); SAEximRunCond expanded to false Errors-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] RETRY At 03:10 PM 10/31/2007, you wrote: >); SAEximRunCond expanded to false >Errors-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] RETRY > >In message ><!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAOYAZyOzV8ERq+LmT45ypI7CgAAAEAAAAMh4axYd2AtA >[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "Rob Kimberley" writes: > > >The following concerns a question in a physics degree exam at the University > >of Copenhagen: > > > > > >"Describe how to determine the height of a skyscraper with a barometer." > > > >[urban legend] > > > >The student was Nils Bohr, the first Dane to win the Nobel prize for > >Physics. > >No, it most certainly was not Niels Bohr, and I seriously doubt it >was anybody, as this particular urban legend was already old when >I studied physics...
You beat me to it Poul-Henning, the legend is first documented in 1958, but did not involve Bohr. I heard it in 1971 in the UK and gain in 1973 in the US - by then it is attributed to Bohr. Some sources say that Rutherford was the arbiter. Why would Rutherford have become involved? But it is true that around 1911 Bohr did work in Rutherfords laboratory. I later again heard the same legend in California in 1976, but about some other eminently undistinguished candidate, not Bohr. John >Poul-Henning > >-- >Poul-Henning Kamp | UNIX since Zilog Zeus 3.20 >[EMAIL PROTECTED] | TCP/IP since RFC 956 >FreeBSD committer | BSD since 4.3-tahoe >Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by incompetence. > >_______________________________________________ >time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com >To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts >and follow the instructions there. _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
