Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2023 December 2

= December 2 =

Lucky charm in cockpit
Is there any way to bring a talisman into the cockpit of a fighter jet such that it does not become a hazard during a dogfight (keeping in mind that the plane and everything in it may be subjected to a force of up to 12 G's)? (I know that this is against regulations regardless, but this is for a work of fiction and is important for symbolic reasons, so I just want to know how much creative license I can take with this!) 2601:646:8080:FC40:DDBC:A58:C6C:6D97 (talk) 06:07, 2 December 2023 (UTC)


 * It depends on the nature of the object. If it is a relatively thin and light medaillon-shaped object that can be worn under the clothing, put in a back pocket or be stitched-on like a button, it shouldn't pose a problem. --Lambiam 07:47, 2 December 2023 (UTC)


 * See The adorable story of Scoff, the plushy ducky who flies in an F-15. Alansplodge (talk) 11:58, 2 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Also Cockpit photo exposes North Korean pilot using a ridiculous lace-trimmed ejection seat headrest cover (probably made by his wife). Alansplodge (talk) 12:02, 2 December 2023 (UTC)
 * And several more examples here: These stuffed animals have way more flight hours than you. Alansplodge (talk) 12:09, 2 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Thanks, everyone! So, in other words, a small crystal of quartz in a pocket wouldn't be a hazard, right? 67.169.17.27 (talk) 06:18, 7 December 2023 (UTC)

Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking
Nowadays I see many videos about Carl Sagan in social media. In the past, all media used to cover Stephen Hawking as the most celebrated scientist.

I have seen they did not win any science Nobel Prize.

Why do they get more media coverage than Nobel Prize winning scientists and inventors? 2409:40E1:107C:3400:F11D:AA8C:2EA6:A965 (talk) 10:07, 2 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Both Sagan and Hawking have done a lot for the popularisation of science, Sagan notably through his TV series Cosmos, Hawking through his book A Brief History of Time. While both were eminent scientists, they lacked that one discovery that might have been deemed worthy of a Nobel prize — this doesn't make them any less important. Nobel prizes are awarded for particular discoveries, which are oftentimes somewhat too technical for the general public to appreciate, and so the laureates tend not to remain so much in the public eye except maybe for a brief moment after the announcement of the prize. --Wrongfilter (talk) 11:02, 2 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Didn't you think about the case of A. Einstein, who was both a Nobel laureate and a highly celebrated scientist (and still to some extent today)? When Einstein was alive and resided in US, there were moments when the media reporters couldn't stop from interviewing and asking him about "that theory" (the general relativity) =)). But ironically, A. Einstein was awarded the Nobel prize for his works on photoelectric effect instead of "that theory", which must be in some ways more prominent. 2402:800:63AD:9E45:652D:5A64:8F07:FE00 (talk) 14:14, 2 December 2023 (UTC)
 * The ability to educate or transmit knowledge effectively is not necessarily the same skill set as making groundbreaking discoveries. Science popularizers may also sometimes suffer from Tall poppy syndrome. Stephen J Gould discussed this very topic with regards to Sagan in one of his essays, though I don't recall which one. Matt Deres (talk) 00:33, 4 December 2023 (UTC)
 * In addition to the above, it is also worth noting that Nobel Prizes are only given to people while they are still alive (e.g., they aren't given posthumously, except maybe in a case where someone dies between the time that the Nobel committee votes on who this year's prize will be and the formal announcement or prize ceremony). As a result, you can have situations where someone was nominated or considered during several different years, but the committee so happened to go with someone else/some other major discovery in all of those years, and the person then died. I know that this may have happened with Richard P. Van Duyne, whom a number of professors I know were really hoping would finally get the prize in 2018, knowing that he was very ill and not likely to live much longer. Sadly, he did not get it that year, and he then died in 2019. Assuming that either Sagan or Hawking had discoveries that were being considered for Nobel prizes, it is quite possible that, by virtue of only having so many opportunities with only one prize per category issued per year, that they died before the committee decided on their discovery. --OuroborosCobra (talk) 15:43, 6 December 2023 (UTC)