03
03 Dick on his 80th birthday 03
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 RMS80
  Tributes to Dick Sillitto on his 80th Birthday,
  from forty-two physicists
  
     
Links 41:   from John & Megs Little, Ben Bayman, Harry Tadevossian,
Walter Stanners and Gordon McDougall

      REPORT

FROM JOHN LITTLE, BISHOPBRIGGS, GLASGOW

I AM PLEASED TO SUBMIT THIS SOMEWHAT SKETCHY C.V. FOR THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE CANDIDATE ALONG WITH BEST WISHES FOR THE OCCASION AND AFTER.

JOHN LITTLE
 PRESENT AT DRUMMOND STREET (1949 - 1954)


MY FIRST MEMORY OF ENCOUNTERING R.M.S. (FAMILIARLY KNOWN AS
  OR AS   ROOT-MEAN-SQUARE...)    IS OF BEING AT A TABLE IN A DIMLY LIT OPTICS LAB WHERE, FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT OF ALL OF US, HE WAS DESCRIBING THE ACTION OF THE CYCLOTRONS AND BETATRONS BEING DESIGNED AND BUILT IN THE LATE 1940s.


45 George Square Edinburgh

32 Charterhall Road Edinburgh

FOR THE NEXT FEW YEARS I, AND MANY OTHER STUDENTS, USED TO HAVE DISCUSSIONS WITH DICK ON A WIDE VARIETY OF 'GENERAL INTEREST' PHYSICS TOPICS, NOT ALWAYS DIRECTLY TO DO WITH WORK!   BUT, WHEN DICK WAS THERE, ALWAYS WITH A FRESH SLANT ON THINGS.
(ONCE, WHEN I WAS ACCIDENTALLY MAROONED IN EDINBURGH, DICK AND WINIFRED MOST KINDLY PUT ME UP FOR THE NIGHT:  BUT THAT WAS HOSPITALITY NOT WORK!    MEGS AND I LATER VISITED THEIR LOGICALLY DESIGNED UPSIDE-DOWN HOUSE.)
link to 'Light waves, radio waves and photons' 1959

AFTER I MOVED TO GLASGOW, WE WOULD MEET AT INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS TALKS.

(a) DICK WROTE AN ARTICLE FOR THE OLD PHYSICS BULLETIN ABOUT THE STARTLING HANBURY BROWN/TWISS INTENSITY INTERFEROMETER.

link to Schiehallion (at the centre of Scotland)
(b) LATER, I REMEMBER HEARING HIS VERY EXCITING HISTORICAL TALK ABOUT MASKELYNE AND GRAVITY ON SCHIEHALLION.   I THINK I REMEMBER DICK EXPLAINING THAT WHILE THE ASTRONOMER ROYAL (NEVILE MASKELYNE) WAS TAKING HIS DELICATE MEASUREMENTS ON THE SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN, THERE WAS AN (EARTHSHAKING!) REBELLION OF HIGHLANDERS GOING ON ALL AROUND.
(I HOPE THIS SCRIPT HAS BEEN PRESERVED.)



Forty years
of optics
.
A tribute to
John
(c) IN 1986 DICK TALKED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF STRATHCLYDE ABOUT THE WAVINESS OF LIGHT.   THIS INTRODUCED US TO A WEIRD PHENOMENON OF OPTICAL SPECTRAL CHANGES (INVARIANCE? OR SYSTEMATIC VARIATION?) WHICH HAD BEEN RECOGNISED BY EMIL WOLF AND HIS COLLEAGUES.
(TEXT KEPT?)

THESE ARE ONLY THREE OF THE PHYSICS EVENTS THAT I RECALL SEEING DICK BEING CONNECTED WITH.
ALL HIS TALKS RAISED UNEXPECTED AND INTERESTING POINTS.   OF COURSE, HE HAS BEEN ACTIVE IN MANY OTHER WAYS IN EDINBURGH.
IN THE 1950s PEOPLE AT EDINBURGH WERE:
(a) BEN BAYMAN FROM NEW YORK, WHO WENT TO PRINCETON AND UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA AT MINNEAPOLIS,
(b) THE VERY VOLUBLE HARRY TADEVOSSIAN FROM IRAN WHO WENT TO THE UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH.   HARRY ONCE FAMOUSLY ANNOUNCED I AM IN VIOLENT AGREEMENT WITH DICK SILLITTO (!)
(c) WALTER STANNERS WHO WENT TO LUXEMBOURG,
(d) Lt-Col. GORDON McDOUGALL B,Sc.Hons.Phys. (Army Scientific Corps.)

BEN AND HARRY AND WALTER AND GORDON AND JOHN ALL SEND OUR BEST WISHES TO DICK AND WINIFRED AND THE FAMILY FOR THIS OCCASION.









cover of 'Letters of Thanks'






Unopenable
Patent Milk Carton?




Report on thesis






BUT THE 'THANKYOU' MESSAGES WERE RATHER CONFUSED AND DICK COMMENTED ON THE SAID YOUNG LADY'S RESPONSES WITH A RATHER FIERCE SPOOF CRITIQUE OF THE LETTERS WHICH MAKES VERY AMUSING PSEUDO-ACADEMIC READING.

From Winifred, thanks to Google:
  None of us knew then that the author, West Indian Manghanita Kempadoo, was only 12 years old when she wrote Letters of Thanks.
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