# Coincidentally aptly named scientific phenomena, laws or equations **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 3, 2019, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidentally-aptly-named-scientific-phenomena-laws-or-equations/838133 "2019-08-03T21:22:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidentally-aptly-named-scientific-phenomena-laws-or-equations/838133/1 "2019-08-03T21:22:02Z")
I’m watching a program about black holes, and the the [Schwarzschild radius](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwarzschild_radius) came up. I had heard about it, but never was clear if it was named after a person, so I looked it up, and indeed it’s named after the physicist [Karl Schwarzschild](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Schwarzschild). Now “Schwarzschild” in German means “black shield”, so it’s a fitting name for the phenomenon it describes. Are there other examples of such a coincidence? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidentally-aptly-named-scientific-phenomena-laws-or-equations/838133/2 "2019-08-03T22:34:16Z")
Moore’s Law is the best I can come up with. But it would have been great if a 5-year-old Emmy Noether had assisted Mitchelson & Morley. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2019, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidentally-aptly-named-scientific-phenomena-laws-or-equations/838133/3 "2019-08-10T23:48:04Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > But it would have been great if a 5-year-old Emmy Noether had assisted Mitchelson & Morley. I don’t get it. Could you elaborate? ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2019, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidentally-aptly-named-scientific-phenomena-laws-or-equations/838133/4 "2019-08-10T23:57:31Z")
:smack: I elaborated about that about a week ago and had already forgotten this thread, but 5 minutes after posting above I got it: no ether. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2019, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidentally-aptly-named-scientific-phenomena-laws-or-equations/838133/5 "2019-08-11T00:16:14Z")
Hotelling’s Law ([Hotelling's law - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotelling%27s_law) ) among other things explains why hotels are likely to cluster in one area. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2019, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidentally-aptly-named-scientific-phenomena-laws-or-equations/838133/6 "2019-08-11T01:38:39Z")
The best I can come up with is something called the Killing form (named after Wilhelm Killing) that vanishes (dies) on a nilpotent Lie algebra. And, BTW, Lie algebras have nothing to do with lying (as Sen. Wm. Proxmire thought) but named after Sophus Lie (pronounced like Lee). ---
**Author:** ![kk\_fusion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kk_fusion/32/15276_2.png) [@kk\_fusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kk_fusion)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2019, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidentally-aptly-named-scientific-phenomena-laws-or-equations/838133/7 "2019-08-11T20:42:03Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > And, BTW, Lie algebras have nothing to do with lying (as Sen. Wm. Proxmire thought) but named after Sophus Lie (pronounced like Lee). Only remotely on-topic here but: Why didn’t Lie characterize commutative groups? – Because he wasn’t Abel. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2019, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidentally-aptly-named-scientific-phenomena-laws-or-equations/838133/8 "2019-08-11T21:06:35Z")
The Poynting vector (after John Henry Poynting) points in the direction of propagation of an electromagnetic wave. When I first learned of the [Auger effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auger_effect), I thought its name had something to do with the idea of an electron drilling down to a lower shell, like an auger drilling through wood. Turns out it’s named for a guy called [Pierre Victor Auger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Victor_Auger). Probably not what you had in mind, but the Child Ballads are so called because they were collected by Francis James Child. For years I thought they were called that because they were for children. After all, they do contain many of the same motifs as fairy tales. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2019, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidentally-aptly-named-scientific-phenomena-laws-or-equations/838133/9 "2019-08-11T21:25:06Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > The best I can come up with is something called the Killing form (named after Wilhelm Killing) that vanishes (dies) on a nilpotent Lie algebra. And, BTW, Lie algebras have nothing to do with lying (as Sen. Wm. Proxmire thought) but named after Sophus Lie (pronounced like Lee). Did Proxmire really think Lie algebras were about lying? ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2019, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidentally-aptly-named-scientific-phenomena-laws-or-equations/838133/10 "2019-08-11T21:28:07Z")
The Poynting Vector points in the direction of energy travel in electromagnetic radiation. It was discovered by John Henry Poynting. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2019, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidentally-aptly-named-scientific-phenomena-laws-or-equations/838133/11 "2019-08-11T21:34:37Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Hotelling’s Law ([Hotelling's law - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotelling%27s_law) ) among other things explains why hotels are likely to cluster in one area. This is cool. I’ve always noticed the effect but never knew it had a name. And talk about what seems to be nominative determinism. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2019, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidentally-aptly-named-scientific-phenomena-laws-or-equations/838133/12 "2019-08-11T22:43:05Z")
Does Alzheimer’s Disease count? Sometimes people seem to think it’s called “Old Timer’s Disease”. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2019, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidentally-aptly-named-scientific-phenomena-laws-or-equations/838133/13 "2019-08-11T23:04:44Z")
A quick glance at a [list of laws named after people](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scientific_laws_named_after_people) reveals [Heap’s Law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaps%27_law) which says that as a corpus of text grows there will be a diminishing return of new distinct words (the corpus could be poetically called a “heap” of words.) ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidentally-aptly-named-scientific-phenomena-laws-or-equations/838133/14 "2019-08-12T01:17:56Z")
> [@kk\_fusion](#): > > Only remotely on-topic here but: > > Why didn’t Lie characterize commutative groups? > – Because he wasn’t Abel. A joke that only works when written as Lie is pronounced Lee and Abel pronounced AH bel ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidentally-aptly-named-scientific-phenomena-laws-or-equations/838133/15 "2019-08-12T08:46:08Z")
SADS: Seasonal Affective Disorder Syndrome. AKA getting depressed in winter. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidentally-aptly-named-scientific-phenomena-laws-or-equations/838133/16 "2019-08-12T12:42:09Z")
“Poynting Vector” was what I first thought of, too. Lots of TAs and Professors made jokes about it. Not really what you’re looking for, but in 1948 George Gamow’s had his name on his student Ralph Alpher’s paper on Physical Cosmology, and persuaded physicist Hans Bethe (who had nothing to do with the work) to add his name to the paper so that it could be the “Alpher, Bethe, Gamow” paper (suggesting Alpha Beta, Gamma): > **[Alpher–Bethe–Gamow paper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpher%E2%80%93Bethe%E2%80%93Gamow_paper)** > > In physical cosmology, the Alpher–Bethe–Gamow paper, or αβγ paper, was created by Ralph Alpher, then a physics PhD student, his advisor George Gamow and Hans Bethe. The work, which would become the subject of Alpher's PhD dissertation, argued that the Big Bang would create hydrogen, helium and heavier elements in the correct proportions to explain their abundance in the early universe. While the original theory neglected a number of processes important to the formation of heavy elements, subseque... Not coincidental at all. And not related to greek letters, either. When Wayne Knox was a new professort in Rochester, he persuaded his father Bob Knox (also a professor at Rochester) to add his name to a spurious “paper” about creating a “zero femtosecond pulse”, along with Richard Zare and a guy who he looked up to find an appropriate match, J.F. Hoose, so that they could publish the **Knox, Knox, Hoose, Zare** paper [https://blog.everydayscientist.com/?p=961](https://blog.everydayscientist.com/?p=961) > **[Observation of the 0-fs pulse](https://opg.optica.org/opn/abstract.cfm?uri=opn-1-4-44)** ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidentally-aptly-named-scientific-phenomena-laws-or-equations/838133/17 "2019-08-12T12:57:19Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > SADS: Seasonal Affective Disorder Syndrome. AKA getting depressed in winter. This may not be coincidence - people come up with appropriate acronyms all the time. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidentally-aptly-named-scientific-phenomena-laws-or-equations/838133/18 "2019-08-12T15:39:05Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > I don’t get it. Could you elaborate? Michaelson and Morley’s experiment to measure speed in the ether proved that there is no ether. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidentally-aptly-named-scientific-phenomena-laws-or-equations/838133/19 "2019-08-12T16:03:39Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Michaelson and Morley’s experiment to measure speed in the ether proved that there is no ether. Yeah, as mentioned above I got the joke about 5 minutes after asking. I was familiar with the Michaelson Morley experiment, but parsed Emmy Noether’s name like the German I am, as Nöther, so I didn’t get it first. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidentally-aptly-named-scientific-phenomena-laws-or-equations/838133/20 "2019-08-12T17:29:11Z")
> [@kk\_fusion](#): > > Only remotely on-topic here but: > > Why didn’t Lie characterize commutative groups? > > – Because he wasn’t Abel. Stop, you’re Killing me. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coincidentally-aptly-named-scientific-phenomena-laws-or-equations/838133.md?page=2)