bromance in science and whiskers on kittens
I know some of you were feeling down because there has been discontent brewing in this tag. Now may be a good time to reaffirm some of our favourite things: science and bromance! So here is a toast to pairs of people who are (were) both huge science geeks and revel(led) in each other's scientific brilliance. They can be of any time period, any canon, and any gender (Article 22 of the Bro Code dictates that no rule shall exclude people from being bros on account of gender).
So here are some favourites off the top of my head:
[IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER]
- You are undoubtedly already familiar with Neil de Grasse Tyson and Bill Nye from the modern day: Both scientists and influential popularisers and defenders of science. I think this image says it all:
- Someone has also already mentioned Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler (1597-1611): They worked closely for many years, both building on the work of Copernicus. Kepler's glowing letter of recommendation got Galileo his post as court mathematician to Medici. They also worked side-by-side changing the way people saw the world. Galileo wrote to Kepler: "I esteem myself happy to have as great an ally as you in my search for truth," and later "My dear Kepler, what would you say of the learned here, who... steadfastly refused to cast a glance through the telescope? What shall we make of this? Shall we laugh, or shall we cry?". Kepler wrote to Galileo on the heliocentric model of the solar system: "Be of good cheer, Galileo, and come out publicly [re: heliocentricity]. If I judge correctly, there are only a few of the distinguished mathematicians of Europe who would part company with us, so great is the power of truth."
- And you may know about Max Born and Albert Einstein (1916-1955): Relativity and quantum mechanics are the two pillars of modern physics, and Einstein and Born were instrumental in the development of both of these. Einstein's paper on relativity inspired Born's initial forays into physics, and Born furthered it significantly with his work on Minkowski spaces. They formed a lifelong friendship while they were in Berlin during the first world war. Einstein wrote to Born: "Theoretical physics will flourish wherever you happen to be; there is no other Born to be found in Germany today." In their letters they argued about quantum mechanics, agreed on all things Beethoven (and played together often), and chatted about their families. Einstein's famous "God does not play dice" quotation was in a letter to Born arguing against Born's view on quantum mechanics, which is now viewed as the correct one. The series of discussions through which Born tried to convince Einstein to accept quantum mechanics and all its bizarre and beautiful consequences propelled the development of our modern view of the universe.
- And Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace (1833-1852): Close friends and colleagues for eighteen years, they essentially invented the field of computer science. Upon learning about Babbage's Analytical Machine (pre-cursor to modern-day computer), Lovelace immediately foresaw the ability of the machine to go beyond number crunching, which Babbage did not see. The algorithms she wrote for the Analytical Machine laid the groundwork for programming and computer science. They published many works together, but Babbage encouraged Lovelace to publish her most revolutionary work on her own.
- But did you know about David Hilbert and Emmy Noether (1915-1935): Both made ground-breaking contributions to mathematics and theoretical physics. Noether revolutionised abstract algebra by applying Hilbert's methods to mathematical objects such as fields of rational functions. Hilbert is known for saying "I do not see that the sex of the candidate is an argument... The Senate is not a bathhouse" in defense of Noether's application to the Privatdozent and also for answering, upon being asked whether Noether was a "great woman mathematician" that he could say for sure that she is a "great mathematician", but whether she is a woman was not his area of expertise. Noether lectured in Hilbert's name at the university, because they refused to let her teach on account of her gender. Between his building the foundations of functional analysis (on which much of quantum mechanics is built), and her revolutionising both abstract algebra (on which much of theoretical physics and computer science are built) and calculus of variations (on which Lagrangian mechanics is built), it's pretty safe to say that these two changed the way we see the world, as well.
- Or Joseph Black and James Watt (1757-1799) They set the foundations for thermodynamics and the Industrial Revolution. They became close friends while working together at the University of Glasgow, and Black provided significant financing for Watt's research into the steam engine, which was built on top of Black's theory of latent heat (a concept which would later set the stage for thermodynamics). They collaborated on a project to manufacture sodium hydroxide and did experiments together on a small scale steam engine, forming a key component of the Industrial Revolution and marking a major turning point in history.
- Can't forget the Google Guys, Sergey Brin and Larry Page (1995-present day): While they were graduate students in computer science at Stanford together, they developed the web crawler and PageRank algorithm that would become the foundation of Google. Sergey Brin said that he was jumping between research projects at the time and decided to work on what would later become Google "because it tackled the Web, which represents human knowledge, and because I liked Larry [Page]". Page said of Brin that they disagreed on many subjects but they became "intellectual soulmates and close friends". However you may feel about the corporation they built, it's hard to deny that their core algorithms are without match and that they changed the way the developed world views and accesses information.
- And then there's Nikola Tesla and Mark Twain (circa 1895): Okay, Twain wasn't a scientist in any sense, but he patented a few inventions, so that counts for something, and he frequently visited Tesla's lab and certainly geeked out over everything Tesla invented. The two had so much fun testing Tesla's inventions and hypotheses together that they merit an honourable mention, at least. Among the things they tested were x-ray photography and Tesla's vibration machine, which Twain insisted on testing despite Tesla's warnings. Tesla had a good I-told-you-so when Twain got tripped up by the laxative effect of the machine. Twain wrote that Tesla's induction-motor was the most valuable patent since the telephone.
- And Charles Darwin and Charles Lyell (1836-1875): A biologist and a geologist who each revolutionised his respective field, Darwin with the theory of natural selection and evolution and Lyell with the idea that the earth was shaped by slow-moving forces still in operation today, explaining earthquakes and forming the foundation of stratigraphy. They were close friends for many years--apparently beginning when they had dinner together in October, 1836. In the area of geology, Darwin was a disciple of Lyell. Lyell encouraged Darwin to publish On the Origin of Species and was one of the first scientists to support Darwin's theory (though it did take him a few years).
And my last two are strictly speaking science romance rather than science bromance, but they make me feel warm and fuzzy inside just thinking about them, so I thought I'd share:
- You can't beat Marie Curie and Pierre Curie (1894-1906) for science romance: These two discoverers of radium and polonium also gave us a love story for the ages. Marie began her career studying the magnetic properties of steel and their mutual interest in magnetism brought the two together (notice all the science puns I am not making, and if you followed by "science bros, oh you" series, you are congratulating me on my restraint right now). They married in 1895 and from then on, the two physicists hardly left their laboratory, except to engage in their shared hobbies of bicycle trips and long journeys. They discovered radium and polonium and shared the Nobel Prize in physics for it in 1903.
- And their daughter and son-in-law, Irene Joliot-Curie and Frederic Joliot-Curie (1926-1956): Apparently beautiful science love stories run in the family, because Irene Curie, daughter of Marie Curie was studying alpha rays and polonium when she met Frederic Joliot, who was studying chemical engineering--she taught his lab class. They married in 1926 and combined research interests in 1928 to study atomic nuclei. In 1934 they rocked the world by realising the alchemist's dream of changing one element into another: boron -> nitrogen, aluminium -> phosphorus, magnesium -> silicon. They shared the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1935.
... And that's just off the top of my head. I'm sure there are many more--if you think of any, let us know!
We should celebrate them all; the world needs more Science Geek + Science Geek love. Maybe we should have a Science Potluck and talk about the greatest science bros of history and fiction and duke it out in a competition to recreate the most awesome experiment using only household materials and the stuff you can find at university dump sites (without committing any felonies or putting our own health at risk). Young Double Slit would be a simple and elegant one, as would Oil Drop. Michaelson-Morley and Meselson-Stahl could be good for the more ambitious. Milgram and Stanford Prison would probably count as felonies(^_~). But maybe some Asch? Or we could just have a Diet Coke and Mentos War.
After all, our OTPs/BroTPs overcame their differences by "SCIENCE!" (and saving the world, but semantics), so why can't we?
***
Finally, to thank you for your time, here is a picture of a kitten playing with a tap:
Bonus brownie points to anyone who can most concisely and convincingly explain why the water gets narrower as it goes down.
(SPOILERY HINT: Volumetric flow rate.)
... I sound so chipper. I swear I'm not normally a nauseatingly cheerful person--I just got all warm and fuzzy thinking about these wonderful science bros.
