Friday, November 11, 2011

Seek the Truth

Dedicated by a subscriber in loving memory of Marcel Will.(To dedicate a future Table Talk, send an email.)


Please consider the remarkable story of Israel's newest Nobel laureate.

Wikipedia:
Shechtman experienced several years of hostility toward his non-periodic interpretation (no less a figure than Linus Pauling said he was "talking nonsense" and "There is no such thing as quasicrystals, only quasi-scientists.")

The head of Shechtman's research group told him to "go back and read the textbook" and then "asked him to leave for 'bringing disgrace' on the team." Shechtman felt rejected.

The Nobel Committee at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said that "his discovery was extremely controversial," but that his work "eventually forced scientists to reconsider their conception of the very nature of matter."


And in his own words:

“I was thrown out of my research group. They said I brought shame on them with what I was saying,” he recalled. “I never took it personally. I knew I was right and they were wrong....If you are a scientist and believe in your results, then fight for them, then fight for the truth. Listen to others, but fight for what you believe in."
— Prof. Dani Shechtman, 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Amazing. Should be on the first page of every science textbook.

Question for your table.... What's more important, fighting for what you believe or having friends?


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Today's Amazing Jewish Fact

November 11, 2011
14 Cheshvan, 5772

Star of Whom?

There is no evidence that the six-pointed star was a particularly Jewish symbol prior to the Middle Ages. It can be found in ancient inscriptions all over the world, as can the swastika.

Read more:
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From the Amazing Jewish Fact-a-Day Calendar


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Shabbat Shalom

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