What are the Rules for Math-Sci-Tech Trivia, Part V?

[Gokul43201]

The Rules

#1. No Googling until I announce a free-for-all,
#2. No more than 2 answers per person until the free-for-all

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Please read the rules
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The Questions

1. Trivial question to get started. If $4 \times 5=12~,~~4 \times 6=13~,...$ then $4 \times 13=?$2. For decades, a box labeled Costa Cider sat under the sink in the home of a pathologist. This box contained a pair of large jars. What is the significance of these jars?3. My favorite Roman scholar, Pliny the Elder, was in charge of the naval fleet stationed near Naples, when a rare event occurred. In his eagerness to observe the phenomenon, Pliny took some ships and headed towards it. However, curiosity killed the cat and Pliny died that day.

What was the event?4. Upon his divorce and his wife's subsequent marriage, he had this to say: "Had she taken a bullfighter I would have understood, but an ordinary chemist…"

Who said this?5. What is the special significance of the phrase "Who ordered that?" to the field of physics? (I'm looking for the name of a person and a thing.)6. What is common to the Burnet moths, tobacco smoke, and cherry pits (no smart-ass responses)?7. Former US President, James Garfield remained in his deathbed for over two months, after being shot, in July 1881. Given the medical capability of the time and the risk involved, White House surgeons were extremely reluctant to operate on the President without a good knowledge of the location of the bullet.

While in Boston, Alexander Graham Bell heard about this and suggested that perhaps his own invention was just the thing for this problem. The White House accepted Bell's offer, and using his invention, he tried to help the White House surgeons. Despite several successful trials prior to this (on injured soldiers), he failed with the President. (Garfield died in September that year.)

This invention was an early prototype of what? And why did Bell's attempt fail?8. What is considered to be the first successful bombing by unmanned airborne drones?9. This element was discovered by German chemists who were looking for traces of thallium in samples of zinc ores. A brilliant bluish-violet line in the sample's spectrum revealed the existence of the new element.

Name the element.10. And finally, this is about one of my favorite people. What follows is a quote.

There was, of course, X. He came down from Y to consult a little bit, to help us if we had some problems. We had a meeting with him, and I had been doing some calculations and gotten some results. The calculations were so elaborate it was very difficult. Now usually, I was this expert at this; I could always tell you what the answer was going to look like, or when I got it I could explain why. But this thing was so complicated I couldn't explain why it was like that.

So I told X I was doing this problem, and I started to describe the results. He said, "Wait, before you tell me the result, let me think. It's going to come out like this (he was right), and it's going to come out like this because of so and so. And there's a perfectly obvious explanation for this --"

He was doing what I was supposed to be good at, ten times better. That was quite a lesson to me.

Who is X? (No points for identifying the narrator.)

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Note: Quotes may be translations from another language.

 

[George Jones]

5. What is the special significance of the phrase "Who ordered that?" to the field of physics? (I'm looking for the name of a person and a thing.)

Rabi; muon.

 

[Danger]

no smart-ass responses

Sorry dude; that let's me out.

 

[Gokul43201]

5. What is the special significance of the phrase "Who ordered that?" to the field of physics? (I'm looking for the name of a person and a thing.)

Rabi; muon.

Correct, George. (story to be filled in later)

I edited the OP (perhaps just after you started reading it) to allow 2 answers per person. Just letting you know, in case you missed that.

 

[Math Is Hard]

2. For decades, a box labeled Costa Cider sat under the sink in the home of a pathologist. This box contained a pair of large jars. What is the significance of these jars?

I think I remember this. The jars contained Einstein's brain?

 

[Gokul43201]

2. For decades, a box labeled Costa Cider sat under the sink in the home of a pathologist. This box contained a pair of large jars. What is the significance of these jars?

I think I remember this. The jars contained Einstein's brain?

Correct. There was a thread about this here a while back, no?

Wow, this is going fast.

 

[George Jones]

Just letting you know, in case you missed that.

Thanks. OK, not 100% sure, but I'll say

10. X = Schwinger

 

[3trQN]

10) The narrator is Feynman i think, and i think he's talking about Oppenheimer?

 

[Math Is Hard]

Correct. There was a thread about this here a while back, no?

I believe there was. That reminds me I need to order "Driving Mr. Albert" for summer reading.

 

[Gokul43201]

OK, not 100% sure, but I'll say

10. X = Schwinger

Nope, not Schwinger. I never thought of Schwinger as the guy with the physical picture; more of the math genius type. And though Schwinger had a nice car (a '64 Iso Rivolta, with license plate number 137 ) I don't know enough about him that he'd make my list of favorite people.

The 1964 Rivolta

http://www.bigeasydave.com/images/revoltaside-thumb.jpg

That's the end of your quota, for now George.

MIH has a spare (unless she's used it while I've been typing this).

 

[Danger]

I think I remember this. The jars contained Einstein's brain?

There! See! A perfect moonshine response on the tip of my typing finger, and I'm not allowed to use it!
This thread sucks.

 

[Gokul43201]

10) The narrator is Feynman i think,

Good guess (as I imagine, did George as well). Yes, it is.

and i think he's talking about Oppenheimer?

Not Oppie. It looks like you've got the right time-frame in mind as well, but at that time, if I'm not mistaken, they both (O & F) worked at the same place.

 

[Gokul43201]

There! See! A perfect moonshine response on the tip of my typing finger, and I'm not allowed to use it!

Hey, I didn't disallow smart-ass answers for all questions - only the specific one.

Say, could you pour me some of that moonshine you've got there on the tips of your fingers?

 

[George Jones]

Now that we know for sure that Y = Feynman, I'll tell the story behind my guess.

Already at Los Alamos, Feynman had a reputation as a good lecturer. I think that there's a story similar to your story, but with "calculations" replaced by "lectures," and with X = Schwinger. This led me to believe that maybe they talked about calculations.

Schwinger was an amazing lecturer.

 

[George Jones]

Say, could you pour me some of that moonshine you've got there on the tips of your fingers?

I'm trying to relate this to Supertramp, and the best I can do is "Which Sister are you talking about?"

 

[nrqed]

The Rules

#1. No Googling until I announce a free-for-all,
#2. No more than 2 answers per person until the free-for-all

------------------------
Please read the rules
------------------------

3. My favorite Roman scholar, Pliny the Elder, was in charge of the naval fleet stationed near Naples, when a rare event occurred. In his eagerness to observe the phenomenon, Pliny took some ships and headed towards it. However, curiosity killed the cat and Pliny died that day.

What was the event?

I *think* I know that one..Wasn't it the eruption of the Vesuvius which led to the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum?

And I knew the "Who ordered that?" one (being a particle physicist)!
But George got it first.

 

[Omega_6]

4. Upon his divorce and his wife's subsequent marriage, he had this to say: "Had she taken a bullfighter I would have understood, but an ordinary chemist…"

Was this Pauli?

 

[nrqed]

The Rules

#1. No Googling until I announce a free-for-all,
#2. No more than 2 answers per person until the free-for-all

------------------------
Please read the rules
------------------------

10. And finally, this is about one of my favorite people. What follows is a quote.

There was, of course, X. He came down from Y to consult a little bit, to help us if we had some problems. We had a meeting with him, and I had been doing some calculations and gotten some results. The calculations were so elaborate it was very difficult. Now usually, I was this expert at this; I could always tell you what the answer was going to look like, or when I got it I could explain why. But this thing was so complicated I couldn't explain why it was like that.

So I told X I was doing this problem, and I started to describe the results. He said, "Wait, before you tell me the result, let me think. It's going to come out like this (he was right), and it's going to come out like this because of so and so. And there's a perfectly obvious explanation for this --"

He was doing what I was supposed to be good at, ten times better. That was quite a lesson to me.

Who is X? (No points for identifying the narrator.)

------------------------------------------

Note: Quotes may be translations from another language.

I would think that X is Hans Bethe!

 

[Pyrrhus]

I think X is Fermi. If i can recall from the book, Surely you're Joking, Mr Feynman.

 

[Gokul43201]

I *think* I know that one..Wasn't it the eruption of the Vesuvius which led to the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum?

And I knew the "Who ordered that?" one (being a particle physicist)!
But George got it first.

Yup! Vesuvius, it was, alright.

Speaking of hooch, one of the reasons I like Pliny the Elder was for his famous hangover cure - owl's eggs. Works like a charm (or so they say, regular eggs do it for me).

 

[Gokul43201]

Was this Pauli?

Pauli is correct. Who else would have the gall to some something like that?

Pauli also casually made statements like "I don't like Solid State physics, though I invented it" - I think he said this to Weisskopf in their first meeting. This was when Pauli had just accepted Weisskopf as a postdoc(?), and the first thing he tells Weisskopf is something like "I wanted Bethe, but Bethe now works in Solid State physics, so I settled for you."

 

[Gokul43201]

I would think that X is Hans Bethe!

No. See below.

I think X is Fermi. If i can recall from the book, Surely you're Joking, Mr Feynman.

Correct. And that was my source for the quote.

 

[Moonbear]

Well, I'm not so sure about the moth, but based on the other two choices, I'm going to guess for #6 that they all contain cyanide.

I'm going to contest the answer to #2 though...I know for a fact that that's where we put the pickle jars with tribdog's testicles after The Suggestion Box closed. (That's what you get for only forbidding smart ass answers on one question.)

 

[Gokul43201]

Well, I'm not so sure about the moth, but based on the other two choices, I'm going to guess for #6 that they all contain cyanide.

Correctomundo.

The Burnet moths have a whole lot more than the other two.

Here's a nice pic (and some discussion about the cyanide) :
http://www.treknature.com/gallery/Europe/Bulgaria/East/Burgas/photo41857.htm

 

[Danger]

tribdog's testicles

Aren't those just a myth, like the Golden Fleece? So far, there seems to be no evidence that they actually exist.

 

[mattmns]

#7 Metal Detector. It failed because the bed that the president was on had metal in it (it was an early prototype of a box-spring matress, I believe).

When I took the second semester of US History our teacher told us this story

 

[Moonbear]

Aren't those just a myth, like the Golden Fleece? So far, there seems to be no evidence that they actually exist.

Now, he'd expect something like that from the sisters, but from you? Ouch! Anyway, we know they exist. We keep them in the jar right next to the pickled onions and pickled squirrel heads.

 

[Gokul43201]

#7 Metal Detector. It failed because the bed that the president was on had metal in it (it was an early prototype of a box-spring matress, I believe).

Nice.

I meant for the metal detector to be the early prototype, but nevertheless, you have it.

When I took the second semester of US History our teacher told us this story

The things they have to do to make you pay attention during class, eh? But it is a pretty neat story!

 

[NoTime]

#1 4x13=20

 

[hellraiser]

1.) 20 (twenty)

 

[Danger]

Now, he'd expect something like that from the sisters, but from you? Ouch!

I readily admit that it's below my normal standards to attack an individual on such a basis. In a more facetious mode, most of the older guys here are used to it. I'll never stop razzing the old farts (yes, plural, Integral... you're not the only one ).
Trib is a different situation. Considering that I had no idea who he was, I found his personal sniping at me when I was nominated as 'funny' to be totally non-humourous and very mean-spirited. In fact, every post that I've seen of his was sour in some regard. Towards the point of getting that across, I posted the foregoing. My apologies to anyone who might happen to like the guy.

 

[Gokul43201]

#1 4x13=20

1.) 20 (twenty)

Sorry folks! But that was the bait you were supposed to take.

Now if either of you has something more to add in support of your answer, and it comes close to what I'm looking for, I'll give it to you.

But now, it's time to hit the sack.

 

[d_leet]

I'll give number one a shot.

4x13 = 20 because.., and I think what the reason you're looking for is because 4+13 = 17 which adding 3 is 20, this is the same pattern as in the other two since 4+5 = 9 which adding another 3 gives 12 and for 4x6, 4+6 gives 10 and adding 3 gives 13 so the pattern is axb = a + b + 3.

 

[3trQN]

1) 4 x 13 = 52

And grrrrr @ 10) being Pauli :(

 

[Astronuc]

9. Indium - which is in the same group as Ga and Tl. Ga is used in blue LED's IIRC.

#7 Metal Detector. It failed because the bed that the president was on had metal in it (it was an early prototype of a box-spring matress, I believe).

When I took the second semester of US History our teacher told us this story

My high school teacher in US History told us about Garfield's death, but not about the involvement of Bell and his early metal detector. The doctors (I think at Walter Reed Hospital) attempted to use metal probes, inserting them into the wound. However the bullet had traveled downward from the entry wound. The probes damaged internal organs. There was also the matter of using unsterilized instruments.