When scientists show their claws

The unfortunate Thomas Young

With their media of image of being cool, emotionless brainboxes, it might be surprising to learn that scientists can be just as catty as anyone else, and though science is a collaborative business where it's par for the course to tear apart other people's theories and then go out for a drink with them, it's still the case that personal dislikes sometimes triumph over rational argument.

One of the most famous scientific quotes in history, from Isaac Newton is often thought to be a masked insult. Newton, writing to his hated arch rival Robert Hooke, approximately quoted a line from Robert Burton when he wrote 'If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.' The reason many think this was a piece of nastiness was not just because Newton was making it clear that he didn't owe much to Hooke, but also because Hooke was anything but a giant physically.

The scientific claws come out in all kinds of subtle ways. I'm currently reading a new book on quantum biology by Jim Al-Khalili and Johnjoe McFadden. In one chapter, Al-Khalili (I assume it's him, as this is a reference to quantum physics) makes the effort to point out four times that quantum entanglement does not produce 'paranormal effects' (his inverted commas) like telepathy. He refers to those who come up with such theories as charlatans and uses what, since the Simon Singh/BCA affair must now be considered the 'B' word when he says: 'despite the bogus claims of telepathy.'

You might think this is just general commentary rather than backbiting. However, if you know the quantum entanglement field, it's hard not to be aware that Nobel Prize winning physicist Brian Josephson has publicly suggested that there might be an explanation for telepathy in quantum entanglement. Which does put these remarks in a whole new light.

However, my favourite insult is probably one I've just revisited in preparing a new edition of my first popular science book Light Years. When Thomas Young first came up with his evidence that Newton was wrong and that light was, as Descartes, Huygens and others had suggested, a wave, he got considerable opposition from the British establishment. I want to leave you with the commentary in the Edinburgh Review from Henry Brougham, at the time a young lawyer and writer, and later Lord Chancellor. (Thanks, by the way, to John Gribbin for pointing out that this is probably a double insult, as the reference to the 'ladies of the Royal Institution' may well be a dig at the way the head of that then upstart institution, the Brian Cox of his day, Humphrey Davy, had a reputation for making the ladies swoon.)

We may now dismiss for the present, the feeble lucubrations of this author, in which we have searched without success for some traces of learning, acuteness or ingenuity that might compensate his evident deficiency in the powers of solid thinking, calm and patient investigation, and successful development of the laws of nature by steady and modest observation of her operations. Has the Royal Society so degraded its publications into bulletins of fashionable theories for the ladies of the Royal Institution? Let the Professor continue to amuse his audience with an endless variety of such harmless trifles, but in the name of Science, let them not find admittance into the venerable repository which contains the names of Newton, Boyle, Cavendish...

Image from Wikipedia

Why I hate opera

If I'm honest, the title of this post is an exaggeration to make a point. I don't really hate opera. There are a couple of operas - notably Monteverdi's Incoranazione di Poppea and Purcell's Dido & Aeneas - that I quite like. But what I do find truly sickening is the reverence with which opera is treated, as if it were some particularly great art form. Nowhere was this more obvious than in ITV's 2010 gut-wrenchingly awful series Pop Star to Opera Star , where the likes of Alan Tichmarsh treated the real opera singers as if they were fragile pieces on Antiques Roadshow, and the music as if it were a gift of the gods. In my opinion - and I know not everyone agrees - opera is: Mediocre music Melodramatic plots Amateurishly hammy acting A forced and unpleasant singing style Ridiculously over-supported by public funds I won't even bother to go into any detail on the plots and the acting - this is just self-evident. But the other aspects need some exp...

Is 5x3 the same as 3x5?

The Internet has gone mildly bonkers over a child in America who was marked down in a test because when asked to work out 5x3 by repeated addition he/she used 5+5+5 instead of 3+3+3+3+3. Those who support the teacher say that 5x3 means 'five lots of 3' where the complainants say that 'times' is commutative (reversible) so the distinction is meaningless as 5x3 and 3x5 are indistinguishable. It's certainly true that not all mathematical operations are commutative. I think we are all comfortable that 5-3 is not the same as 3-5. However. This not true of multiplication (of numbers). And so if there is to be any distinction, it has to be in the use of English to interpret the 'x' sign. Unfortunately, even here there is no logical way of coming up with a definitive answer. I suspect most primary school teachers would expands 'times' as 'lots of' as mentioned above. So we get 5 x 3 as '5 lots of 3'. Unfortunately that only wor...

Why backgammon is a better game than chess

I freely admit that chess, for those who enjoy it, is a wonderful game, but I honestly believe that as a game , backgammon is better (and this isn't just because I'm a lot better at playing backgammon than chess). Having relatively recently written a book on game theory, I have given quite a lot of thought to the nature of games, and from that I'd say that chess has two significant weaknesses compared with backgammon. One is the lack of randomness. Because backgammon includes the roll of the dice, it introduces a random factor into the play. Of course, a game that is totally random provides very little enjoyment. Tossing a coin isn't at all entertaining. But the clever thing about backgammon is that the randomness is contributory without dominating - there is still plenty of room for skill (apart from very flukey dice throws, I can always be beaten by a really good backgammon player), but the introduction of a random factor makes it more life-like, with more of a sense...

Search This Blog