Plural or Singular

Wolfgang Pauli postulated his hypothesis of the existence of the neutrino in his letter to a gathering on radioactivity in Tübingen in 1930. The letter begins by the words, "Dear radioactive ladies and gentlemen" [1, 2]. Sin'itiro Tomonaga [3] quotes this letter and says, "By the way, radioactive lady apparently refers to Lise Meitner."

Pauli used the plural form, "radioactive ladies." Therefore, referring to these words in the singular form is inconsistent. Meitner was surely the key person who had found the experimental result that had led to Pauli's hypothesis. Was not there, however, other ladies, for example, Marie Curie, at the gathering? Even if he had had a firm proof that Meitner had been the single lady present, Tomonaga should have said, "By the way, radioactive ladies actually meant Lise Meitner."

By the way, I once started my presentation at an academic meeting by the words, "Good afternoon, a lady and gentlemen!" I wrote about that in "The Stolen Joke" [4]. Interestingly, the neutrino appears also in that story, though I have been forgetting about this fact.

1. A. Pais, Inward Bound (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1986) p. 315.
2. K. Riesselmann, Logbook: Neutrino invention.
3. S. Tomonaga, The Story of Spin, translated by T. Oka (Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago, 1997) p. 219.
4. The Stolen Joke IDEA-ISAAC Web site (August 18, 1999).

The Sense of Humor

In the book-review column of a British newspaper, the American physicist Richard Feynman was mentioned as British [1]. I read about this in an article, which was written by Hamish Johnston and posted at the blog site of physicsworld.com [2]. If I had found this erroneous description about Feynman, I would simply have thought it a stupid error. However, Johnston starts his article by the sentence, "One of the things that makes the British great is their love of eccentricity," and writes, "[Feynman] was famously eccentric so I can understand why a Brit reading about his antics would assume Feynman is British." This is a really good sense of humor shown by the British person.

1. Helen Brown, "Atomic: the First War of Physics and the Secret History of the Atom Bomb, 1939-49 by Jim Baggott: review" Daily Telegraph (April 16, 2009).
2. Hamish Johnston, "Surely you’re joking?" physicsworld.com Blog (April 22, 2009).

Superpartner

Some theorists in the field of particle physics are studying the theory of supersymmetry (often abbreviated SUSY). In this theory, a superpartner particle is proposed to exist to be paired with each particle already known to exist (the Standard Model particle). Boson-type superpartners (with integer spins) corresponding to the Standard Model particles of fermion type (with half integer spins) are named by attaching "s" to the beginning of the names of the latter. For example, the superpartner of the electron is called selectron, the superpartner of the quark is called squark, and so on.

Last month I attended the lecture given by the particle theorist, Professor Tsuneo Uematsu of Kyoto University at the regular meeting of Science Cafe Kyoto. Uematsu wrote those names of particles and their superpertners on the whiteboard. Then he wrote his name "uematsu" as though it were the name of one of the Standard Model particles, and added the name of its superpartner "suematsu." Suematsu is a possible last name of the Japanese. Uematsu said, "I was surprised actually to see the particle theorist Dr. Suematsu at Kanazawa University." I liked this part of Uematsu's lecture most.

Bongo-playing Womanizer

One of the best-seller books by Richard Feynman [1].

Whom do you think of to hear the word "bongo-playing womanizer"? Do you say, "Richard Feynman"? Yes, he was referred to as such in an article of Physics World blog [2]. In the article, Matin Durrani, Editor of Physics World, reports on all the gossip of the 25th International Conference on Low-Temperature Physics (LT25) held in Amsterdam from 6th to 13th, August, 2008.

Durani writes that the plenary sessions of the final day included a few words from Joe Vinen from the University of Birmingham in the UK — perhaps the only surviving physicist from the LT6 conference in Leiden 50 years ago, and continues as follows. 'Vinen recalled how the multi-talented Richard Feynman himself actually put in an appearance at the Leiden meeting to present his insights into superfluidity in liquid helium. Strangely, though, Feynman failed to up at any other sessions. The reason? The bongo-playing womanizer had chosen to enjoy the pleasures of what used to be called (in the bad old days) the conference “ladies program”.'

Why were those "the bad old days"? Oh, is the ladies program now called "the spouses program" or something like that to be politically correct? Anyway, those must have been the good days to Feynman. — He would care neither about these words nor about the words, "the bongo-playing womanizer." What do you care what other people think, Mr. Feynman? —

1. R. P. Feynman, What Do You Care What Other People Think? (Norton, 2001).
2. M. Durrani, Feynman 50 years ago, Physics World Web site (August 13, 2008).

Ralph Came to Japan

Ralph Leighton

Ralph Leighton, the author of the book "Tuva or Bust! Richard Feynman's Last Journey," paid a twelve-day visit to Japan, and finally stayed in Osaka on the 20th and 21st of June, 2006. He is the son of Robert Leighton, who was a Caltech professor and an editor of "The Feynman Lectures on Physics."

Ralph made "Friends of Tuva" [1], a clearinghouse of information about Tuva. Tuva is the country Feynman and Ralph eagerly wanted to visit, but when their plan was almost complete, Feynman passed away. Masahiko Todoriki, who is a member of Tarbagan, sings Tuvan Khoomei (throat singing) and has made a new Web site of "Friends of Tuva Japan" [2], guided Ralph's travel group during its trip in Japan. The group consisted of Ralph, his wife, son, daughter and her friend. In the evening of June 20, Ako Hoki, who made Friends of Tuva Japan, and her husband Shigeaki joined him to entertain the travelers in Osaka.

I, one of the enthusiastic members of Friends of Tuva Japan, was asked to join them at a supper with Ralph in the evening of June 21. We talked over okonomiyaki (an Osaka-style dish) and beer at a restaurant in Umeda, Osaka. There I was also introduced to other members of the travelers. I heard that Ralph's group traveled energetically to Kanazawa, Noto (where Feynman once visited), Tokyo, Matsumoto (Masahiko's hometown), Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe and Awaji Island (Hokudan-cho Earthquake Memorial Park). Ralph seems to be a man of much curiosity and be interested in teaching just like Feynman.

I gave Ralph a reprint of a paper [3] on mirror reversal, in which Feynman's explanation of this problem in his student days was cited from James Gleick's book "Genius." I got in turn Ralph's signature in my copy of "Tuva or Bust!" as well as three copies of a "Feynmonk" poster. In this poster Feynman with a "Feynman diagram" in his right hand is portrayed in the garb of a Ladakhi monk. In the background is the scenery of Los Alamos, where Feynman worked on the Manhattan Project during the Second World War (when I saw the background first, I thought it a landscape of Tuva).

On July 22 Ralph's group departed from Kansai Airport to Hong Kong, which is the native town of his wife.

1. http://www.fotuva.org
2. http://www.tarbagan.net/fotj/
3. T. Tabata and S. Okuda, "Mirror reversal simply explained without recourse to psychological processes," Psychonomic Bulletin & Reviews, Vol. 7, No. 1, p. 170 (2000); Available online at http://www.psychonomic.org/PBR/.