Tragedy minus time equals happily ever after

Sunday, 11. February 2007, 09:36:04

So there's this guy, and he has a very simple problem: he wants to see his dead father again.

The 11yo child makes up a plan, a completely unlikely kid's plan, the kind of plan that no adult would ever think could work.

And then the kid sticks with that plan into his 20s, into his 30s, into his 40s, into his 50s. The plan is so complicated, that to fully understand his solution you would need to master the following disciplines: ordinary calculus, multi-variable calculus, differential equations, partial differential equations, vector analysis, vector calculus, matrix analysis, tensor calculus, group theory and Green's functions.

Right, and that's just the math. You also need to know physics, theoretical mechanics, electrodynamics, quantum mechanics, and general relativity. If you know all of these things, you'd be able to get what he's done. Which is to take the first baby step in maybe getting to see his father again.

Part of Chicago Public Radio and Public Radio International program "This American Life" 1/26/07
:: Episode 324 Description :: Stream audio :: Download (27MB MP3) ::

I highly recommend the the segment (which starts 35 minutes into the show). For a pseudo-prologue, you may want to watch "Quantum physics made relatively simple", three lectures by Hans Bethe. For a pseudo-epilogue, Richard Feynman's "The Pleasure of Finding Things Out"

en·gaged (ĕn-gājd') adj.Gutsy gibbon

Comments

Hey, I saw a documentary about him on TV.

It's available on Google video

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5896048467372201322

By Mickeyjoe_irl, # 12. February 2007, 00:46:12

Or you could just visit the cemetary. Far less math involved.

By edwardpiercy, # 15. February 2007, 05:03:24

Cheers, Mickeyjoe!

Why do they always have to have a pool table in documentaries for timetravel ? And not the Superman scene again :'( With all that speed used to reverse the planet's spin, one would think he would be able to catch the missiles...

By dantesoft, # 22. February 2007, 05:51:08

Math? If that is the requirment, then I am in trouble! I will never see any of my dead relatives.

By KayFour, # 24. February 2007, 15:18:00

By occhidigatto, # 9. March 2007, 01:06:49

well , let's hope they won't use it for wars and politics

By VegetaSSJ8, # 9. March 2007, 11:03:49

By sealinger, # 12. March 2007, 04:29:13

By wickedlizard, # 15. April 2007, 18:00:50

Hmmm.. That really makes me think. I wonder if it will be possible to relive our memories and visit deceased relatives in the future. Interesting find, Dan.

By IceArdor, # 28. June 2007, 06:46:45