# What's Wrong With This Picture?

1. Oct 11, 2006

### ZapperZ

Staff Emeritus
OK, if you've read this in Physics Today or some other publications, you should disqualify yourself.

This is one of the most famous picture of Enrico Fermi. Yet, this picture has been a constant 'debate' among many physicists and science historians. Can you spot what is the issue with this picture?

http://www.phy.mtu.edu/images/area/EnricoFermi.jpg [Broken]

Zz.

Last edited by a moderator: May 2, 2017
2. Oct 11, 2006

### neutrino

Guess he messed up alpha.

3. Oct 11, 2006

### Danger

Fermi was left-handed?

4. Oct 11, 2006

### neutrino

:rofl: That was my guess initially.

5. Oct 11, 2006

### Integral

Staff Emeritus
The partial wrt t of what?

6. Oct 11, 2006

### EL

I guess he's just writing the operators.

I'll go for the "alpha", since if alpha is ment to be the fine structure constant, he's switched e and h.

7. Oct 11, 2006

### brewnog

Ooh was he left handed?

8. Oct 11, 2006

### Rach3

Looks like he erased something in the Hamiltonian - replaced "+" with "-"? A sign error?

9. Oct 11, 2006

### Rach3

I see it! Neutrino found it, it's the alpha.

10. Oct 11, 2006

### Gokul43201

Staff Emeritus
Looks more like a written spoonerism than an error.

11. Oct 11, 2006

### Jimmy Snyder

12. Oct 16, 2006

### ZapperZ

Staff Emeritus
What is wrong with this picture, of course, is the expresson for alpha, the fine structure constant. It should have been

[tex]\alpha = \frac{e^2}{\hbar c}[/itex]

Physicists seem to have argued over this image for years. Many see it for what it is - Fermi made a mistake. Others who knew Fermi very well and understand his sense of humor (and his sometime "childlike" quality as evident in his fondnes for http://mydisneymania.blogspot.com/2006/09/enrico-fermi-and-pooh.html" [Broken]) point to the "twinkle" in his eyes and believe that he was pulling a fast one.

Either way, it made for a great conversation piece.

Zz.

Last edited by a moderator: May 2, 2017
13. Jul 24, 2008

### mborn

14. Jul 24, 2008

### robphy

It's on a stamp

http://www.dantealighieri.net/cambridge/Photos_Nobel/fermi_stamp.jpg

Last edited: Jul 24, 2008
15. Jul 24, 2008

### lisab

Staff Emeritus
This picture looks like it was taken at the same photoshoot as the other picture. Looks like the same suit, and the diagram is the same.

16. Jul 24, 2008

### Defennder

He died a pretty long time ago, as this thread itself has. Why resurrect it?

17. Jul 24, 2008

### Defennder

Uh, is it just me or does Zapper's last post bear great similarity to this page:
http://www.anl.gov/Media_Center/ArgonneNow/Fall_2006/Fermi_equation_conundrum.html [Broken]

Last edited by a moderator: May 3, 2017
18. Jul 24, 2008

### lisab

Staff Emeritus

19. Jul 24, 2008

### BobG

He's wearing the same suit and tie in this picture: http://www.historyplace.com/specials/calendar/docs-pix/enrico-fermi.jpg

Did he own any other suits?

Was he like Hari Seldon and owned an entire closet of the exact same suit?

I once owned 24 T-shirts with the exact same color and design. They were left over from a "Conference on the Future" or something like that and had an Einstein quote on them. My brother-in-law is a policeman and he was moonlighting as a security guard for the event. After the conference, when they were disposing of the left over stuff, he figured I might like a box of T-shirts. Trouble is that the neighbors didn't know how many of the T-shirts I owned and just figured that must be my lucky T-shirt or something. They were afraid to come close enough to talk to me because they figured it had to start smelling pretty bad after wearing it for around 12 days straight.

Last edited: Jul 24, 2008
20. Jul 24, 2008

### ZapperZ

Staff Emeritus

:)

Zz.

Last edited by a moderator: May 3, 2017
21. Jul 24, 2008

### humanino

Do you know where Zz works ? Since he his a physicist living in Chicago, IL :uhh:

22. Jul 24, 2008

### ZapperZ

Staff Emeritus
Strangely enough, I remember attending a seminar many years ago, and someone had an anecdote of Fermi (that he also heard from another person who was Fermi's contemporary) that Fermi did own roughly clothings of the same type. Of course, this being 2nd or even 3rd hand info, one shouldn't put too much authenticity on it.

Zz.

23. Jul 24, 2008

### WarPhalange

I think he made a simple mistake. Why? Because claiming he was "having a little fun" by writing an equation improperly on purpose is an insult to the man. You're basically calling him a loser for being amused by something like that.

24. Jul 24, 2008

### humanino

IMHO, you don't realize that this just cannot be a mistake, because it is too trivial. There is a physical meaning to combinations such as $\hbar c$ and Fermi knew that very, very well.

25. Jul 24, 2008

### Astronuc

Staff Emeritus
It could be Fermi's way of dealing with the press. I've seen professors or scientists interviewed, and a reporter or photographer (i.e. journalist) asks the professor to write some equation (anything) on the board - not that the journalist would necessarily understand it or whether it was right or wrong. The journalist is just interested in something that 'looks scientific'.

I wonder how many times Albert Einstein was asked to write E = mc2.