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ex nihilo
19-11-2009, 13:01
Niels Bohr revolutionized physics in 1913 with his model of atomic structure which became the basis for quantum theory. He received the Nobel Prize for physics in 1922.

Niels was a keen f00tball player and was the goalkeeper for the Danish team Akademisk Boldklub at the begiining of the twentieth century. At the time AB, was one of the best clubs in Denmark, but he never made it to the national team. However, his brother Harald, a well-known scientist too, also played at AB and played for the Danish national team and was part of the team that won the silver medal at the 1908 London Olympics.

An AB story says that in a match against the German side Mittweida, one of the Germans launched a long shot and Niels leaning against one of the posts did not react, missing an easy save. After the game he admitted to his team-mates his thoughts had been on a mathematical problem causing him to lose concentration on the game.

I wonder how many modern day goalkeepers lose concentration as they become wrapped up in string theory.

The Large Hadron Collider is scheduled to restart this weekend but will it be sabotaged by its own future?

Two modern day physicists one from Denmark and one from Japan, have concluded that its discoveries could be so "abhorrent to nature" that they are coming back to stop their own creation.

They have postulated a theory that the Higgs Boson will "ripple backward through time" and stop the collider before it could make one, rather like a time traveler who goes back in time to kill his grandfather.

It's worth listening to forest's recommended radio play "The Loop" on R4 to see what time can do :old_smile:

Gullane2
19-11-2009, 19:39
As someone on this board - can't remember who - pointed out, last time they switched on the LHC, the banks disappeared into a black hole.

Strap yourselves in.

forest
19-11-2009, 21:22
Thanks for that contribution, ex nihilo. I had no idea that Niels Bohr was such a good f00tball player.

I saw 'Copengahen', Michael Frayn's great play about a meeting in 1941 between NB and German scientist Heisenberg, at the Cottesloe Theatre back in the late 90s. It must be about time for a revival, given that Tom Stoppard's brilliant 'Arcadia' from the mid 90s has recently enjoyed a triumphant West-End revival, and the current interest in the physics.

I read about the two scientists you mention, who warned even before the Hadron Collider was first switched on, that the universe might just conspire to prevent the creation of the Higgs Bosun particle by sabotaging the apparatus from the future.

I leave the last word to Niels Bohr, who is reported as saying to a fellow physicist:

"We are all agreed that your theory is crazy. The question which divides us is whether it is crazy enough to have a chance of being correct"

and to another:

"You are not thinking, but merely being logical" :)

scapey
25-11-2009, 11:22
As someone on this board - can't remember who - pointed out, last time they switched on the LHC, the banks disappeared into a black hole.

Strap yourselves in.

Maybe this time it`s furked the weather:( especially in Cumbria

bunny
25-11-2009, 16:16
Jean-Paul II and Albert Camus were keepers too, weren't they? Maybe it's a job for thinkers rather than do-ers?

Lisal
25-11-2009, 16:34
Didn't Julio Iglesias keep goal for Real Madrid?

Switching it back to the Beautiful Game

:)

ex nihilo
25-11-2009, 18:06
Didn't Julio Iglesias keep goal for Real Madrid?

Switching it back to the Beautiful Game

:)

I believe he kept goal for the youth team in the 60's.

Learned to play down by the schoolyard :old_smile:

bgx
25-11-2009, 18:20
Didn't Julio Iglesias keep goal for Real Madrid?

Switching it back to the Beautiful Game

:)

He kept goal for the first team

:shooting::tumbleweed:

entelechy
25-11-2009, 19:47
I'm the Higgs Bozo

Ms_Tytania
25-11-2009, 19:48
The Large Hadron Collider is scheduled to restart this weekend but will it be sabotaged by its own future?

Two modern day physicists one from Denmark and one from Japan, have concluded that its discoveries could be so "abhorrent to nature" that they are coming back to stop their own creation.

The People from the Future are so intent on sabotaging the LHC project, they have appointed David Beckham to help with their research :doofywave:*

Just keeping in touch with the f00tie/science theme

*No, I wouldn't put it past Mrs Beckham: "ooh look, I fixed it with a hair pin!"