What is Historically Inaccurate About Enrico Fermi's Famous Photo?

[ZapperZ]

OK, if you've read this in Physics Today or some other publications, you should disqualify yourself.

This is one of the most famous picture of Enrico Fermi. Yet, this picture has been a constant 'debate' among many physicists and science historians. Can you spot what is the issue with this picture?

http://www.phy.mtu.edu/images/area/EnricoFermi.jpg

Zz.

 

[neutrino]

Guess he messed up alpha.

 

[Danger]

Fermi was left-handed?

 

[neutrino]

Fermi was left-handed?

That was my guess initially.

 

[Integral]

The partial wrt t of what?

 

[EL]

The partial wrt t of what?

I guess he's just writing the operators.

I'll go for the "alpha", since if alpha is ment to be the fine structure constant, he's switched e and h.

 

[brewnog]

Ooh was he left handed?

 

[Rach3]

Looks like he erased something in the Hamiltonian - replaced "+" with "-"? A sign error?

 

[Rach3]

I see it! Neutrino found it, it's the alpha.

 

[Gokul43201]

Looks more like a written spoonerism than an error.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I googled fine structure constant fermi and came up with this:

http://www.lepp.cornell.edu/spr/2001-10/msg0036352.html

The article that this links to suggests that everything on the blackboard may have been meant as a joke.

 

[ZapperZ]

What is wrong with this picture, of course, is the expresson for alpha, the fine structure constant. It should have been

[tex]\alpha = \frac{e^2}{\hbar c}[/itex]

Physicists seem to have argued over this image for years. Many see it for what it is - Fermi made a mistake. Others who knew Fermi very well and understand his sense of humor (and his sometime "childlike" quality as evident in his fondnes for http://mydisneymania.blogspot.com/2006/09/enrico-fermi-and-pooh.html" ) point to the "twinkle" in his eyes and believe that he was pulling a fast one.

Either way, it made for a great conversation piece.

Zz.

 

[mborn]

www.satirewire.com/news/may02/images/fermi.jpg

I think he made the mistake again?

 

[robphy]

It's on a stamp

http://www.dantealighieri.net/cambridge/Photos_Nobel/fermi_stamp.jpg

 

[lisab]

It's on a stamp

This picture looks like it was taken at the same photoshoot as the other picture. Looks like the same suit, and the diagram is the same.

 

[Defennder]

He died a pretty long time ago, as this thread itself has. Why resurrect it?

 

[Defennder]

What is wrong with this picture, of course, is the expresson for alpha, the fine structure constant. It should have been

[tex]\alpha = \frac{e^2}{\hbar c}[/itex]

Physicists seem to have argued over this image for years. Many see it for what it is - Fermi made a mistake. Others who knew Fermi very well and understand his sense of humor (and his sometime "childlike" quality as evident in his fondnes for http://mydisneymania.blogspot.com/2006/09/enrico-fermi-and-pooh.html" ) point to the "twinkle" in his eyes and believe that he was pulling a fast one.

Either way, it made for a great conversation piece.

Zz.

Uh, is it just me or does Zapper's last post bear great similarity to this page:
http://www.anl.gov/Media_Center/ArgonneNow/Fall_2006/Fermi_equation_conundrum.html

 

[lisab]

Dang, posting to dead threads again!

 

[BobG]

This picture looks like it was taken at the same photoshoot as the other picture. Looks like the same suit, and the diagram is the same.

He's wearing the same suit and tie in this picture: http://www.historyplace.com/specials/calendar/docs-pix/enrico-fermi.jpg

Did he own any other suits?

Was he like Hari Seldon and owned an entire closet of the exact same suit?

I once owned 24 T-shirts with the exact same color and design. They were left over from a "Conference on the Future" or something like that and had an Einstein quote on them. My brother-in-law is a policeman and he was moonlighting as a security guard for the event. After the conference, when they were disposing of the left over stuff, he figured I might like a box of T-shirts. Trouble is that the neighbors didn't know how many of the T-shirts I owned and just figured that must be my lucky T-shirt or something. They were afraid to come close enough to talk to me because they figured it had to start smelling pretty bad after wearing it for around 12 days straight.

 

[ZapperZ]

Uh, is it just me or does Zapper's last post bear great similarity to this page:
http://www.anl.gov/Media_Center/ArgonneNow/Fall_2006/Fermi_equation_conundrum.html

It had no comment about Winnie the Pooh!

:)

Zz.

 

[humanino]

Uh, is it just me or does Zapper's last post bear great similarity to this page:

Do you know where Zz works ? Since he his a physicist living in Chicago, IL

 

[ZapperZ]

He's wearing the same suit and tie in this picture: http://www.historyplace.com/specials/calendar/docs-pix/enrico-fermi.jpg

Did he own any other suits?

Was he like Hari Seldon and owned an entire closet of the exact same suit?

Strangely enough, I remember attending a seminar many years ago, and someone had an anecdote of Fermi (that he also heard from another person who was Fermi's contemporary) that Fermi did own roughly clothings of the same type. Of course, this being 2nd or even 3rd hand info, one shouldn't put too much authenticity on it.

Zz.

 

[WarPhalange]

I think he made a simple mistake. Why? Because claiming he was "having a little fun" by writing an equation improperly on purpose is an insult to the man. You're basically calling him a loser for being amused by something like that.

 

[humanino]

claiming he was "having a little fun" by writing an equation improperly on purpose is an insult to the man.

IMHO, you don't realize that this just cannot be a mistake, because it is too trivial. There is a physical meaning to combinations such as $\hbar c$ and Fermi knew that very, very well.

 

[Astronuc]

It could be Fermi's way of dealing with the press. I've seen professors or scientists interviewed, and a reporter or photographer (i.e. journalist) asks the professor to write some equation (anything) on the board - not that the journalist would necessarily understand it or whether it was right or wrong. The journalist is just interested in something that 'looks scientific'.

I wonder how many times Albert Einstein was asked to write E = mc².

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

You're basically calling him a loser for being amused by something like that.

It's better than calling him a loser for getting a simple and well known equation wrong.

 

[WarPhalange]

My professors make mistakes on the board daily. I guess they're all losers. Do you want to tell them that or should I?

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

My professors make mistakes on the board daily. I guess they're all losers. Do you want to tell them that or should I?

Lots of professors are amused by things that don't amuse you.

 

[WarPhalange]

Hay guiz! I rote pi = 7 on the board! ISN'T THAT A HOOT?

 

[humanino]

Hay guiz! I rote pi = 7 on the board! ISN'T THAT A HOOT?

My math teacher was upset about a slow student on the board once. The poor fellow was stuck on $$\frac{\sin\theta}{\cos\theta}$$.
The teacher, instead of hinting towards tangent, simplified it to $$\frac{\text{in}}{\text{co}}$$
It was the first time in my life I really saw somebody going
The large majority of the class was
It had been more than 5 five years since we were all supposed to know about tangent.