Professor Simon Leonardo Altman , Emeritus Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford, is a mathematical physicist whose main work is on group theory, quaternions, and solid state. Since his retirement his main interests have been history and philosophy of science, poetry, especially science poetry, and some work on art theory, mainly concerning right-left problems. His website […]
Tag: Poetry
A double helping of six-toe poetry
Xinn Lin, the prominent six-toe poet, has published two books of poetry about having six toes: Toeing Life, Xinn Lin, Trafford publishers, 2012, ISBN 1466931531. the publisher says: “Toeing Life is a collection of poetry by Xinn Lin that allows her to share her questions and doubts about her life while she examines her innermost thoughts…. Lin […]
Adams apples : examinations (part 1)
Apparently, the artist Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) was embarrassed by the size of his laryngeal prominence. Mr. Rockwell felt, it’s said, that his Adam’s apple protruded unduly, and had been known to take steps to cover it up in public. [pictured right] But possible academic implications of this have remained largely unstudied in scholarly circles – […]
Relative Value of Nature and Poetry (in Science)
Walter Westman wonders about worth: “How Much Are Nature’s Services Worth?” Walter E. Westman, Science, vol. 197, no. 4307 (Sep. 2, 1977), pp. 960-964. The author, at UCLA, begins with a snippet of poetry from Wordsworth, then gets on with it: ‘To me the meanest flower that blows can give Thoughts that do often lie […]