Re: Challenge

From: Moorad Alexanian (alexanian@uncwil.edu)
Date: Thu Oct 11 2001 - 11:02:08 EDT

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    Dear George,

    I grant all what you say but all the theories you mention give rise to
    predictions. What are the predictions that evolutionary theory has made in
    medicine, for instance, that could not have been made without invoking
    evolutionary theory?

    Parev (peace in Armenian),

    Moorad

    ----- Original Message -----
    From: "george murphy" <gmurphy@raex.com>
    To: "Moorad Alexanian" <alexanian@uncwil.edu>
    Cc: "AmericanScientificAffiliation" <asa@calvin.edu>
    Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2001 10:35 AM
    Subject: Re: Challenge

    > Moorad Alexanian wrote:
    >
    > > There is only one Noble prize in physics that has anything to do with
    the
    > > Big Bang-- Penzias and Wilson 1978--and that was an accidental
    discovery
    > > not influenced by theoretical work on the early universe. Of course,
    our
    > > interpretation of the radiation being the remnant of the Big Band may
    change
    > > in the future. My challenge to those who know the field of physiology
    or
    > > medicine, etc. is the following: What Nobel Prize granted in such fields
    was
    > > the result of applications of evolutionary theory? I enclose the press
    > > release of this year's prize in physiology or medicine. Moorad
    >
    > Nobel Prizes are a shaky indicator of the importance of scientific
    > work. It could certainly be argued that Gamow should have gotten the
    physics
    > prize for his cosmological model that predicted the MWB, but he died
    before the
    > blackbody character of the radiation had been demonstrated convincingly.
    There
    > is no Nobel Prize in astronomy so there was no possibility for Hubble,
    e.g., to
    > get one: Penzias & Wilson were the first to get a prize for work in
    > astrophysics.
    > & there are other considerations. There sometimes seems to be a
    > prejudice against theorists. It's well know that Einstein got the prize
    > ostensibly for his work on the photoelectric effect, with only a veiled
    > reference to relativity. Feynman, Schwinger & Tomonaga had to wait ~20
    years to
    > get one, while experimentalists who make significant discoveries sometimes
    get
    > the prize within a few years. & political considerations also come in.
    > Jordan's Nazi sympathies probably didn't help him any & I wonder how much
    > influence John Wheeler's work on & support for nuclear weapons development
    has
    > had to do with his failure to get a Nobel Prize.
    >
    > Shalom,
    >
    > George
    >
    > George L. Murphy
    > http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
    > "The Science-Theology Interface"
    >
    >



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