Diamond Dealers and Feather Merchants Tales from the Sciences
To paraphrase Saul Bellow, it is extremely difficult to escape from the conceptual bottles into which we have been processed, or even to become aware that we are confined within them. Anthro pocentrism, an ancient tradition, is an intellectual constraint
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FEATHER
MERCHANTS
DIAMOND DEALERS AND FEATHER MERCHANTS Tales from the Sciences
Irving M. Klotz
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Klotz, Irving M. (Irving Myron), 1916Diamond dealers and feather merchants. 1. Science - Miscellanea. I. Title. Q173.K5735 1985 500
85-7549
ISBN 978-0-8176-3303-5 ISBN 978-1-4899-3529-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4899-3529-8
CIP - Kurztitelaufnahme der Deutschen Bibliothek
Klotz, Irving M.: Diamond dealers and feather merchants: tales from the sciences / Irving M. Klotz. ISBN 978-0-8176-3303-5 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the copyright owner. © Springer Science+Business Media New York 1986 Originally published by Birkhiiuser Boston in 1986 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1986
987
6
5
432
I
ISBN 978-0-8176-3303-5 Manufactured in the United States of America
To the Memories of Arthur C. Lunn (19 February 1877-19 November 1949) and Julius Stieglitz (26 May 1867-10 January 1937) Professors at the University of Chicago who opened windows, gently.
Contents
Preface
ix
I. Bending Perception to Wish: The Future as Froth and Fantasy II. The Clouded Crystal Ball: Creases of the Mind
1 21
III. Great Discoveries Not Mentioned in Textbooks: N Rays
39
IV. Grand Illusions: Russian Water
67
V. People Yearn to Believe: Dr. Fox Experiments
97
Epilogue
117
Acknowledgments
119
Preface To paraphrase Saul Bellow, it is extremely difficult to escape from the conceptual bottles into which we have been processed, or even to become aware that we are confined within them. Anthropocentrism, an ancient tradition, is an intellectual constraint that has continually impeded objective probing of the universe around and within us. We are probably born with that constriction, perhaps as a result of evolutionary selection or because each of us has been created in the image of the Deity. But it is only the core of our mental "gestalt." Around it we find additional shells of intellectual obstructions deposited by accretion from our family, our teachers, our experiences and the society in which we are immersed. It is very hazardous to embrace novel scientific ideas. Personal and social experiences show that the vast majority turn out to be failures. What standards can one use to make judgments? There is a universal tendency to rely on "common sense;" but as Einstein pointed out, this is a collection of views, sensible or not, imprinted in us before the age of sixteen. I have found it a challenge to convince young students that much of what they are certain about and, in fact, correct about, is actually contrary to common sense. For example, on any bright day, anyone who is not blind or an idiot can see the sun literally moving around the earth, from east to west. Why does any lay person of modern times unthinkingly accept
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