Famous physicists related to famous entertainers

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The discussion centers on the connections between famous physicists and entertainers, with participants trying to identify notable examples. The initial query references an "obvious" relationship that remains unclear to others. Walter Heisenberg and John Cleese are mentioned, along with Ada Lovelace, but the relevance of these connections is debated. Olivia Newton-John is highlighted as a grandchild of physicist Max Born, prompting humorous exchanges about her name and potential relationships to other figures like Isaac Newton. The conversation takes a lighthearted turn with jokes and playful banter about various artists and their supposed ties to historical figures, ultimately illustrating the complexity and absurdity of tracing familial connections in such a broad context.
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Are there any examples (besides the obvious one) of a famous physicist who was a blood relative of a famous entertainer?
 
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The "obvious" one isn't obvious to me. Who are you talking about?
 
What about Walter Heisenberg, whose stepmum was Julia Roberts' auntie Mabel?

Or John Cleese, whose daughter married Robert Oppenheimer's little sister's granddaughter Mary?
 
Does Ada Lovelace, daughter of Lord Byron, count ?
 
zoobyshoe said:
The "obvious" one isn't obvious to me. Who are you talking about?
Um, the one you might have been able to guess from my screen name. Doesn't ring any bells?

By the way, the ones people gave (were some of those just jokes?) are absolutely ridiculous compared to the one which I said is obvious. Two of those three aren't even blood relatives. Although the last one is pretty interesting. I think I've heard of her at one time or another, but I didn't know she was Lord Byron's daughter.

I probably should have phrased the question more broadly, to include mathematicians and other scientists.
 
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ONJ's Noble Steed said:
Um, the one you might have been able to guess from my screen name. Doesn't ring any bells?
I don't get it. You're saying Alfred Nobel was related to Seabiscuit?
 
Zoob said:
I don't get it. You're saying Alfred Nobel was related to Seabiscuit?
:smile: :smile:

Zoob, Olivia Newton John is Max Born's grandkid.
 
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Gokul43201 said:
:smile: :smile:

Zoob, Olivia Newton John is Max Born's grandkid.
And she owns Seabiscuit?
 
zoobyshoe said:
And she owns Seabiscuit?
No, but she once had a thing with the Black Stallion, and once she went black...
 
  • #10
pronounced Ein-SHTEEN, of course.
 
  • #11
Math Is Hard said:
pronounced Ein-SHTEEN, of course.
Yes!

......
 
  • #12
Gokul43201 said:
Zoob, Olivia Newton John is Max Born's grandkid.
Anyway, you meant to say she's Newton's grandkid didn't you? I mean her name's not Olivia Born John, is it?
 
  • #13
zoobyshoe said:
Speaking of famous black sheep, looks who's third cousin twice removed I discovered moonlighting as a biographer:

[picture]

(This is an authentic scan of an actual book! Not photoshopped.)
Alfred ! :eek: Ha, a writer, eh...who's going to fall for that one ?! :rolleyes:
 
  • #14
Dirichlet was married to Mendelssohn's sister.

I guess he's not exactly a physicist though.
 
  • #15
Gokul43201 said:
Alfred ! :eek: Ha, a writer, eh...who's going to fall for that one ?! :rolleyes:
What? Oh, you're right! I thought from the cover Mozart's third cousin twice removed had written a biography of Alfred, but the book does seem to be about Mozart.
 
  • #16
Um, zoobyshoe, Seabiscuit died before ONJ was born. Isaac Newton's grandkids (if he had any) would have also died long before she was born.
 
  • #17
ONJ's Noble Steed said:
Um, zoobyshoe, Seabiscuit died before ONJ was born.
A fact from which I deduce you, yourself, are not ONJ's noble steed, Seabiscuit, but a poseur.
Isaac Newton's grandkids (if he had any) would have also died long before she was born.
That's obvious. What's not obvious is how anyone can deduce a relationship to any physicist other than Newton from the name Olivia Newton John.

I still have no idea where the horse comes in.
 
  • #18
Guess you've never heard the ballad for ONJ's steed, composed by that charismatic yodeler, Blues Steelspring - I think it was called "Born to run"...
 
  • #19
Gokul43201 said:
Guess you've never heard the ballad for ONJ's steed, composed by that charismatic yodeler, Blues Steelspring - I think it was called "Born to run"...
I'm familiar with most of his stuff. Didn't he write "Little Weird, Purple Houses"? Or was that John Cootie Mellonhead?

Anyway, maybe she changed it to Newton after realizing Olivia Born John was too suggestive of sex change surgery.
 
  • #20
Yeah, Purple Houses was a Mellonhead original...but I was more fond of that pioneering piece, Jack was Diane. Good heartland American values there...they should teach this stuff to little kids in school, rather than those horrendous nursery rhymes - all full of sex and violence.
 
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