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#39169 - 08/22/01 04:46 PM
Max Quordlepleen Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 08/12/00
Posts: 3409

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#39170 - 08/22/01 10:13 PM Re: RIP Fred Hoyle
Jackie Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 03/15/00
Posts: 11578
Loc: Louisville, Kentucky
Oh! Max! Thank you! (A------i, I know why you did this.) Several things in this article excited my interest. First, I thought it sounded a bit odd to read that he developed the "theory that the cosmos had no beginning...", but I put that down to the author of the article not expressing the theory as Mr. Hoyle would have. Nonetheless, it provided an interesting track for my mind to wander down: where did the very first
anythings come from? Electrons, atoms, and molecules--did they start off as pure energy, and gradually develop mass? And where did the energy come from?

Okay, okay, back to the article: I learned a new word!
Panspermia. I don't think I've ever heard it before, but I sure have heard of the theory that it's the name of! I also don't think I knew that Mr. H. and the other person,
Chandra Wickramasinghe, were the progenitors of it.

I also have a question: he was a Plumian Professor of Astronomy at Cambridge University. What the heck is a Plumian anything, please?


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#39171 - 08/23/01 04:42 AM Re: RIP Fred Hoyle
RhubarbCommando Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 08/23/00
Posts: 2204
Amen to your valediction to the great FH, Max. He was, indeed©, a genius.

As to the "Plumian" bit, Jackie - I don't know the details of this one, but it is almost certainly either the person who endowed the Chair in Astronomy or else it is named after an emminent astronomer - presumably named Plum!


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#39172 - 08/23/01 02:30 PM Re: RIP Fred Hoyle
Bobyoungbalt Offline
veteran

Registered: 11/22/00
Posts: 1289
In reply to:

an emminent astronomer - presumably named Plum!




Proffessor Plum in the libbrary with the canndlestick?


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#39173 - 08/24/01 02:30 PM Re: RIP Fred Hoyle
Capital Kiwi Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 11/13/00
Posts: 3146
Loc: Northamptonshire, England
Proffessor Plum in the libbrary with the canndlestick?

Yeeessss. I had heard the rumours. Something that C.S. Lewis would have enjoyed, no doubt?

_________________________
The idiot also known as Capfka ...

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