FUN SPOT

 

Mr. Planck Was Not Convinced

Max Planck (1858-1947), the outstanding German physicist, was one of the founders of quantum theory. Once, when he was still young, he visited a seventy-year-old professor and told him that he wanted to study theoretical physics.

“Young man”, said the professor, “why do you want to spoil your life? Theoretical physics is, in general, completed, and you cannot hope to find anything new in it. Is it worth while to study a science in which you can expect no discoveries?”

About Einstein

Once Einstein was asked: “How new inventions that change the face of the world are made?” “Quite simply”, answered Einstein. “Everybody knows that something is impossible. Then quite by chance, there happens an ignorant man who does not know it and he makes an invention”.

***

Albert Einstein liked the films with Ch.Chaplin and treated his hero with great sympathy. Once he wrote a letter to Chaplin:

“Everybody in the world understands your film “Golden Fever”. You will become a great man by all means”. Einstein.

Chaplin’s answer was:

“I admire you still more. Nobody in the world understands your “Theory of Relativity” and you have become a great man nevertheless”. Chaplin.

Heat and Cold

At a physics lesson the teacher asks the children about the effects of heat and cold on the body. “Heat makes things bigger and cold makes things smaller”, answers one boy. “Quite right”, says the teacher. “Can you give an example?” “In summer when it is hot, the days are longer, but in winter when it is cold, the days are shorter”, answers the boy.

About Newton

Isaac Newton was known to be very wise but also very absent-minded. When he was thinking hard about important problems he forgot about small matters.

One morning he was working on a very difficult problem. He was thinking so deeply that he forgot to go to breakfast. His housekeeper did not want him to be hungry. She sent her servant to his study with a pot of water and an egg. She told her to boil the egg in Newton’s study. But Newton wanted to be alone. He said to the servant: “Leave the egg here, I’ll boil it”. The servant put the egg by the side of Newton’s watch and went out of the room. Before leaving the room she said: “You must boil it for four minutes, sir, then it will be ready”.

After some time she came back because she was afraid Newton might forget to boil the egg. When she entered the room again Newton was standing by the fireplace and holding the egg in his hand. He had put the watch into the pot and was boiling it. He did not know what he had done.

Do you know that Isaac Newton served two terms in the British Parliament. During the two years he spent in the House of Commons, he never opened his mouth except once, when he asked someone in the gallery to open a window.

The Experimental Method

Mr Jones, a teacher of physics at a boys school, was fond of the experimental method in physics and often told the boys to use this method as often as possible.

One day Mr Jones came to school on a new bicycle which he had bought in London. The bicycle had a pair of pneumatic tyres. The pneumatic tyre had just been invented at that time, and none of the pupils had ever seen it.

At the physics lesson the teacher decided to show the pupils the new invention. He took them into the school yard and said: “Now, children, who can tell me what is there inside this tyre that makes it so hard and yet so elastic?” The boys gathered round the bicycle and examined the tyres. “Perhaps there cotton-wool inside”, - said one of them. “No, I think there must be a lot of steel springs inside”, said another. “You are both wrong”, said Mr Jones.

Suddenly the third boy who was standing beside the bicycle cried out, looking very happy: “I know what it is. There’s wind inside!” Mr Jones smiled and said: “Well, Tommy, that’s fine. You are nearly right. There is air inside. But how did you find it out?” “I used the experimental method,” said the boy. “I stuck a nail into the tyre and some wind came out of it”.

For the first time in his life Mr Jones did not like the use of the experimental method.

Too Much Work

Once Rutherford came to his laboratory late in the evening. One of the pupils was still busy with the instruments. “What are you doing here at such late time?” Rutherford asked the young scientist. “I am working”, came the proud answer. “And what do you do by day?” - “Work, of course”. - “And do you work early in the morning?” - “Yes, professor, I work early in the morning as well”.

Rutherford looked at him with some pity and asked: “And when do you think?”