my grandfather, the physicist :-)
Oct. 24th, 2012 05:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingAn email I got from my dad on Monday:
Liz & Vicky - FYI -
The American Physical Society has a program called Historic Physics Sites. They recognize places where major things were done and who did them in the history of physics in the US. A nice plaque is affixed in or on the selected structure giving a short statement about who did what there and why it was and is important. The physics building on the main campus of the U of Minn. is about to be designated in this way because of the work Pop did there designing, making, and using mass spectrometers. (The building is named the Tate Laboratory of Physics in honor of another, earlier important physicist there - who happened to be Pop's thesis advisor.) There will be a short ceremonial dedication of the plaque this coming Wed. afternoon at the U in Minneapolis.
Both Jan and I plan to be there and as part of it I am supposed to say a VERY few words, taking about 2 minutes, after 8 other people talk for 3 to 5 minutes each. Jan has not decided whether she wants to say something too. The whole thing is supposed to be over in an hour, after which most of the other speakers are supposed to show up promptly at a colloquium elsewhere on campus.
Since I am still in the midst of writing and editing, I can't let this take up too much time, so I will fly to Minnesota Wed. morning and return that evening. Jan will go the day before and return the day after.
love,
Dad
("Jan" is my dad's older sister, FYI.)
Dad also sent a picture of the plaque in question, which says:
Alfred O. C. Nier and the Tate Laboratory of Physics: At this site, from 1936 to 1994,
Alfred Nier designed and developed mass spectrometers with which he pioneered
critical research in nuclear physics, isotopic and chemical analysis, biochemistry,
geophysics, geochemistry, earth and planetary atmospheres, diagnostic devices, and
industrial applications.
HISTORIC PHYSICS SITE, REGISTER OF HISTORIC SITES
AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY
---------------
In other news, today I paid a bunch of bills, bought stamps, transfered money from my savings account to my checking account (to cover the bill for the ambulance from a few weeks back -- ambulances are EXPENSIVE, who knew?), and took a brief detour on my way home to visit Ithaca Falls, where I then spent about ten minutes breaking branches off a tree that had fallen across the path from the street to the waterfall. There wasn't much I could do about the tree itself (I am ashamed to admit that I do not carry a saw around with me on casual errands *gasp shock horror*), but I could at least clear away the most obstructive smaller branches. So I did.
I suspect trail maintenance becomes something of an automatic reaction for people who grow up spending summers on Star Island. :-)
Liz & Vicky - FYI -
The American Physical Society has a program called Historic Physics Sites. They recognize places where major things were done and who did them in the history of physics in the US. A nice plaque is affixed in or on the selected structure giving a short statement about who did what there and why it was and is important. The physics building on the main campus of the U of Minn. is about to be designated in this way because of the work Pop did there designing, making, and using mass spectrometers. (The building is named the Tate Laboratory of Physics in honor of another, earlier important physicist there - who happened to be Pop's thesis advisor.) There will be a short ceremonial dedication of the plaque this coming Wed. afternoon at the U in Minneapolis.
Both Jan and I plan to be there and as part of it I am supposed to say a VERY few words, taking about 2 minutes, after 8 other people talk for 3 to 5 minutes each. Jan has not decided whether she wants to say something too. The whole thing is supposed to be over in an hour, after which most of the other speakers are supposed to show up promptly at a colloquium elsewhere on campus.
Since I am still in the midst of writing and editing, I can't let this take up too much time, so I will fly to Minnesota Wed. morning and return that evening. Jan will go the day before and return the day after.
love,
Dad
("Jan" is my dad's older sister, FYI.)
Dad also sent a picture of the plaque in question, which says:
Alfred Nier designed and developed mass spectrometers with which he pioneered
critical research in nuclear physics, isotopic and chemical analysis, biochemistry,
geophysics, geochemistry, earth and planetary atmospheres, diagnostic devices, and
industrial applications.
HISTORIC PHYSICS SITE, REGISTER OF HISTORIC SITES
AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY
---------------
In other news, today I paid a bunch of bills, bought stamps, transfered money from my savings account to my checking account (to cover the bill for the ambulance from a few weeks back -- ambulances are EXPENSIVE, who knew?), and took a brief detour on my way home to visit Ithaca Falls, where I then spent about ten minutes breaking branches off a tree that had fallen across the path from the street to the waterfall. There wasn't much I could do about the tree itself (I am ashamed to admit that I do not carry a saw around with me on casual errands *gasp shock horror*), but I could at least clear away the most obstructive smaller branches. So I did.
I suspect trail maintenance becomes something of an automatic reaction for people who grow up spending summers on Star Island. :-)
