Faraday and Disraeli
Faraday got money from Disraeli for his research.
- Napoleon needed engineers and physicists to build up his army. In
this photo, I am with two French army officers
in their Napoleonic uniforms. They are students at the
Ecole Polytiniques set up by Napoleon to produce army engineers. They were
talking to me because they were interested in graduate schools in the United
States.
Napoleon was particularly interested in sending projectiles accurately to destined places. Indeed, Napoleon was the major beneficiary of d'Alambert, Langrange, and Coriolis.
After the industrial revolution, Queen Victoria and her prime minister named Benjamin Disraeli had to build steam-powered warships and powerful guns to extend the territory of the British empire. They needed engineers and scientists. I assume they were paid generously by their government.
- There was one British scientist who could play around with magnets, electric
wires, and eletrochemicals. His name of course was
Michael Faraday.
He also wanted have some money from the government, and he asked Disraeli for
support for his research. Disraeli however was not able to see how useful those
magnets and electric wires to his imperial ventures.
Instead of saying flat No, Disraeli asked Faraday what role those gadgets could play for the Empire. Faraday then asked Disraeli why babies are needed for the Empire. Disraeli then decided to support Faraday's research. Click here for photos from the Faraday Museum in London.
Harry Truman of the United States signs the paper to establish the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) in order to transform the Manhattan Project into civilian nuclear research programs. These days, most of the university research programs are supported by the government. - Physics played a more important role in the two world wars resulting in
stockpiles of nuclear bombs. At the same time, physicists became more dependent
on government fundings. More recently, physics became an essential
component of high-tech capitalism.
During these historical processes, money was placed above physics. This is not an ideal situation. When we write proposals for money, we often have to write what we do not really believe in. This is the most painful process for scientists.
- Fortunately, there are physicists who put the physics above money. John S. Toll
was Wheeler's student at Princeton and came to the University of Maryland
in 1953 to build the physics department. He served as the chairman of department
until 1965. He hired me as an assistant professor in 1962, and I worked for him
until 1965 when he went to Stony Brook as the university president.
-
For administrative matters, make appointments with my secretary.
For physics matters, come right in.In 1978, Toll came back to Maryland as the chancellor of the State university system, and he became very happy whenever I invited Eugene Wigner to Maryland. Here is my photo with Toll and Wigner. We need more people like John S. Toll in physics. The best thing Toll did for me was to asign me as Dirac's servant when he visited Maryland in 1962. Click here for a story.
- Let me summarize what I wanted to say.
photo from the AIP E. Segre
Visual Archives.You would agree that the physics environment is ideal if money and physics variables are orthogonal to each other. The question is whether there are physics problems which are completely independent of money. Yes, there are many. Let me mention one of them.
Einstein was worrying about how an object looks to a moving observer. Bohr was worrying about the electron orbit of the hydrogen atom. Einstein and Bohr met frequently, but did they talk about how the H atom looks to a moving observer? Click here for a story.
This is a well-defined problem. This problem does not have anything to do with how much research grant you command. Let me stop here, and let look at some photos from the Faraday Museum in London.
Faraday Museum in London
- Where is the Museum?
We can define Oxford Street and Regent Street
as x and x axes respectively, with the Oxford Circus at the origin. Then
Bond Street is parallel to the y axis in the third quadrant. The Bond
Street consists of Old Bond and New Bond separated by the
statue of Churchill and Roosevelt.
The Museum is one block west of this statue along Albermarle Street.
Click here for a map.
- In early years, the Museum building was used for the Royal Institution.
Thus, the Museum also contains many items inherited from this Institution.
- This is the
old library of the Royal Institution.
- The old lecture hall
is still preserved. In February of 2017, I attempted to
give a lecture there,
but nobody was in the audience. The hall was packed when
Faraday gave his lecture at the same place 150 years ago.
- This is the
old library of the Royal Institution.
- This is a sketch of Faraday's lab from the
Wikipedia page. It appears
that this was his chemistry lab. During his time, physics was not
well defined subject, and he was widely known as a chemist. He also had
labs dealing with electricity, magnetism, as well as electro-chemicals.
His experimental devices are shown in various show windows in the Museum.
- Entrance to the Faraday Lab.
- This sign tells how the displays are
organized in this Museum.
- Materials Lab.
- Magnet and Magnetic Materials.
- Electromagnetic Rotation.
- Chemistry Lab.
- Entrance to the Faraday Lab.
- Faraday's statue at the entrance lobby
of the Museum.
- Back of the 20 Pound Bill shown on the
wall of the entrance lobby. Why not front? Queen Elizabeth II of course.
- In this photo, I am standing next to
Faraday's statue at the Savoy place on the northern bank of the Thames at
the Waterloo Bridge. Behind the statue is the headquarters building of
the British Association of Electrical Engineers.
Faraday's grave at the Highgate Cemetery in London. This is his tombstone.
Among the persons well known to us, Karl Marx was also berried at this Cemetery. I was at his grave site. The Cemetery wikipage gives a list of the important people buried there, but Jean Simmons is the only person I could recognize, in addition to Faraday and Marx. Jean Simmons was one of the respected actresses of the past century. This tells how ignorant I still am even though I often pretend to know everything.
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Old library of the Royal Academy. |
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Interesting Places near the Museum
- As shown on this map,
New Bond Street is
parallel to Regent Street and perpendicular to Oxford Street. This
area is London's main shopping area. While most of the department
stores are along Oxford Street. All the luxury stores are along
the Bond Streets. New Bond stretches southward from Oxford Street.
This street changes its name at the statue of Churchill and Roosevelt
until Piccadilly Street in the South.
-
This is the statue of Churchill
and Roosevelt. It is not large enough
for me sit between these two giants in history. However,
in this photo,
I look OK with them.
- From this point, Old Bond Street (south) looks
like this, and New Bond Street (north)
like this. The Union Jack flags are
flying, because these photos were taken on the referendum day of June 2016 when
the citizens of the United Kingdom voted to exit from the European Union.
-
This is the statue of Churchill
and Roosevelt. It is not large enough
for me sit between these two giants in history. However,
in this photo,
I look OK with them.
- The names of these shops are familiar to everybody. Tiffany,
Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Rolex, etc. We know what to expect from those stores.
Wilson (1911) and Einstein (1920). - However, there is a short street called
Savile Row parallel
to New Bond Street as shown on this map.
This one-way street appears like
this. Nothing special.
- This street has been defining men's fashion since 1800. The present
form of men's dress was developed in the tailor shops on this street.
- We wear suits and neckties for formal occasions. Until 1970, professors
had to wear suits and neckties when they went to class rooms.
This is a physics
physics faculty photo of the Univ. of Maryland taken 1963. Every man is
in this photo is wearing his suit and necktie.
-
Click here for the presidents of the United States. Men's fashion
remained constant since the period of
Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921).
- Let us look at,
Einstein's photo of 1920. He was also wearing his suit and necktie of
our style.
-
Click here for the presidents of the United States. Men's fashion
remained constant since the period of
Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921).
- The question is why men's dress style did not change for at least 100
years. while women's fashion changes every year if not every day. Do you know
the answer to this question.
I went into the one of the shops there and asked this question. The manager's answer was that they do not define the fashion. They simply make the dress according to the customer's demand.
I then asked whether he knows the Western suit is called "Sebiro" in Japan. His answer was immediate. "Yes, we maintain a Sebiro store in the Ginza District of Tokyo. " The Ginza in Tokyo is the area with all expensive stores. Why Sebiro? It means Savile Row.
- In 1850, Japan started adopting Western systems, and Emperor Meiji ordered his first tailored suit from one of the Savile Row stores. Then his ministers and many Japanese noble men followed what the Emperor did. Thus "Sebiro" is the Japanese word for Savile Row. I think "Sebiro" may become a good English word for "Suit and necktie."
- This street has been defining men's fashion since 1800. The present
form of men's dress was developed in the tailor shops on this street.
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Click here to expand this map. |
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For the rest of London
- Click here. London is an exciting place.
I learn new things whenever I go there, and I often add new photos to my
London page.
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How did he talk to Einstein? |
- copyright@2017 by Y. S. Kim, unless otherwise specified.
- Click here for his home page.
- Einstein page.
- Princeton page.
- Travel page.
- Click here for his home page.