A Real Dedication to Science

Sometimes a story can really move you.

It was thanks to Jonathan (himself, not his web page, which I have just misleadingly linked to) that I discovered that the spokesman for Large Hadron Collider - related news is Joe Incandela.

As a former research scientist, it irradiates the bivalves of the genus Cardiidae of my myocardial tissues, with photons of the infrared spectrum to hear that name. For clearly Prof Incandela has incorporated an SI unit into his surname.

It takes you back to the good old days of scientific discovery. Back then, research scientists, like Popes, chose a new name on being elected. We think of Newton, Faraday, Watt and Volta - who all named themselves after SI units. Of Fermi, Higgs and Brian Neutrino, who named themselves for subatomic particles. And then of Boyle, Hooke and Murphy, who assumed the names of famous scientific laws. This has been sadly lacking in more recent scientists like Richard Dawkins,  who have taken on the names of painful medical conditions. As we say around here, you don't want to sit on that cold step, you'll get a touch of the Dawkins.

Ah, it's a great day for science when scientists take it that seriously again.