It should be noted that the author of ‘The Physiology of Insect Metamorphosis’ (1954) was Sir Vincent Brian Wigglesworth CBE MD FRS [pictured] . . . . . . and not V. B. Wrigglesworth, as Cambridge University Press might suggest. (Neither was he V. P. Wigglesworth, as Google Books might have you believe) Research research […]
Tag: name
Natesto®. What Else? (drug-naming study)
If you’re a manufacturer of medicines, thinking up a suitably snappy name for (2S)-1-[(2S)-6-amino-2-{[(1S)-1-carboxy-3-phenylpropyl]amino}hexanoyl]pyrrolidine-2-carboxylic acid [generic name Lisinopril] might not be an easy task. And, according to a recent paper in the journal Names : A Journal of Onomastics, Volume 66, Issue 2, 2018, picking the ‘wrong’ name can make a huge difference to your […]
The scourge of ‘Alphabetism’ (new paper from professor Zax)
Professor Zax, who is (amongst other things) an anthroponomastician at the Department of Economics, University of Colorado at Boulder, US, presents (along with co-author Alexander Cauley) a new 48 page working paper which suggests that (males) who have a surname initial which occurs towards the end of the alphabet are more likely to end up […]
PR headline of the week: “A Nose by Any Other Name…”
The week’s Press Release Headline of the Week was issued by Cornell University: “A nose by any other name would sound the same, Study Finds.” This photo shows the nose, and surrounding areas, of Professor Morten Christiansen, who did the research that led to the press release:
Scientists with action-hero names: Hudson Freeze
Another scientist with an action-hero name is Hudson Freeze, Ph.D. Or, phrased alternatively: Hudson Freeze, Ph.D, is another scientist with an action-hero name. Dr. Freeze says (on his website, and presumably elsewhere): “Getting a cure is pretty difficult, but it starts from doing research. It starts from understanding the basic processes, the scientific processes, the physiological […]
Colorful names of bolus material: Superflab
Investigator Terry Sarnoff writes: “My nomination for your Colorful Names of Bolus Material contest is Superflab.” Prior to receiving this note from investigator Sarnoff, we were not aware that we have colorful Names of Bolus Material contest. Here is a detail from a promotional flyer for Superflab, sent, along with that note, by investigator Sarnoff:
WHO says: No who, no where
Innocuity is now a recommended goal in naming a disease. “Discovered a disease? WHO has new rules for avoiding offensive names” is the headline on a report by Kai Kupferschmidt, in ScienceInsider. It says, in part: The World Health Organization (WHO) mostly works to reduce the physical toll of disease. But last week it turned to another […]
Feynman on the difference between names and what’s going on
Richard Feynman told stories that got people thinking. This passage from a talk Feynman gave at a meeting of the National Science Teachers Association in 1966 in New York City, was later printed — as part of a transcript of the entire talk — in The Physics Teacher, vol. 7, issue 6, 1969, pp. 313-320. The next day, Monday, we […]
The Case of the Four Goodmans
Our Multiplicity of Authors project gains a four-Goodman item (thanks to investigator Dorothy Petersen): “A Few Goodmen: Surname-Sharing Economist Coauthors,” Allen C. Goodman [Wayne State University], Joshua Goodman [Harvard University], Lucas Goodman [University of Maryland], Sarena Goodman [Federal Reserve Board], June 5, 2014. The authors explain: “We explore the phenomenon of coauthorship by economists who […]
Other-name calling by scientists
Scientists are a fractious lot. Near the end of a long discussion (in his study “Retinal ganglion cells responding selectively to direction and speed of image motion in the rabbit,” Horace B. Barlow, R.M. Hill, and W.R. Levick, The Journal of Physiology, vol. 173, no. 3, 1964, pp. 377-407.), Horace Barlow writes: “Much of this discussion […]