ministerikin on lähtenyt mukaan. Muutama asia. 1. Kynsistudiot ja kynsien hoito ovat mitä sopivimpia tutkimusaiheita. Kysymyksessä on merkittävä ja kiinnostava yhteiskunnallinen ja taloudellinen ilmiö. Miljoonat ihmiset käyttävät siihen miljardeja vuodessa. Kynsiin liittyy erilaisia kulttuurisia merkityksiä, joiden tutkimus voi tuottaa vaikka millaisia kiinnostavia tuloksia. Tämä voi tietenkin jäädä havaitsematta henkilöltä, joka jakaa asiat tärkeisiin, hienoihin ja miehekkäisiin kuten Wagneriin ja naurettaviin, arkisiin ja tyttöjen juttuihin kuten kynsiin. Tuollainen asenne on kuitenkin täysin vieras tutkimukselle, kuten tietenkin myös maailmasta kiinnostuneille ihmisille yleensä. 2. Kiinnostava aihe ei toki takaa, että itse tutkimus oli kiinnostava tai tärkeä tai mitenkään erityisen hyvä. Tietämättä millaisia menetelmiä, millaista aineistoa, millaista tutkimusasetelmaa tutkija hyödyntää ja näkemättä lopputulosta tätä on mahdotonta sanoa. Mutta tietenkään ministeri kuten muutkaan lällättäjät eivät ole arvioineet näitä asioita eikä heillä ole tällaisen arvion tekemiseen minkäänlaista asiantuntemustakaan. 3. Humanistisissa ja yhteiskuntatieteissä tehdään paljon huonoa tutkimusta – kuten muissakin tieteissä. Olen sielultani läpikotaisin kvantitatiiviseen tutkimukseen suuntautunut ekonometrikko, enkä ole muodikkaan älyllisesti steriilin postmodernin filosofeerauksen ystävä. Olen uhrannut aika suuren osan elämästäni huonojen tutkimusten ruotimiseen. Monta elämän ainutkertaista hetkeä on mennyt enemmän tai vähemmän hyödyllisissä metodologisissa väittelyissä humanistien ja sosiologien kanssa. Tämä ankara asenteeni ei mitenkään estä havaitsemasta, että on paljon hyvää ja ihmiskunnan viisautta lisäävää humanistista tutkimusta – tämä voi olla sellaista tai olla olematta. Kuten sanottua, tiivistelmän perusteella asiaa ei voi arvioida. 4. Yliopistoissa ja tutkimuksessa on paljon parannettavaa. Rahoitusjärjestelmiä pitää kehittää. Julkisella rahalla tehtävän tutkimuksen on kestettävä kritiikkiä ja pystyttävä perustelemaan olemassaolonsa veronmaksajille. Tutkijoiden asenteessa on tässä suhteessa korjattavaa. On kuitenkin aika tylsä juttu, että meillä on humanistiseen tutkimukseen naureskellen suhtautuva ja tutkimuksen vapauden lainausmerkkeihin paneva ministeri. Menen nyt hoitamaan kynsiäni.
Mielestäni vähempikin ”tieteen ja tutkimuksen vapaus” riittäisi tässä maassa. Vapaa veronmaksajan rahoilla rällääminen kun näköjään tuottaa tällaista: tiedejatutkimus.fi/fi/result… Strategisempaa otetta rahankäyttöön tarvitaan. Myös akateemisella puolella.
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Ronald Österbacka retweeted
RFK Jr. went on national TV and spouted egregious, dangerous falsehoods about vaccines. As a parent and infectious diseases doctor, I couldn't stay silent. @FoxNews might not fact-check him, but I will. I've reviewed the trials. I've catalogued them. I have receipts. 🧵
RFK Jr is on Fox News going full anti-vax
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Ronald Österbacka retweeted
Academic freedom is an essential value, symbolically represented by the cap placed on my head by @osterbacka at @AboAkademi during the conferment of the honorary doctorate. The sword stands for dignity in the pursuit of knowledge. I’m incredibly truly honored and grateful
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Ronald Österbacka retweeted
1/ The US government has ordered the Swedish city of Stockholm to end its diversity, inclusivity and equality (DEI) programmes within 10 days. The city authorities say the demand is "bizarre" and they won't be complying. ⬇️
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Ronald Österbacka retweeted
Report in one of today’s Russian papers: Russian history text books will feature Donald Trump’s “extraordinary peace efforts…and the remarkable changes in American domestic politics.” (so says one of the authors) #ReadingRussia
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Ronald Österbacka retweeted
Replying to @JDVance
"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." 1984 - George Orwell
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Ronald Österbacka retweeted
Judging by today’s Russian papers, Moscow’s rather pleased with Donald Trump. One paper: “Trump is ready to make significant concessions to Russia.” Another: “Events are developing in the right direction: right & beneficial for Russia.” #ReadingRussia
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Congratulations on a job well done! @AmirMGhafariH1
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Ronald Österbacka retweeted
The White House said Wednesday its officials “will decide” which news outlets can regularly cover President Donald Trump up close, breaking from a tradition where an independently chosen press pool follows the president and holds him accountable on behalf of the American public.
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Our latest work on OPV efficiency and stability. Excellent job by Prof. Chang-Qi Ma and his collegues, Oskar Sandberg, and @sebwilken rdcu.be/d5JEq #OrganicPhotovoltaics #Stability #efficiency #solarcell @AboAkademi #ChineseAcademyofSciences
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Ronald Österbacka retweeted
Vaccines don’t cause autism. 🧵1/8
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Ronald Österbacka retweeted
Och vi tyckte att det var långsökt att skylla pandemin på 5G
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Ronald Österbacka retweeted
Oh well, it was nice while it lasted
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