Surfer dude stuns physicists with theory of everything

Telegraph.co.uk ^ | 14 Nov 2007 | Roger Highfield

[snarks_when_bored]

I read once that Heisenberg came up with the Uncertainty Principle while ensconced in a love nest with a girlfriend for a couple of weeks...

I believe you're thinking of Schrödinger, g_w. Here's a fun article from March, 2006:

Einstein, Feynman and other famous swingers

And here's the relevant passage from that article:

While once floundering on a problem, Erwin Schrödinger shacked up in an alpine villa for an extended holiday with “an old girlfriend” and, in the “late erotic outburst” that followed, produced the eponymous equation that would net him the Nobel.

Obviously, the “old girlfriend” is not to be confused with Schrödinger's wife at the time...

[snarks_when_bored]

Nah. (laugh)

[Moonman62]

In winter, he heads to the mountains near Lake Tahoe, Nevada, where he snowboards. "Being poor sucks," Lisi says.

He surfs in Hawaii half the year, snowboards in Lake Tahoe the other half, has a girlfriend that puts up with it, and he's got nothing to lose. That's not poor. That's as good as it gets.

[PGalt]

E8? Too complex.

2B

[Hammerhead]

The lost me after, “An impoverished surfer has drawn up a new theory of the universe,...”

This pretzle is making me thirsty.

[uncitizen]

I wonder if Einstein said “Holy Crap, that’s it!” when he made his big discovery....

[metmom]

ping

[Professional]

Show me more evidence.

[Professional]

LOL DUDE!

[grey_whiskers]

While once floundering on a problem, Erwin Schrödinger shacked up in an alpine villa for an extended holiday with “an old girlfriend” and, in the “late erotic outburst” that followed, produced the eponymous equation that would net him the Nobel.

You holed it in one (as did he, apparently).

Meantime, I've had a deadline at work breathing down my neck there and a teenager breathing down my neck (less time to FReep or anything else) at home...

Cheers!

[darkwing104]

Bump for reference

[Lancey Howard]

[tamu]

This the guy?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Michael_Langan

[TChad]

He surfs in Hawaii half the year, snowboards in Lake Tahoe the other half, has a girlfriend that puts up with it, and he's got nothing to lose. That's not poor. That's as good as it gets.

Don't confuse the Freepers who think that they became experts on the lives of surfers from watching "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."

[xzins]

I figured both you and Alamo would like the geometry.

[headsonpikes]

“While once floundering on a problem, Erwin Schrödinger shacked up in an alpine villa for an extended holiday with “an old girlfriend” and, in the “late erotic outburst” that followed, produced the eponymous equation that would net him the Nobel.”

“Obviously, the “old girlfriend” is not to be confused with Schrödinger’s wife at the time...”

Am I correct in supposing there is also a distinction to be made between Schrodinger’s cat and Schrodinger’s pussy?

[redhead]

First thing I thought of! LOL!

[TrueKnightGalahad]

IQ above 130 should be treated as a disability by the state and those unfortunates should be put on stipend for life including an allowance for philosophy and math books from Amazon of $100 a month.

I concur; I would amend your proposal, though, to increase the book stipend to at least $1,000 a month. Those philosophy and math books (let's toss in bio-chem books as well for light reading) come dear! My Amazon 'wish list' - for books alone - easily exceeds $1K a month.

[TrueKnightGalahad]

Hmmmmmmm...this thread seems to be tailor-made for testing an observational theory of human intelligence that I'm developing: monitoring the posts to categorise those who immediately carp at the source of the ideas and the publications ("Hey, if this guy were so bright he'd be at LL!"), vs. those posters who grapple with the idea itself on its merits vel non. The former demonstrate the huddled "group-thinkers" who are essentially incapable of original thought or break-throughs, the latter is comprised of those who have the potential for real thinking. Those who simply make jokes are being placed, as a first approximation, in the latter category as well, as the humorous mentality also evidences the flash of creativity.

[darkwing104]

Gee, all awhile I thought was reading his paper because I think it fun to learn something new...

But I still thank the answer is 42.