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Writer proves that science can be fun

Writer proves that science can be fun

EUREKAS AND EUPHORIAS: THE OXFORD BOOK OF SCIENTIFIC ANECDOTES. By Walter Gratzer. Oxford Press. 301 pages. $28.

Here is a delightful collection of anecdotes about scientists of all stripes - chemists, physicists, biologists, mathematicians - most of the “ists” and “icians” in the dictionary. Some tell how great discoveries were made, others deal with pranks, still others reveal the dark side - how one scientist's discovery ended up in another's laboratory, for example.

Walter Gratzer is a professor at King's College in London. He is a facile writer and most of these stories are fascinating - I like math and physics, but biology and medicine bore me. They are short, the longest being barely four pages. Open Eurekas and Euphorias anywhere - there is no continuity to worry about.

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One of the best tales is about the Danish nuclear scientist, Nobel Laureate Niels Bohr, when he was a student. In a physics exam he was asked how to find the height of a skyscraper with a barometer. His answer: Tie a string to the barometer, lower it from the top of the building, and measure the string and the barometer.

The examiner took offense at the answer and failed him. Bohr appealed, pointing out that the answer was indisputably correct. An arbiter then suggested that he provide an answer that at least showed some familiarity with physics.

Bohr thought, and finally said there were several possibilities. The barometer could be dropped from the roof, the time for the fall could be measured and then the time could be converted into feet, following a formula. Other solutions followed.

On a sunny day, measure the shadow of the barometer and the building, and then work out the height through a proportion equation. If the building has an outside staircase, mark off the height in barometer lengths and add them up.

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Tie a short piece of string to the barometer, swing it like a pendulum on the ground and at the top, then work out the height through a formula involving the difference in gravitational pull.

Measure the air pressure at the top and the bottom and convert the difference in millibars to feet. (This was the answer that was sought). Or, knock on the janitor's door and say, “If you would like a nice new barometer, I will give you this one if you tell me the height of this skyscraper.”

Gratzer describes an encounter between Albert Einsein and Bohr, who conducted a lifelong dialogue on various theories. Bohr was in his office dictating and had reached “Einstein” in a sentence, but was stumped for the next word. He repeated “Einstein” several times as he gazed out a window, sifting his thoughts.

At that moment, Einstein came in, urged the secretary to be still, and tiptoed over to Bohr's tobacco pot to take a pipeful. Bohr turned around, saw Einstein, and asked what was going on. Einstein explained that his doctor had forbidden him to buy any tobacco, but hadn't barred him from stealing it.

Gratzer mentions Einstein most often; Bohr is second. Next is Sir Isaac Newton, then Charles Darwin and the 20th- century theoretical physicist Hans Bethe.

Most stories involve 19th and 20th-century figures, but the ancients are represented by Pythagoras (square of the hypotenuse) and Archimedes (water displacement).

For the amateur scientist, mathematician or physician, this is a perfect bedside companion. Even non-scholars will have fun with this.

Jules Wagman is a writer living in Jacksonville, Fla.

First Published November 23, 2002, 1:37 p.m.

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