Мы встретили 100-летие со дня рождения Джеймса Вернона Макконнелла.
James V. McConnell was an American biologist and animal psychologist.
 
 
 
 
Референс-архивариус Каммингс Центра истории психологии при Университете  
Университет — высшее учебное заведение, где готовятся специалисты по фундаментальным и многим прикладным наукам.
 
 
 
 
  Акрон  
The University of Akron is a public research university in Akron, Ohio.
 
 
 
  Лизетта Бартон (Lizette Barton) любезно предоставила нам ценнейший список публикаций Джеймса Макконнелла на 165 страницах. Библиография художественных произведений Макконнелла находится здесь.
Референс-ассистент Исторической библиотекой Бентли  
The Bentley Historical Library is the campus archive for the University of Michigan and is located on the University of Michigan’s North Campus in Ann Arbor.

 
 
 
Abigale Mumby (Эбигейл Мумби) любезно предоставила нам несколько сканов университетской газеты Мичиган Дейли 
The Michigan Daily is the weekly student newspaper of the University of Michigan.

 
 
 
с материалами о Джеймсе Верноне Макконнелле на английском языке. К сожалению, мы не смогли качественно оцифровать скан Мичиган Дейли от 12 апреля 1996 о террористе Теде Качиньском,  
Theodore John Kaczynski (May 22, 1942 – June 10, 2023), also known as the Unabomber, was an American mathematician and domestic terrorist.
 
 
 
  приславшем в офис Макконнелла письмо со взрывчаткой, поэтому оставляем только скан этой статьи. При работе над этой страницей мы выяснили о смерти Теда Качиньского 10 июня 2023.
Мы выражаем искреннюю благодарность Лизетте Бартон и Эбигейл Мумби за предоставленную информацию.
Выдержки из Энн Арбор Ньюз  

The Ann Arbor News is a newspaper serving Washtenaw and Livingston counties in Michigan.
 
 
 
 
любезно предоставлены окружной библиотекой Энн Арбора при подготовке материалов к 90-летию со дня рождения Макконнелла.
И Лизетта Бартон, и Эбигейл Мумби ответили отказом на наше предложение организовать юбилейные экспозиции к 100-летию Джеймса Макконнелла.
Мы также написали учредителю шнобелевской премии  
Шно́белевская премия — пародия на престижную международную награду — Нобелевскую премию.
 
 
 
  доктору Marc Abrahams (Марку Абрахамсу  
Марк Абрахамс — американский редактор и соучредитель журнала Анналы невероятных исследований, а также инициатор и церемониймейстер ежегодного празднования Шнобелевской премии.
 
 
 
 ) предложение присвоить, в виде исключения, шнобелевскую премию 2025 года юбиляру Джеймсу Вернону Макконнеллу, но тоже очень быстро получили отказ. Без объяснения причин…

Of 100^th Anniversary of the Birth James Vernon McConnell

We’re getting ready to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the birth of James Vernon McConnell.
James V. McConnell was an American biologist and animal psychologist.

Reference archivist of the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology at the University  
A university is an institution of higher education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines.
 
 
 
 
  of Akron  
The University of Akron is a public research university in Akron, Ohio.
 
 
 
 
  kindly provided us with a valuable 165-page list of James McConnell’s publications.
Reference assistant of the Bentley Historical Library,  
The Bentley Historical Library is the campus archive for the University of Michigan and is located on the University of Michigan’s North Campus in Ann Arbor.

 
 
 
Abigale Mumby, kindly provided us with several scans of university newspapers The Michigan Daily 
The Michigan Daily is the weekly student newspaper of the University of Michigan.

 
 
 
with material on James Vernon McConnell in English. Unfortunately, we were unable to qualitatively digitize the Michigan Daily scan of April 12, 1996 about Unabomber Ted Kaczynski,  
Theodore John Kaczynski (May 22, 1942 – June 10, 2023), also known as the Unabomber, was an American mathematician and domestic terrorist.
 
 
 
  who sent a letter with explosives to McConnell’s office, so we leave only a scan of this article. While working on this page, we learned about the death of Ted Kaczynski on June 10, 2023.
To our proposal to prepare an exposition for the anniversary of McConnell, Ms. Mumbi replied that it was impossible due to lack of space.
We express our sincere gratitude to Lisette Barton and Abigale Mumbi for the information provided.
Extracts from the Ann Arbor News  

The Ann Arbor News is a newspaper serving Washtenaw and Livingston counties in Michigan.
 
 
 
 
courtesy of the Ann Arbor District Library in preparation for McConnell’s 90^th birthday.
We also wrote to the founder of the Ig Nobel Prize, 
The Ig Nobel Prize is a satiric prize awarded annually since 1991 to celebrate ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research.

 
 
 
Dr. Marc Abrahams,  
Marc Abrahams is the editor and co-founder of Annals of Improbable Research, and the originator and master of ceremonies of the annual Ig Nobel Prize celebration.
 
 
 
  with a proposal to assign, as an exception, the 2025 Ig Nobel Prize to James Vernon McConnell, but we also very quickly received a refusal. Without explaning the reason…
Both Lisette Barton and Abigale Mumby turned down our proposal to organize an anniversary display for James McConnell’s 100^th birthday.

 

Заметки на полях

Существует миф о том, что великий математик Пьер Ферма писал свои заметки на полях книг. Там же он начал доказывать теорему Ферма, но ему не хватило места для доказательства.
Мы изменили формат заметок на полях. Теперь у всех будет хватать место для доказательств и разговоров. Поле для заметок, занимавшее ранее 25% ширины страниц, теперь, с миниатюризацией гаджетов для просмотра сайтов, занимает 50% высоты страниц.
Заметки на полях — это приглашение к разговору.
Мы предлагаем рассказать:

• о своих первых математических впечатлениях,
• о том, что, по твоему мнению, представляют собой производная, математика, аналитическая геометрия, аксиоматика,
• высказаться по поводу площади круга и его частей.

Мы предлагаем решить в общем виде задачу о поимке льва в пустыне.
В надежде на заинтересованность и любовь к математике, научным знаниям вообще, мы ждем от тебя статей и заметок, отзывов и предложений. В сравнении с более старыми версиями сайта, мы изменили формат заметок на полях, расширив его для удобства просмотра на современных миниатюрных гаджетах.

Редакция ТЧК

James V. McConnell. The Whole-witted Scientist

An amazingly recent discovery in the field of psychosomatic medicine could well have a most dramatic effect on current efforts to revise the college science curriculum. A group of philosophically-oriented clinicians studying various occupational diseases has just reported that, almost pandemic among scientists, there are certain sets of behavioral symptoms that correlate quite highly with certain abnormalities of a previously little-appreciated portion of the human skeleton. According to these clinician-philosophers, once they have determined which one of three major personality types a scientist is – the unwitting, the half-wit or the whole wit – they can accurately predict the pathological condition of his os jesticum, or funny bone. A brief description of the behavioral syndromes involved will enable us to appreciate the enormous educational consequences of this major medical discovery.
In the unwitting scientist, the os jesticum is totally lacking or completely atrophied. Anyone suffering from this condition typically finds the professional journals as titillating as Tom Jones and believes, above all, that science is a serious, sober and somber occupation. Not being able to recognize a joke when exposed to one, he comes to fear humor and develops paranoid feelings of inadequacy when he discovers those around him laughing at something the wit of which escapes him. To compensate for his feared inferiority, the unwitting scientist often spends longer hours in his laboratory than do his more jocular colleagues, he accomplishes more, publishes more, and wins more prizes. However, since he lacks humility and is blinded by the morbidity of his condition, he seldom understands what science is really all about or why he’s doing it.
The half-witted scientist has an immature funny bone, os jesticum arrestum. He can often recognize a joke when he hears one, and occasionally he may even pass along a funny tale someone else has told him. Indeed, he commonly prides himself on his sense of humor, but he likes to keep his categories straight. Humor is what

• appears in Mad Magazine or in the annual graduate student satire;
• science is what appears in Science;
• never the twain should meet.

Although he enjoys hearing a witty talk at a symposium or conference, it usually confuses him to find comedy and science thusly intermingled. And what confuses him, he tends to denigrate. He yearns to be as respectable and productive as the unwitting scientist but he also secretly envies the facile, crowd-pleasing talents of the humorist. Following the course of inordinate moderation, the half-wit often achieves a deservedly moderate reputation. The whole-witted scientist, os jesticum robustum, has such a over-developed funny bone that it has been known to choke him to death professionally. In the terminal stages of the disease, his optic tract is affected and he comes to see his own scientific activities in rather cruel, comic perspective. While recognizing the importance and ultimate value of his life’s work, he sees also the trace of ineffable buffoonery in his own and his colleagues’ posturings. He is as incapable of withholding laughter at this sight as he is of explaining to his dim-witted colleagues why he laughs. But his laughter gives him insight, if not into the workings of science, at least into the workings of scientists. Knowing he will often make mistakes, and being willing to admit to them when they happen, he is often bolder and more imaginative than those scientists who are terrified of being wrong and hence are seldom right. Having perspective, he maintains an aloofness and detachment about his work that his colleagues cannot emulate. By keeping his wits about him, he remains whole-wittedly objective about his work.
There is no cure on record for any of the three pathological conditions described above. The clinician-philosophers do suggest, however, that it may be possible to increase the development of the os jesticum by massaging it, if the treatment is begun early enough in life.
We spend a great deal of time attempting to teach our science students to be objective about their work. Keeping the symptoms described above in mind, perhaps we should infect them with humor and hence teach them to laugh instead.

Текст любезно предоставлен Ларри Штерном