More stories from Novee's lab at Argonne.
For years, the lab techs were instructed not to plot a small sequence
of sparks on the film from which they were trying to identify the
neutrino. They hired a new tech who could not read or write. My
mother helped this person learn these skills, and trained her to read
the film. As she was reading the film, she asked my mother why they
threw out these three (i think it was 3) sparks that always appeared
in the same location. My mother told her that those were the
instructions! The illiterate trainee more-or-less said that was
"stupid" and recorded these anyway, for which she was eventually
fired. Novee retired and a new young scientist came in. This
individual (I don't know the name, and frankly I may have mixed up
which scientist was novee since hearing the story) reviewed many of
the films and such and eventually stumbled across the data that was
incorrectly recorded......and was in fact the evidence of the
neutrino.
Certainly, this story was not published in the report, however, it has
taught me not to ignore the observations or questions of the naive or
the uniformed. Sometimes they get it right!
Malcolm
On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 5:39 AM, William Silvert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I was intrigued to find one of my favourite particles, the neutrino, show up
> on this list. As Dr. Novee says, they are hard to find. But I think that
> there is much about the neutrino that is relevant to ecology.
>
> Ecologists often take it for granted that if theory and experiment disagree,
> the theory must be wrong. That is how the neutrino was first "discovered",
> because experiments on scattering produced results that were theoretically
> impossible - the Compton effect violated both conservation of energy and
> conservation of momentum. Did the theorists yield? No, they postulated an
> invisible particle called the neutrino which carried off the missing energy
> and momentum. No ecologist would fall for such a sneaky trick!
>
> The neutrino concept was of course pure speculation, which many ecologists
> claim has no place in science.
>
> For many decades there was no experimental evidence for the neutrino (as for
> the quark and the Higgs boson). And yet, physicists didn't give up, and
> astrophysicists even started hypothesizing that much of the matter ("dark
> matter") in the universe consisted of neutrinos.
>
> So far only a handful of neutrinos have been "seen" (the evidence is really
> sketchy, just a few flashes of light in huge tanks of liquid), certainly not
> enough to satisfy the ecological standards for experimental proof. On the
> other hand, there is a noteworthy precedent for building theoretical castles
> on just a small mound of experimental mud - Kepler's theory of elliptical
> orbits was inspired by a minor discrepancy between the centuries old theory
> of epicycles and the observations of his great mentor, Tycho Brahe.
>
> As regards science and politics, when I was a graduate student we thought it
> was a great joke to spead a whispering campaign about a new weapon, the
> neutrino bomb, against which there could be no defense. After all, since
> neutrinos can pass through the entire earth, what man-made shield could
> deflect them? Of course the reluctance of neutrinos to interact with matter
> also meant that they could do no harm, which made them the perfect weapon,
> no defense and no damage. But a wise professor told us to stop before the
> military heard of this, as they did not appreciate jokes and would spend
> billions on it before they caught on, and then we would be in deep trouble.
>
> Bill Silvert
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "malcolm McCallum"
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: <[email protected]>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 11:39 PM
> Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Palin laughs at fruit fly research
>
>
>> My mother worked for Dr. Novee at Argonne National Laboratory in their
>> search for the nutrino. One day, she asked why it was important. He
>> said something to the effect of, "right now we don't know what it will
>> be good for, but we can't use it if we can't find it."
>>
>> So it is with most knowledge.
>>
>> On Wed, Oct 29, 2008 at 10:15 AM, David Bryant
>> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>>
>>> On Oct 29, 2008, at 9:36 AM, malcolm McCallum wrote:
>>>
>>>> The fact of the matter is that basic research must be in place before
>>>> applied research can utilize that information. Until American society
>>>> as a whole understands what research is and why it is important, these
>>>> kind of simple-minded attacks will continued.
>>>
>>> "To the electron, may it never be of any use to anybody"
>>>
>>> A toast by JJ Thomson, following his discovery of the electron.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> David M Bryant PhD
>>> Fangorn Productions llc
>>> 11 Dix Rd
>>> Ipswich, MA 01938
>>>
>>> 978-697-6123
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Malcolm L. McCallum
>> Associate Professor of Biology
>> Texas A&M University-Texarkana
>> Editor, Herpetological Conservation and Biology
>> http://www.herpconbio.org
>>
>> Summer Teaching Schedule & Office Hours:
>> Ecology: M,W 1-2:40 pm
>> Cell Biology: M 6-9:40 pm (don't ask!)
>> Forensic Science: T,R 10-11:40am
>> Office Hours: MW 12-1, 5-6, TR 11:40-12:30,
>>
>> "until we as a people stop killing each other and stop not getting our
>> education we are never going to be successful."
>> -Charles Barkley
>>
>
--
Malcolm L. McCallum
Associate Professor of Biology
Texas A&M University-Texarkana
Editor, Herpetological Conservation and Biology
http://www.herpconbio.org
Summer Teaching Schedule & Office Hours:
Ecology: M,W 1-2:40 pm
Cell Biology: M 6-9:40 pm (don't ask!)
Forensic Science: T,R 10-11:40am
Office Hours: MW 12-1, 5-6, TR 11:40-12:30,
"until we as a people stop killing each other and stop not getting our
education we are never going to be successful."
-Charles Barkley
