Slashdot Mirror
MacGyver Physics
counterfriction writes "This month's issue of Symmetry, a magazine jointly published by SLAC and Fermilab, is featuring an article that points out the sometimes extemporaneous and unconventional solutions physicists have come up with in (and out of) the laboratory. From the article: 'Leon Lederman ... used a pocket knife, tape, and items on anyone's grocery list to confirm that interactions involving the weak force do now show perfect mirror symmetry, or parity, as scientists had long assumed.'"
So, I'm watching Doctor Who and someone asks, "Who is this guy?" and the reply's always the same, "He's the Doctor."
So I think to myself, "How does this guy always get out of these crazy situations?
"He's like some time-traveling MacGyver," I think to myself as I switch over to trusty, old Slashdot, only to see that same name right off.
No sig for you! Come back one year!
Isn't about time some one confirmed the cat, box and pistol experiment? Schrödinger Cat has been living on borrowed time long enough.
I once used spaghetti, vaseline, plastic wrap, and an ovaltine jar to make a synthetic pussy. But you don't see me bragging about it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_problems_solv ed_by_MacGyver
And last week they most certainly didn't! The actual article stated the following:
"He used a pocket knife, tape, and items on anyone's grocery list to confirm that interactions involving the weak force do not show perfect mirror symmetry, or parity, as scientists had long assumed."Couldn't the author of the slashdot post have at leased used the cut and paste features of his computer?
Still #1 -- Lonely Gay Geek
Dear MacGyver-
Enclosed is a rubber band, a paper clip, and a drinking straw. Please save my dog.
Actually it's a matter of ethics. If you can't expect someone to do something properly on the small scale, how can you trust them to do the right thing on a large scale?
Them destroying the ongoing work of another person just to save themselves a little bit of work shows a supreme lack of not only ethics but of decency.
Science is more than just a result on a data sheet. It's also the path you take to get there (if you decide it is proper to go there at all).
Everything I need to know I learned by killing smart people and eating their brains.
Risking someone else's sleepless nights is not a matter of genius and guts, or avoiding bureaucracy.
It is a matter of being an asshole, genius or not.
I agree with you about the 9-5, and the need to grasp inspiration on the spot to keep creativity alive.
But that is no excuse to trample over other people's work without asking for their permission / collaboration.
You may be very convinced of your own genius and inventiveness. Good for you.
But you might as well be destroying more important, time-consuming, work by other geniuses in the room.
If you don't have the guts to work the extra sleepless night setting up your own experiment, or (gasp) actually asking for the help if needed, then you really didn't deserve to find the answer.
Freedom is the freedom to say 2+2=4, everything else follows...
The name of Lederman's graduate assistant was Marcel Weinrich, which Lederman does credit as working with him on the project. Lederman, Garwin and Weinrich are all on the paper confirming the results on parity violation.