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Appendices
experiment many times, and keep a tally of the results. You will find that you
are twice as likely to win if you change your mind.
A.6.1 Origin of Relativity Limerick
A letter by A. H. Reginald Buller to the Journal of the Royal Astronomical
Society of Canada in 1938 explains the origin of this much-cited limerick.
“As the author of the relativity limerick, perhaps I may be allowed to say that
the limerick was made by me about fifteen years ago while sitting in the garden
of my friend and former colleague, Dr. G. A. Shakespear, Lecturer on Physics at
the University of Birmingham.
After conversing together on Einstein’s theory, I suggested that we should each
try to make a relativity limerick. At the end of about five minutes, the limericks
were ready and were exchanged, but with nothing more than a trace of mutual
admiration.”
A.6.2 A Land of Bliss Poem
A Thousand Reflections Quiver in These Lofty Boughs;
The Flowers of the Grotto Greet the Arriving Guest.
Near the Spring, Where then is the Herb Gatherer?
A Lone Boatman Rows on the Stream,
And His Guitar Sounds Two Notes.
The Boat Glides Lazily, the Gourd Offers Its Wine.
Shall We Ask the Boatman of Vo Lang:
“Where Are the Peach Trees of the Land of Bliss?
by George F. Schultz [9]
A.7.1 Precession of Perihelion of Mercury
The rotation of the major axis of the orbit of mercury is known, in astronomical parlance, as the precession of the perihelion of mercury, where perihelion is
the term for the point of closest approach of the orbit to the sun.
The observed rate of this precession can be measured very precisely, and
is found to be 5599.7 arcseconds of rotation per century, again not an effect
that can be observed in the backyard. Almost all (5030 arcseconds/century) of
Appendices
experiment many times, and keep a tally of the results. You will find that you
are twice as likely to win if you change your mind.
A.6.1 Origin of Relativity Limerick
A letter by A. H. Reginald Buller to the Journal of the Royal Astronomical
Society of Canada in 1938 explains the origin of this much-cited limerick.
“As the author of the relativity limerick, perhaps I may be allowed to say that
the limerick was made by me about fifteen years ago while sitting in the garden
of my friend and former colleague, Dr. G. A. Shakespear, Lecturer on Physics at
the University of Birmingham.
After conversing together on Einstein’s theory, I suggested that we should each
try to make a relativity limerick. At the end of about five minutes, the limericks
were ready and were exchanged, but with nothing more than a trace of mutual
admiration.”
A.6.2 A Land of Bliss Poem
A Thousand Reflections Quiver in These Lofty Boughs;
The Flowers of the Grotto Greet the Arriving Guest.
Near the Spring, Where then is the Herb Gatherer?
A Lone Boatman Rows on the Stream,
And His Guitar Sounds Two Notes.
The Boat Glides Lazily, the Gourd Offers Its Wine.
Shall We Ask the Boatman of Vo Lang:
“Where Are the Peach Trees of the Land of Bliss?
by George F. Schultz [9]
A.7.1 Precession of Perihelion of Mercury
The rotation of the major axis of the orbit of mercury is known, in astronomical parlance, as the precession of the perihelion of mercury, where perihelion is
the term for the point of closest approach of the orbit to the sun.
The observed rate of this precession can be measured very precisely, and
is found to be 5599.7 arcseconds of rotation per century, again not an effect
that can be observed in the backyard. Almost all (5030 arcseconds/century) of