Talk:Richard C. Tolman

Untitled
In 1946, Albert Einstein, noted scientist, published an article in the New York Times about supposed incidents where people from parallel universes had allegedly appeared in ours. 'While theoretically possible, there is no proof of parallel universes, in spite of the insistence of the Tolman crowd,' Einstein wrote, dismissively. In spite of this high-level dismissal, many of the followers of Richard Tolman's parallel universe theories continued to watch for breaks in the universal fabric. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.230.10.145 (talk) 02:40, 25 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Once again, others had to bring to Einstein's ideas the vision and depth they deserved but that Einstein himself lacked! If Tolman mulled over parallel and multiple universes in his 1934 text, he was 6-7 decades ahead of his time.


 * The photograph of Tolman and Einstein that illustrates this entry is creepy; Tolman looks very much the more intelligent of the two. They were only two years apart in age.123.255.29.254 (talk) 02:48, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

A fine USA scientist
John Barrow and Frank Tipler write that the 20th century marriage of cosmology and thermodynamics, the area where Hawking and other contemporary British cosmologists have made their reputations, actually began with Tolman's 1934 monograph (which Dover keeps in print; was this the first American exposition of general relativity??). I read that that monograph was considered very difficult in its day (if only because of its free use of tensors), but cannot recall where. Tolman was arguably the finest American cosmologist before Wheeler, Dicke, and Peebles ushered in the contemporary American excellence in cosmology. Tolman definitely proved that electricity is electrons flowing through wires, and gave Linus Pauling his first taste in quantum theory. A fine and eclectic career. Yet this powerful theoretical physicist did his degrees in chemical engineering! Tolman's deep understanding of statistical mechanics brings to mind Willard Gibbs, who was still alive when Tolman was an undergrad.123.255.29.254 (talk) 02:38, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

Tolamn Medal
William G. Young, Anton B. Burg, Ernest H. Swift, W. Conway Pierce, A.J. Haagen-Schmidt, Thomas Doumani, Arthur W. Adamson, Ulrich B. Bray, Francis E. Blacet, [Robert D. Vold, Robert L. Pecsok, Roland C. Hansford, James Bonner, Howard Reiss, John D. Roberts, Corwin Hansch, F.Sherwood Rowland, Sidney W. Benson, Thomas C. Bruice, Harry B. Gray, Herbert D. Kaesz, Paul D. Boyer, Donald T. Sawyer, James N. Pitts, Donald C. Cram, Arnold O. Beckman, M. Frederick Hawthorne, Clifford A. Bunton, John D. Baldeschwieler, Mostafa A. El-Sayed, Linus Pauling, George A. Olah, Peter C. Ford, Charles L. Wilkins, Robert H. Grubbs, Jacqueline K. Barton,  Christopher S. Foote, Larry R. Dalton,  Ahmed Zewail,  Kendall Houk, Peter Dervan, William Goddard III, Peter Renzepis,  Arieh Warshel, Christopher Reed, Fred Wudl, G. K. Surya Prakash, Barbara J. Finlayson-Pitts, Joan Selverstone Valentine, Richard Kaner

Lost in translation
While translating this article into french (to replace the present stub), I feel unable to understand the meaning of the following sentence : His investigation of the oscillatory universe hypothesis, which Einstein had proposed in 1930, resulted in its demise until the late 1960s. Could anyone help ? Thanks in advance. Hop ! Kikuyu3 (talk) 17:17, 1 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Sorry for useless disturbance, I finally understood the meaning by myself (just had not thought enough). Thanks for your helpful interest. Hop ! Kikuyu3 (talk) 17:25, 1 April 2012 (UTC)