John Archibald Wheeler
born : 09 July 1911
died : 13 April 2008
Okay, I can hear you saying, "Who??" John Wheeler was an important American physicist. "Big deal," you say.
Well, what makes the man memorable is that he popularized the terms black hole and wormhole. Up until him, the concept of a black hole was referred to as a "gravitationally completely collapsed star". Yeah. Try saying that three times fast. When inebriated.
As a time-dimension traveller, I have to admit I've used wormholes once or twice. It is not my preferred mode of transport - the flukey things are always changing termini, and dumping you out into an unknown galaxy.
Black holes are worse. Yes, you can go into them, no problem. And you can also exit them, provided you are acquainted with dimension-travel. But trying to exit them as the same entity as when you went in is a real trick. I once ducked into a black hole in Rigel 9 to take a short-cut to the Yth'hinian Universe, and emerged as a 5-dimensional glob of ectoplasm. Talk about being embarrassed! But that's a story for another time.
Anyway, so long John Wheeler. And thanks for all the fish.
1 comment:
Well said Terry, well said. BTW, did you remember to bring your towel on those trips? :)
Oh, and I loved the PHX Pride pics, although they made Rory a bit squeamish a couple times. It was fun. Heh, heh.
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