You might remember my previous post in which I challenged you to name the famous scientists on the Royal Institution’s new wall of fame.
Well, I made a bit of a goof. Turns out the sitters were all architects and benefactors connected with the Royal Institution, and not researchers. I now have the answers for that one, but will hold off a bit longer in case anyone wants a second look.
This time round, I really do have a wall of scientists for you. And at least one of them has appeared on a UK bank note. Guess away.
Ugly b*ggers, aren’t they? They’d never get on TV.
sorry, didn’t mean to shout
He’s obviously not been listening to the HPA’s advice.
7 is obviously Faraday, 4 looks like John Logie Baird and 1 is slightly like Roger Penrose.
I saw this style of stuff actually in the Ri for the first time on Wednesday night at the lovely Science of Beer event (hic) in the corridor next to the library. They were individual pictures, and they looked odd.
11 and 12 seem to be Siamese twins!
I don’t think that’s a genital wart, Henry. It looks to me like someone is having a working lunch.
Lettuce anyone?
Scott scores the first point. For Michael Faraday. The other two guesses are incorrect, however.
Is that a fractal genital wart, attached to Benoit Mandelbrot (No. 15)?
No. 9 looks like one of those kindly, quizzical types from Planet of the Apes.
And is No. 10 my old mate, Rumford again?
The trouble with this quiz is that the painting is so dreadful – I find it unpleasant to look at..
Is #12 demonstrating that women in science should look snooty and unapproachable?!? sigh. I’m doing it all wrong.
Yay, a point!
Is 10 James “thermos” Dewar?
2 and 4 definitely look familiar. 4 looks like he was on a Scottish banknote, but I can’t think who it is.
4 looks like Steve Jones. I’m guessing it’s not. And 14 looks like Jacob Bronowski.
I don’t think I’m going to be very good at this game.
Nobody else has said it so I am going to – it is predictable but necessary. One out of fifteen is a woman. What does this reflect?
Possibly two of fifteen. Hard to say. Even so, not exactly representative. And they are all white, also.
What does this reflect?
Now-dead “famous” scientists from the past were mainly white men?
Not necessarily A Good Thing, but seems to reflect how things were.
I’m going to enter Sir Humphry Davy as a guess again, this time for number 4. I figure if I just keep guessing him, at some point he’ll show up in a picture.
Other that the already guessed Faraday nobody is really recognizable. (Who is the unfortunate number 8? Surely that is not actually the shape of his head? And look at number 1’s hair! And number 14’s feet! Those poor, poor people.)
4 – Humphrey
LyttletonDavy5 – Prince Philip
7 – Michael Faraday
9 – Bob O’Hara’s Cat
12 – Dorothy Hodgkin
13 – Ernest Rutherford
But who’s the bloke stepping off stage left?
It’s Sammy Davis Jr. (“A black, one-eyed, American Jew: how underpriveleged can you get?” was his most famous line, I believe).
Scott — judging from the clothes some of these characters are wearing, I don’t buy the argument that there weren’t any suitable candidates from other races. But if they reflect some kind of Royal Institution or other British club, I can well believe its composition is skewed in favour of WASMs even though this has not reflected the scientific community at large for some while.
Have we worked out whether 1 is a man or a woman yet?