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1. #1 John Marley

   February 24, 2007

   Who made me the genius I am today,
   The mathematician that others all quote,
   Who’s the professor that made me that way?
   The greatest that ever got chalk on his coat.

   One man deserves the credit,
   One man deserves the blame,
   and Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky is his name. Oy!
   Nicolai Ivanovich Lobache…

   I am never forget the day I first meet the great Lobachevsky.
   In one word he told me secret of success in mathematics: Plagiarize!

   Plagiarize,
   Let no one else’s work evade your eyes,
   Remember why the good Lord made your eyes,
   So don’t shade your eyes,
   But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize…
   Only be sure always to call it please research.

   And ever since I meet this man my life is not the same,
   And Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky is his name. Oy!
   Nicolai Ivanovich Lobache…

   I am never forget the day I am given first original paper to write. It
   was on analytic and algebraic topology of locally Euclidean metrization
   of infinitely differentiable Riemannian manifold.
   Bozhe moi!
   This I know from nothing.
   But I think of great Lobachevsky and I get idea – haha!

   I have a friend in Minsk,
   Who has a friend in Pinsk,
   Whose friend in Omsk
   Has friend in Tomsk
   With friend in Akmolinsk.
   His friend in Alexandrovsk
   Has friend in Petropavlovsk,
   Whose friend somehow
   Is solving now
   The problem in Dnepropetrovsk.

   And when his work is done –
   Haha! – begins the fun.
   From Dnepropetrovsk
   To Petropavlovsk,
   By way of Iliysk,
   And Novorossiysk,
   To Alexandrovsk to Akmolinsk
   To Tomsk to Omsk
   To Pinsk to Minsk
   To me the news will run,
   Yes, to me the news will run!

   And then I write
   By morning, night,
   And afternoon,
   And pretty soon
   My name in Dnepropetrovsk is cursed,
   When he finds out I published first!

   And who made me a big success
   And brought me wealth and fame?
   Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky is his name. Oy!
   Nicolai Ivanovich Lobache…

   I am never forget the day my first book is published.
   Every chapter I stole from somewhere else.
   Index I copy from old Vladivostok telephone directory.
   This book, this book was sensational!
   Pravda – ah, Pravda – Pravda said: (Russian double-talk)
   It stinks.
   But Izvestia! Izvestia said: (Russian double-talk)
   It stinks.
   Metro-Goldwyn-Moskva bought the movie rights for six million rubles,
   Changing title to ‘The Eternal Triangle’,
   With Brigitte Bardot playing part of hypotenuse.

   And who deserves the credit?
   And who deserves the blame?
   Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky is his name.
   Oy!

   – Tom Leher

   Sorry,
   I had to do it. I just couldn’t help myself.

2. #2 Jonathan Vos Post

   February 24, 2007

   The software engineer-standup comic Joey Friedman (google for his web site) comments on the “Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky is his name. Oy!” line.

   He claims to have a dyslexic rabbi who is always exclaiming: “Yo!”

   Note also that Cavendish’s theory on geological density was done experimentally by his friend John Michell, about which wikipedia menions:

   “… More recently, Michell’s main “claim to fame” is considered to be his letter to Cavendish, published in 1784, on the effect of gravity on light. This paper was only generally “rediscovered” in the 1970’s and is now recognised as anticipating several astronomical ideas that had been considered to be 20th century innovations. Michell is now credited with being the first to study the case of a heavenly object massive enough to prevent light from escaping (the concept of escape velocity was well known at the time). Such an object would not be directly visible, but could be identified by the motions of a companion star if it was part of a binary system. Michell also suggested using a prism to measure the gravitational weakening of starlight due to the surface gravity of the source (“gravitational shift”). Michell acknowledged that some of these ideas were not technically practical at the time, but wrote that he hoped they would be useful to future generations. By the time that Michell’s paper was “resurrected” nearly two centuries later, these ideas had been reinvented by others….”

   As to who actually discovered Oxygen, that depends on whether you live in England, France, or Sweden!

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