beamjockey | Old Physics Joke

The Google Life trove documents a thousand encounters between scientists and photographers.

There's an oft-retold story-- it seems to have first seen print with John J. McPhaul in his 1962 book Deadlines and Monkeyshines: the Fabled World of Chicago Journalism (thanks again, Google!) -- about a photographer named Sam. He was assigned to cover a reunion of scientists who first "split the atom" at the University of Chicago, on the tenth anniversary of the first nuclear chain reaction.

Every day, journalists are asked to report on subjects with which they have only a glancing familiarity. Sam was no expert on science, but he was an old hand at composing newspaper photos.

He gathered Enrico Fermi, Arthur H. Compton, Vannevar Bush, and the other scientists.

"I'm thinking of getting three photos," Sam told them.

"First, you guys putting the atom in the machine. Then, splitting the atom. Finally, all of you standing around looking at the pieces."

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