# Nobel Prize; a phrasing question.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobel-prize-a-phrasing-question/399124>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [April 7, 2007, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobel-prize-a-phrasing-question/399124 "2007-04-07T19:36:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobel-prize-a-phrasing-question/399124/1 "2007-04-07T19:36:17Z")

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[http://www.straightdope.com/columns/070406.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/070406.html)

> [@](#):
>
> Later in life, Josephson became a believer in the paranormal and a fan of such chimeras as cold fusion and homeopathy; he directed the Mind-Matter Unification Project, which among other things tried to use physics to explain telepathy.

I’ve never seen this use of “chimera” before. The only times i’ve heard it are referring to the monster specifically or of two different types of something present in one thing. I did think that maybe Cecil was meaning that a belief in cold fusion and homeopathy would be a chimera, but that would only be one and he’s used the plural.

What does chimera mean in this context?

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**Author:** ![essell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@essell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/essell)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobel-prize-a-phrasing-question/399124/2 "2007-04-07T20:17:56Z")

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I’d guess [this](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/chimera) one:

> [@dictionary.com](#):
>
> 1. a horrible or unreal creature of the imagination; a vain or idle fancy: He is far different from the chimera your fears have made of him.