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In 1975, a Cat Co-Authored a Physics Paper
Atlas Obscura ^ | 30, Aug, 2016 | Eric Grundhauser

Posted on 09/05/2016 6:29:55 PM PDT by MtnClimber

When one reads a physics paper in an esteemed journal, one does not generally wonder if it was written by a cat. But such was the case for an article in the 1970s credited to co-author F.D.C. Willard—the Cat Who Published.

Jack H. Hetherington was a professor of physics at Michigan State University in 1975, when he finished what would become an influential and often-cited physics paper. The academic writing, entitled, Two-, Three-, and Four-Atom Exchange Effects in bcc 3He, was an in-depth exploration of atomic behavior at different temperatures. It would have flown over the heads of most lay people, not to mention cats.

He was all set to send it to Physical Review Letters, which today describes itself as “the world’s premier physics letter journal.” However, before he dispatched it, Hetherington gave the paper to a colleague to get one one last set of eyes on the piece. This is when he ran into a strange problem. Hetherington had used the royal "we" throughout the paper.......

Unwilling to go back and replace the plural voice in the document, he did the next best thing and just added a second author: his Siamese cat, Chester. Of course just listing “Chester” as a co-author probably wouldn’t fly, so he invented the name F.D.C. Willard. The “F.D.C.” stood for “Felix Domesticus, Chester." Willard had been the name of Chester’s father.

(Excerpt) Read more at atlasobscura.com ...


TOPICS: Humor; Science
KEYWORDS: felixdomesticus; physics

1 posted on 09/05/2016 6:29:56 PM PDT by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

Funny article including photo of reprints signed with the signature of the author and paw print of the coauthor.


2 posted on 09/05/2016 6:31:19 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

Probably better than most post grad students today!........


3 posted on 09/05/2016 6:34:12 PM PDT by Red Badger (Make America AMERICA again!.........................)
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To: MtnClimber

Obviously the cat was from the future. It probably built a time machine.


4 posted on 09/05/2016 6:36:50 PM PDT by DannyTN
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To: MtnClimber

“Funny article including photo of reprints signed with the signature of the author and paw print of the coauthor.”
==
I got a giggle from the photo of a kitten by a microscope with the caption underneath reading: “THIS IS A DRAMATIZATION.”.


5 posted on 09/05/2016 6:36:50 PM PDT by LouieFisk
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To: MtnClimber
A cool cat, at that.


6 posted on 09/05/2016 6:37:31 PM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: MtnClimber
I wonder if he had ever gotten together with Henri le chat noir (existential philosopher cat).
7 posted on 09/05/2016 6:46:51 PM PDT by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics.)
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To: MtnClimber

8 posted on 09/05/2016 6:55:08 PM PDT by ETL (God PLEASE help America...Never Hillary!)
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To: MtnClimber

a cat who’s revealing the secrets of the universe???? This is wonderful!

cats, as the superior life form on Rock Three, know all the answers. they just don’t usually tell us inferior types anything we want to know, is all......

this is Great News!


9 posted on 09/05/2016 7:08:28 PM PDT by faithhopecharity ("Politicians are not born. They're excreted." Marcus Tullius Cicero.)
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To: MtnClimber
"In conclusion, even though there was some conjecture that I was dead, I was very much alive in that box. Thank God that kid let me out. My owner is a dick."

--Kitty Schrodinger
10 posted on 09/05/2016 7:18:54 PM PDT by needmorePaine
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To: MtnClimber

Catses are sneakses.


11 posted on 09/05/2016 7:22:11 PM PDT by Excellence (Marine mom since April 11, 2014)
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To: MtnClimber

12 posted on 09/05/2016 7:25:02 PM PDT by Daffynition (*If you're not gonna tell the truth, then why start talking?*~ Gene Wilder)
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To: needmorePaine

13 posted on 09/05/2016 7:29:46 PM PDT by ETL (God PLEASE help America...Never Hillary!)
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To: MtnClimber


It reminds me of a Futurama episode.
14 posted on 09/05/2016 8:16:38 PM PDT by Trillian
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To: MtnClimber

The Year of The Cat.


15 posted on 09/05/2016 9:57:49 PM PDT by lee martell
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