Talk:Isidor Isaac Rabi

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Isidor Isaac Rabi article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Isidor Isaac Rabi is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so.

This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on July 29, 2017.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
August 17, 2012	Good article nominee	Listed
October 11, 2012	WikiProject A-class review	Approved
May 17, 2016	Featured article candidate	Promoted
A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on June 27, 2012. The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that Nobel Prize for Physics-winner Isidor Isaac Rabi (pictured) gave a speech about how an electric light works for his Bar Mitzvah?
Facts from this article were featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "On this day..." column on July 29, 2019, July 29, 2022, and July 29, 2024.
Current status: Featured article

New York (state): Columbia University Low‑importance

	New York (state) portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject New York (state), a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the U.S. state of New York on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.New York (state)Wikipedia:WikiProject New York (state)Template:WikiProject New York (state)New York (state) articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by WikiProject Columbia University (assessed as Low-importance).

Biography: Military / Science and Academia

	Biography portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles
	This article is supported by the military biography work group (assessed as Low-importance).
	This article is supported by the science and academia work group (assessed as Mid-importance).

Physics: Biographies High‑importance

	Physics portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Physics, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Physics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PhysicsWikipedia:WikiProject PhysicsTemplate:WikiProject Physicsphysics articles
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by Biographies Taskforce.

Military history: Biography / Technology / Weaponry / North America / United States / World War II

This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.Military historyWikipedia:WikiProject Military historyTemplate:WikiProject Military historymilitary history articles

Associated task forces:
/
	Military biography task force
	Military science, technology, and theory task force
	Weaponry task force
	North American military history task force
	United States military history task force
	World War II task force

Additional information:
/
	This article has passed an A-Class review.

Untitled

I found this quote on Slashdot:

"We gave you an atomic bomb, what do you want, mermaids?" -- I. I. Rabi to the Atomic Energy Commission

Does anyone have some info on it's background, context time of utterance, etc.? Brutulf 09:44, Feb 17, 2005 (UTC)

It looks like the quote may have become a little distorted. The context is basically Rabi defending Oppenheimer against charges of leaking classified information.

http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/key-issues/nuclear-weapons/history/cold-war/oppenheimer-affair/testimony.htm

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/filmmore/reference/interview/rhodes12.html

The context is that he was defending Oppenheimer in his Security Clearance Trial. It's embarrassing that this page does not mention this?? It's one of the most important episodes in scientific history and Rabi was the bravest, one of the only ones to stare down the ridiculous political hacks who were conducting the witch trial. Here is another account, now that it's been declassified, a link to the actual transcript would probably be good: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/12/us/transcripts-kept-secret-for-60-years-bolster-defense-of-oppenheimers-loyalty.html. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Codeslubber (talk • contribs) 17:34, 17 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

This was done years ago. It is in the article already. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 21:33, 17 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Bates college

The Bates College reference probably should be removed, since Rabi neither studied nor taught there. The degree Rabi received from Bates was honorary and was just one of dozens of honorary doctorates he received. There is no reason to feature this one and not the others.

Since there are no objections, I have removed the reference.

Pronounciation

Does anyone know how to pronounce his last name? Is it Rah-bye or Rah-bee? 198.20.40.50 23:09, 1 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It's "RAH-bee". 4.131.159.107 (talk) 00:00, 22 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Gave the atomic bomb to Israel?

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/12/09/science/09nuke.graphic.1200.jpg Revery (talk) 08:39, 30 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

"Who ordered this?"

This famous question may be taken in at least two ways: mystically ("What God set this in order?") or wryly, in imitation of a table of diners at a restaurant ("Which physicist wanted this?"). I'm thinking, from personal experience, of a large party of diners at a Chinese restaurant with many dishes on the menu, and a plate of unrecognized food shows up. What exactly did Rabi mean when he asked this question? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Larrykoen (talk • contribs) 15:05, 21 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Proton,Deuteron,Neutron Magnetic Moments

I've been looking into the history of the measurement of the neutron magnetic moment. I believe this article rather misrepresents the situation; see the neutron magnetic moment article. Rabi was first to measure the p,d magnetic moments fairly accurately, yes, but these had been measured earlier in 1933-4. The more accurate measurements from the late 1930's were a result of the magnetic resonance techniques developed by Rabi. I would suggest a slight rewrite to suggest that Rabi made accurate indirect determinations of the magnetic moment of the neutron, which was one of the aims of the p and d measurements. The article as it reads now suggests Rabi discovered the p and d magnetic moments, but that is not true. p was by Otto Stern, while d was likely a simultaneous discovery by Stern and Rabi groups. Both groups were after the n magnetic moment with these measurements, I believe.

While I am here, I note that the electric quadrupole moment discovery for the d was actually rather stunning. People were struggling with understanding the nature of the nuclear force at the time, and this discovery was a real breakthrough in that regard. The Rigden book notes this (p. 113, bottom). The nuclear force was not a central force, for one. This article leaves the discovery hanging, without stating why it was so important. Bdushaw (talk) 10:07, 31 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I have revised the article in line with your suggestions. If you can fix up the neutron magnetic moment article, that would be good. Hawkeye7 (talk) 22:17, 31 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Looks good now; I couldn't have written it better myself... :) I've been working on the neutron magnetic moment article over the past few weeks. I'm about done with it. Happy to have an objective review of it if you (or anyone) finds themselves with a dull moment. Meanwhile, the proton magnetic moment article needs quite a lot of work. (And one wonders if there should not be a deuteron magnetic moment article.) Bdushaw (talk) 05:26, 1 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

external link?

Would an interview with transcript with Isidor Isaac Rabi from 1986 be useful here as an external link? Focus of conversation is nuclear weapons policy. http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_7E62DED261394CEDBB3A79E9260DB791 (I have a conflict of interest; otherwise I would add it myself.) Mccallucc (talk) 18:20, 23 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Added. I like external links where the reader can actually see and hear the subject. Hawkeye7 (talk) 21:56, 23 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 2 external links on Isidor Isaac Rabi. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 05:35, 24 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Isidor Isaac Rabi. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20161201052108/http://ftp.arl.army.mil/~mike/comphist/40sac/index.html to http://ftp.arl.army.mil/~mike/comphist/40sac/index.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 07:55, 30 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Award of King's Medal for Service in the Cause of Freedom

Rabi's award of the British King's Medal for Service in the Cause of Freedom is not mentioned in the London Gazette, as honorary awards to foreign nationals do not normally appear (Page 184 of British Gallantry Awards by Abbott and Tamplin confirms this). His eligibility is however confirmed on the official Nobel site, and on page 320 of the Biographical Memoir of Rabi by Norman F. Ramsey published by the National Academy of Sciences, which refers to the award of "Britain's 1948 King's Medal".
Hsq7278 (talk) 19:09, 15 December 2018

No worries. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 22:07, 15 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Missing his famous quote: "Who ordered that?" in reference to the muon.

As of this writing, the article is missing his famous quote: "Who ordered that?" in reference to the muon. See Muon. I recommend adding the quote and story. Any concerns? J Mark Morris (talk) 12:59, 23 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

His Mother's Name

Shouldn't her other name - Janet Teig - be mentioned as well?77.137.14.115 (talk) 07:03, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]