Scientific Americans

May 27, 2005 10:08 AM

The US Postal Service has issued a series of postage stamps honoring great American scientists including: Josiah Willard Gibbs, thermodynamicist best known for the Gibbs Phase Rule; Barbara McClintock, geneticist who showed genes could transpose within chromosomes; John von Neumann, mathematician who made significant contributions in game theory and computer science; and Richard Feynman, infamous physicist best remembered for his work on quantum electrodynamics, the Manhattan Project, Feynman Diagrams, and his testimony at the Space Shuttle Challenger hearings.
posted by chicken nuglet (15 comments total)

my mom bought me that set of stamps because i like science.

my boyfriend wanted to name his ferret schrodinger
posted by ackeber at 10:26 AM on May 27, 2005

Cool! Hadn't heard about these.

ackeber: It would have been better if the ferret had been a cat.
posted by pmurray63 at 10:28 AM on May 27, 2005

Feynman was infamous? Actually, I'd bet he'd have liked that much better than being famous.
posted by bonehead at 10:41 AM on May 27, 2005

I would hardly call Feynman "infamous" ... unless it was meant in a good-natured, poking-fun manner, as he was into the mischief.

Enjoyable post, though. :)
posted by socratic at 11:11 AM on May 27, 2005

While the great philosophers were interested in philosophy, and the great literary critics were interested in literature, it seems like the 20th-century physicists were fascinated with everything -- Fenyman and Oppenheimer, for example.
posted by NickDouglas at 11:16 AM on May 27, 2005

Nice. I know which stamps I'll be picking up next time I go to the post office.

I considered naming my cat Schrodinger, but it occurred to me that Schrodinger might be a better name for the dog that I'm planning to get someday. I'm relatively certain the dog would enjoy thought experiments involving cats, boxes, and lethal gas.
posted by Aster at 11:58 AM on May 27, 2005

My last cat was named Splodge and I'm naming the next one Tiddles. Can I have a stamp anyway?
posted by TimothyMason at 12:08 PM on May 27, 2005

Ever since they put up a poster for it, I've been needling my post office workers for this awesome Buckminster Fuller stamp, but they just stare at me and give me more flags.
posted by muckster at 12:10 PM on May 27, 2005

Anybody know where I can order art prints? postalartgallery.com only has shmaltz.
posted by growli at 12:17 PM on May 27, 2005

muckster,

The Bucky stamps are no longer produced, but you can still order them through the link you supplied. I ordered a couple of sheets last week. There is a $1 surcharge per order, but I thought they were too cool to pass up.
posted by Charlie Bucket at 12:47 PM on May 27, 2005

I would have preferred a stamp with the fatter, older von Neumann, after he started living the vegas lifestyle.

(and can't resist)

Ah, Dusty! Infamous is when you're more than famous! This guy Feynman is not just famous, he's IN-famous!

ok...enough cheap jokes for now..
posted by about_time at 1:53 PM on May 27, 2005

Gibbs is best known for Gibbs free energy, ?G.
posted by euphorb at 3:33 PM on May 27, 2005

Bah! No American Ecologists? What about Clements of Shelford? Or if you want to get more modern, Joe Connell, Bob Paine, or May or McArthur? Or E.O. Wilson! Bah!

(hehe - just being curmudgeony)
posted by redbeard at 4:48 PM on May 27, 2005

what, no intelligent design "scienticians"?
posted by yonation at 7:42 PM on May 27, 2005

Good excuse to bring up these notable, but sometimes less well-known scientists.

As an aside: It's only $3+$1 S&H to buy a set of first day covers. I was going to buy them as a gift for someone (no occasion), but I just don't feel like creating a usps.com account to do so. Why do web vendors insist on annoying people who want to give them money???
posted by grouse at 5:32 AM on May 28, 2005