Talk:John Shipley Rowlinson

Rubbish in Lead

Capillarity is **NOT** "the tendency of liquid in narrow spaces to rise or fall without gravity". I am changing the lead.72.16.99.93 (talk) 13:54, 27 December 2018 (UTC)

I see that the material in the lead was repeated, word-for-word in the Work section of his bio. So, perhaps more need to be said to explain why the statement is WRONG. (I don't care where it was pulled from, because it is wrong.) First capillarity is movement of a liquid due to internal (intermolecular) forces, it is not necessarily either a "rise" or "fall". Note to the oblivious, both rise and fall are terms which assume gravity exists, neither have clear meaning "without gravity". Capillarity can be horizontal (wrt the direction of gravity). When you look at water in a glass, its edge (at the glass wall) typically rises above the liquid level, this rise is due to the same forces as found in capillarity. Capillarity typically does WORK against gravity. That is, in most common situations, gravity is an important force to consider at the macroscopic scale (its effect at the microscopic scale on the liquid can often be ignored). So the problem I have is with the word "without" because in many situations considering capillarity, gravity is important and there are few situations (e.g. the International Space Station) where capillarity occurs "without" gravity. If someone decides to revert my changes, please don't use "without" (and the hyphens! what were they thinking?? - if you're reverting, change "without" to "despite". Or better yet, check the wikipedia article on the subject. I also have a bit of trouble with "stick together" to describe cohesion - because it is not about 'similar' molecules (neither similar nor molecules necessarily). I also have a bit of problem with "narrow spaces" if considered uh, narrowly: paint brushes and candle wicks use capillarity to move liquids, and many people may not see the description of them as corresponding to "narrow spaces". But I think both are 'good' enough for government work.72.16.99.93 (talk) 14:22, 27 December 2018 (UTC)

help of JSR given to East European colleagues;

He was of great help (very practical and concrete) and inspiration; he understood the oppression we have been under when sold out the the Soviet Russians, Joseph Stalin at first. I feel it is somewhat a pity that this aspect of JSR actions as a scientist, is forgotten. I leave it to the Britishers to phrase it adequately.2A02:A310:242:A180:D1E1:F8E6:A8DC:D47 (talk) 22:08, 12 March 2019 (UTC)