… or Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar or C. V. Raman, for that matter.
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If you go looking for the “most precise” theory in science, you might an argument amongst devotees of quantum electrodynamics, and those of general relativity. see, for instance:
https://scienceblogs.com/principles/2011/05/05/the-most-precisely-tested-theo
So, which of the two is The Most Precisely Tested Theory in the History of Science?
It’s a little tough to quantify a title like that, but I think relativity can claim to have tested the smallest effects. Things like the aluminum ion clock experiments showing shifts in the rate of a clock set moving at a few m/s, or raised by a foot, measure relativistic shifts of a few parts in 1016. That is, if one clock ticks 10,000,000,000,000,000 times, the other ticks 9,999,999,999,999,999 times. That’s an impressively tiny effect, but the measured value is in good agreement with the predictions of relativity.
In the end, though, I have to give the nod to QED, because while the absolute effects in relativity may be smaller, the precision of the measurements in QED is more impressive. Experimental tests of relativity measure tiny shifts, but to only a few decimal places. Experimental tests of QED measure small shifts, but to an absurd number of decimal places. The most impressive of these is the “anomalous magnetic moment of the electron,” expressed is terms of a number g whose best measured value is:
g/2 = 1.001 159 652 180 73 (28)
Depending on how you want to count it, that’s either 11 or 14 digits of precision (the value you would expect without QED is exactly 1, so in some sense, the shift really starts with the first non-zero decimal place), which is just incredible. And QED correctly predicts all those decimal places (at least to within the measurement uncertainty, given by the two digits in parentheses at the end of that).
so, let’s assume (purely for the sake of argument), that “Lord Krishna” invented quantum field theories and general relativity, and even a ToE, and these theories are described in “ancient Vedic texts.”
Can you read those texts and get 11, or 14 or 16 digits of precision? Because those 11,14 or 16 digits of precision are a big part of what makes those theories awesome.
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In other words, one node is named “The known World”. The other node is named “beyond”. Cute, but grammatically disastrous.
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Also… it has a modern nazi connection, apparently…
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this is why we can’t have nice things.
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Fuck nazis.
I’ve got my fingers crossed the NASA usage will help chip away at their mythology-twisting bullshit.
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While looking for more on Thule proper, I stumbled on a few articles by Lucio Russo claiming that Hellenistic explorers reached the Lesser Antilles and Hipparchus made astronomical observations there.
… I really doubt it.
Part of the problem is that Ptolemy, following Posidonius, estimated that each degree was about 500 short stades, instead of 700.
Posidonius used observations of which stars were above the horizon, and how high they were above the horizon, which suffered more atmospheric refraction than Eratostheneses measuring whether the sun was directly overhead, or how far from directly overhead. So his results were wrong.
Ptolemy couldn’t match available distance measurements with the few available latitude and approximate longitude measurements.
Now if you use Ptolemy’s latitude, longitude, and description, the Lesser Antilles may fit. But if you consider the catastrophic effects of European diseases after Columbus, it’d help to explain the fear that did not bark massive wave of multiple plagues that didn’t happen. And the absence of clear references to the Greater Antilles, the Americas, etc. And if you consider known Carthaginian exploration of Africa, etc. the Cape Verde Islands are possible.
P.S. May be wrong about Posidonius’s estimate being 500 short stadia/degree.
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I had not heard of this and we watched a video last night on it (which I could not find again, unfortunately). But the thing that got me was that it was an internet poll, and it didn’t even come in first, but like, 7th… and they went with it anyway, even after they heard about the nazi connection. Which is weird, because NASA is full of smart people! Why not go with one of the first 6, after figuring out how nazis have embraced it?
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The sound is really poor on this, but the slides may be of interest.
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Because Nazis have always been a key part of NASA?
Let us not forget about vonBraun et al.
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But the Nazi party had been dissolved before he joined Nasa! To be precise, we should call him a former Nazi who previously used slave labor to build the A4.
In contrast with Korolev who previously survived slave labor.
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If you ask me, once a (true) Nazi, always a Nazi…a la Eichmann.
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Yeah, but they’re smart space scientists. Which means one of their ilk decided to wear a shirt to a press conference made of a fabric printed with naked girls on it. It was his lucky shirt, and was custom-made for him by a friend of his, but apparently nobody at the press conference thought to pull him aside before he went in front of the cameras, and point out the millions of people watching him give his statement wouldn’t know that.
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Ah. About 27 minutes in, he rejects the idea that the lower estimate came from observations. (Such as Posidonius’s flawed but easier-to-reproduce observations.) So he argues it derives from mis-identification of the Fortunate Isles and reduction of the distances.
P.S. And nobody asks about disease!
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Sorry, have another comment on this… I am sick and tired of the nazis getting to own everything they touch, especially if they’re touching something which is thousands of years older than their movement.
Some things they have co-opted so strongly it’s difficult to disentangle it again. Probably the best example of this is the swastika. Last night I was watching a show about the Romans in Britain, and they showed a tile floor from a Roman villa which included swastikas in the pattern, and even in that context I still had the association.
So I think I get it. Yet I’ve never heard of the Ultima Thule thing before now, despite having relatives obsessed with WWII history (not to mention they lived through it in Europe).
I don’t think Ultima Thule is beyond saving. During the NASA TV broadcast, they only mentioned it in its Middle Ages context. If that version can get re-lodged in people’s heads, or “asteroid named after some Middle Ages thing”, I see that as a good way to loosen the nazi’s grip on it.
Anything to show those fuckers they don’t get a lock on defining history and mythology.
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But it was number 7 on an internet poll… so, why?
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I have known tech types who were completely clueless uninformed assholes outside of their specialty. One guy I heard about in grad school would go to talks and get up during the question and answer period with, “You mean they gave you a degree for this?” He would offer to assist in a problem by saying, “Can you be helped?”
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Who knows – we’d have to ask someone on the committee when they felt safe to be totally honest. Maybe they just thought it sounded cool.
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