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#39169 08/22/01 08:46 PM
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#39170 08/23/01 02:13 AM
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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?


#39171 08/23/01 08:42 AM
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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!


#39172 08/23/01 06:30 PM
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In reply to:

an emminent astronomer - presumably named Plum!




Proffessor Plum in the libbrary with the canndlestick?


#39173 08/24/01 06:30 PM
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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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