Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>>>> I prefer Cole's Law myself. :-)
>>>>
>>>> Jim
>>> Groan!
>> 
>> I couldn't help myself. :-)  Or rather, I could, if there was a container
>> in the fridge.
> 
> Ignorance is bliss...
> 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cole's_Law

I didn't know it either. Now Cole's Law on the "Murphy's Law and other
reasons why things go wrong" book makes sense.

"Cole's Law: Thinly sliced cabbage."

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andrel wrote:
> theater with the names of famous physicist in friezes (if that is the 

Reminds me of one of the first places I worked: Institute for Scientific 
Information.  (Sort of a Google of the CP/M era.)  Founded by Eugene 
Garfield.

Walking up the stairway, there was a moasic portrait of Aristotle on the 
first floor, Newton on the second floor, Einstein on the third floor, 
and Garfield on the fourth floor. Cripes. :-)

-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)

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andrel wrote:
> about things like Victoria Falls).

I like going to the zoo in the USA, where you can see which animals were 
discovered by the British and which by the Americans just by looking at 
their names.

"Sir George's Antelope."   "Lord Franken's Turtle."

"Red Neck Duck."  "Blue Belly Warbler."

-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)

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Invisible wrote:
> Carl Friedrich Gauss.
> 
> Damn. Apparently it's /ˈɡaʊs/. I always thought it was /ɡʊərs/.
> 
> Oh well - apparently I've been saying it wrong all these years...
> 
> Is there any specific reason why all great mathematicians were foreign?

That's because every nation is a minority of the world, and therefore 
most mathematicians are foreign.

And before 1776, all great mathematicians were foreign to the US because 
there was no US.  This probably doesn't help your situation.

I recall reading somewhere, however, that the great work of math is 
still in progress.  There remain a large number of unsolved, 
long-standing problems in math, and some of the frontiers of theoretical 
physics are presently at a standstill because the necessary math hasn't 
been developed yet.

Regards,
John

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John VanSickle wrote:
> That's because every nation is a minority of the world, and therefore 
> most mathematicians are foreign.

This doesn't mathematically follow unless you assume a sufficiently flat 
distribution of mathematicians. Since intellectuals tend to like hanging 
around their peers, this tends not to happen.

Check out, for example, the number of Chinese Nobel prize winners vs USA 
Nobel prize winners. Not because Chinese aren't smart, but because the 
scientists from all over the world often come to the USA to do their 
thing, even if they're "foreign".  (Or at least used to, a few decades 
ago, before we started thinking stupidity was a virtue.)

> I recall reading somewhere, however, that the great work of math is 
> still in progress.  There remain a large number of unsolved, 
> long-standing problems in math, and some of the frontiers of theoretical 
> physics are presently at a standstill because the necessary math hasn't 
> been developed yet.

Well... maybe. :-) Lots of stuff is hard to calculate, even tho the math 
is, in theory, pretty simple.

-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)

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andrel <a_l### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:


No but George Fredrick Handle does :)

Remember since Q Vic married Alfred German names were popular here (or there :)

Stephen

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andrel <a_l### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
> On 04-Nov-08 16:03, nemesis wrote:
> > Stephen escreveu:
> >> Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> >>> Did you see the episode of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? where 3% of
> >>> the audience thought that "Ludwig van Beethoven" was English? :-D (I
> >>> have no idea what his nationallity actually was, but I'm fairly sure
> >>> it's not a typical English name...)
> >>>
> >>
> >> German! O_O
> >>
> >> They (3%) must have been confusing him with Handel who lived in
> >> England and
> >> composed Messiah, Zadok the Priest and Music for the Royal Fireworks
> >> there.
> >
> > "Ludwig" by itself should be enough. :)
>


Why should it?

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On 05-Nov-08 10:59, nemesis wrote:
> andrel <a_l### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
>> On 04-Nov-08 16:03, nemesis wrote:
>>> Stephen escreveu:
>>>> Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>>>>> Did you see the episode of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? where 3% of
>>>>> the audience thought that "Ludwig van Beethoven" was English? :-D (I
>>>>> have no idea what his nationallity actually was, but I'm fairly sure
>>>>> it's not a typical English name...)
>>>>>
>>>> German! O_O
>>>>
>>>> They (3%) must have been confusing him with Handel who lived in
>>>> England and
>>>> composed Messiah, Zadok the Priest and Music for the Royal Fireworks
>>>> there.
>>> "Ludwig" by itself should be enough. :)

> 
> Why should it?
> 
Because otherwise you can not use the sound of the name as an indication 
to distinguish the two.

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andrel escreveu:
> On 05-Nov-08 10:59, nemesis wrote:
>> andrel <a_l### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
>>> On 04-Nov-08 16:03, nemesis wrote:
>>>> Stephen escreveu:
>>>>> Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>>>>>> Did you see the episode of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? where 3% of
>>>>>> the audience thought that "Ludwig van Beethoven" was English? :-D (I
>>>>>> have no idea what his nationallity actually was, but I'm fairly sure
>>>>>> it's not a typical English name...)
>>>>>>
>>>>> German! O_O
>>>>>
>>>>> They (3%) must have been confusing him with Handel who lived in
>>>>> England and
>>>>> composed Messiah, Zadok the Priest and Music for the Royal Fireworks
>>>>> there.
>>>> "Ludwig" by itself should be enough. :)

>>
>> Why should it?
>>
> Because otherwise you can not use the sound of the name as an indication 
> to distinguish the two.

Ludwig and Friedrich are pretty good indications of german nationality. 
  But, no, I wasn't thinking about the spelling, only about the names 
themselves.

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On 05-Nov-08 18:50, nemesis wrote:
> andrel escreveu:
>> On 05-Nov-08 10:59, nemesis wrote:
>>> andrel <a_l### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
>>>> On 04-Nov-08 16:03, nemesis wrote:
>>>>> Stephen escreveu:
>>>>>> Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>>>>>>> Did you see the episode of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? where 
>>>>>>> 3% of
>>>>>>> the audience thought that "Ludwig van Beethoven" was English? :-D (I
>>>>>>> have no idea what his nationallity actually was, but I'm fairly sure
>>>>>>> it's not a typical English name...)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> German! O_O
>>>>>>
>>>>>> They (3%) must have been confusing him with Handel who lived in
>>>>>> England and
>>>>>> composed Messiah, Zadok the Priest and Music for the Royal Fireworks
>>>>>> there.
>>>>> "Ludwig" by itself should be enough. :)

>>>
>>> Why should it?
>>>
>> Because otherwise you can not use the sound of the name as an 
>> indication to distinguish the two.
> 
> Ludwig and Friedrich are pretty good indications of german nationality.
exactly. Somehow I think at least one of us is not getting what the 
other means.

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