How many people can you recognise in this photo?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around identifying individuals in a historical photograph taken in Dublin in 1942, featuring notable physicists and other figures. Participants share their recognitions and attempt to name others present in the image.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants recognize Paul Dirac and Erwin Schrödinger in the photograph.
  • One participant suggests that the woman in the photo is likely Marie Curie, while another later identifies her as Dr. Sheila Tinney.
  • A participant questions whether a figure in the photo is Kapitsa, but later clarifies that he would have been in Russia at the time the photo was taken.
  • Another participant notes that the context of the photo being taken in 1942 limits the famous physicists who could be present due to their wartime activities.
  • One participant mentions using Google Images to identify individuals in the photo.
  • Another participant identifies Dr. Arthur W. Conway as present in the photo and provides biographical links about him.
  • There is a suggestion that a figure in the second row resembles Heisenberg.
  • A participant brings up Eddington and his struggles with reconciling religion and relativity.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on recognizing Dirac and Schrödinger, but there are multiple competing views regarding the identification of other individuals in the photograph, and the discussion remains unresolved regarding some identities.

Contextual Notes

Participants express uncertainty about the identities of several individuals and rely on historical context and external resources for verification. The discussion reflects varying levels of confidence in their recognitions.

Who May Find This Useful

Individuals interested in the history of physics, notable physicists, or historical photographs may find this discussion relevant.

Farang
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I recognise Dirac and Schrödinger only. Can you name others?

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The woman is probably Marie Curie.
 
Is that Kapitsa ?
(2nd row, 4th from the left)
 
"Photograph taken in Dublin in 1942, and showing in the front row (left) theoretical physicist Dr Sheila Tinney with Nobel physicist Paul Dirac (3rd from left), Taoiseach Éamon de Valera (centre) and Prof Erwin Schrödinger (second from right)."
 
So not Kapitsa then, he would have been back in Russia by then.
Since the photo was taken in 1942 is sort of rules out most of the famous physicists of the time; they were either already working in Los Alamos, on the opposing side of the war (Heisenberg&co) or not able to travel for other obvious reasons (Kaptisa, Landau..).
 
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BTW, I cheated. Dropped the image onto Google Images. Handy way to get information about an image.
 
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Noisy Rhysling said:
"Photograph taken in Dublin in 1942, and showing in the front row (left) theoretical physicist Dr Sheila Tinney with Nobel physicist Paul Dirac (3rd from left), Taoiseach Éamon de Valera (centre) and Prof Erwin Schrödinger (second from right)."

Apart from Dirac, Schrödinger, and Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) de Valera, I also recognize Irish mathematician Dr. Arthur W. Conway (front row, 5th from left), who was also President of University College Dublin from 1940 to 1947, corresponding to the time this photo was taken.

Here is some biographical entries of him online:

http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Conway_Arthur.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_W._Conway
 
Farang said:
I recognise Dirac and Schrödinger only. Can you name others?
Yes, I recognize Dirac and Schrödinger too.
Second row (from below), nr 3 from the left looks like Heisenberg, I think.
 
Last edited:
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  • #10
First row:
On this page, http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Tinney.html, the entire first row of the photo is described.
 
  • #11
Eddington! Didn't he go crackers trying to reconcile religion and relativity?
 

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