On Sat, 03 Dec 2005 17:48:39 -0500, Harry Krause
wrote:

*JimH* wrote:
"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
John H. wrote:
On Sat, 03 Dec 2005 16:59:05 -0500, Harry Krause
wrote:

I think we should have the day off to celebrate the birthday of all Jews
whose thoughts were significant to humanity.

We could start with these Nobel laureates in physics:

* Alexei Alexeevich Abrikosov, Russia, for pioneering contributions
to the theory of superconductors and superfluids (Jewish mother)
* Zhores Alferov, Russia, (Jewish mother)
* Hans Bethe, US, (Jewish mother)
* Felix Bloch, Swiss and US, for his development of new methods for
nuclear magnetic precision measurements and discoveries in connection
therewith
* Niels Bohr, Denmark, for his quantum model of the atom (Jewish
mother)
* Max Born, Germany, UK and US, for his fundamental research in
quantum mechanics, especially for his statistical interpretation of the
wavefunction
* Georges Charpak, France,
* Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, France,
* Leon Neil Cooper, US,
* Albert Einstein, German, later US, for the discovery of the
photoelectric effect
* Richard P. Feynman, US, for their fundamental work in quantum
electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of
elementary particles
* James Franck, Germany, for their discovery of the laws governing
the impact of an electron upon an atom
* Ilya Frank, Russia, (Jewish father)
* Jerome Isaac Friedman, US, for their pioneering investigations
concerning deep inelastic scattering of electrons on protons and bound
neutrons, which have been of essential importance for the development of
the quark model in particle physics
* Dennis Gabor, Hungary, for his invention and development of the
holographic method
* Murray Gell-Mann, US, for his contributions and discoveries
concerning the classification of elementary particles and their
interactions"
* Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg, Russia, for pioneering contributions
to the theory of superconductors and superfluids
* Donald Arthur Glaser, US, for the invention of the bubble chamber
* Sheldon Lee Glashow, US, for their contributions to the theory of
the unified weak and electromagnetic interaction between elementary
particles, including, inter alia, the prediction of the weak neutral
current
* Roy Glauber, U.S. physicist, Nobel Prize (2005)
* David Gross, US,
* Robert Hofstadter, US, for his pioneering studies of electron
scattering in atomic nuclei and for his thereby achieved discoveries
concerning the structure of the nucleons
* Brian David Josephson, UK, for his theoretical predictions of the
properties of a supercurrent through a tunnel barrier, in particular
those phenomena which are generally known as the Josephson effect
* Lev Davidovich Landau, Russia, for his pioneering theories for
condensed matter, especially liquid helium
* Leon Max Lederman, US, for the neutrino beam method and the
demonstration of the doublet structure of the leptons through the
discovery of the muon neutrino
* David Lee, US,
* Gabriel Lippmann, France, for his method of reproducing colours
photographically based on the phenomenon of interference
* Albert Abraham Michelson, US, for his optical precision
instruments and the spectroscopic and metrological investigations
carried out with their aid
* Ben Roy Mottelson, US and Denmark,for the discovery of the
connection between collective motion and particle motion in atomic
nuclei and the development of the theory of the structure of the atomic
nucleus based on this connection
* Douglas Osheroff, US, (Jewish father]]
* Wolfgang Pauli, (Jewish paternal grandparent)
* Arno Allan Penzias, US, for their discovery of cosmic microwave
background radiation
* Martin Lewis Perl, for the discovery of the tau lepton
* David Politzer, US,
* Isidor Isaac Rabi, US, for his resonance method for recording the
magnetic properties of atomic nuclei
* Frederick Reines, US,
* Burton Richter, US, for their pioneering work in the discovery of
a heavy elementary particle of a new kind
* Arthur Schawlow, US, (Jewish father)
* Melvin Schwartz, US, for the neutrino beam method and the
demonstration of the doublet structure of the leptons through the
discovery of the muon neutrino
* Julian Schwinger, US, for his work on quantum electrodynamics
* Emilio Segre, Italy and US, for discovery of antiproton
* Jack Steinberger, US, for the neutrino beam method and the
demonstration of the doublet structure of the leptons through the
discovery of the muon neutrino
* Otto Stern, US, for his contribution to the development of the
molecular ray method and his discovery of the magnetic moment of the
proton
* Steven Weinberg, US, for their contributions to the theory of the
unified weak and electromagnetic interaction between elementary
particles, including, inter alia, the prediction of the weak neutral
current
* Eugene Wigner, US, Nuclear Engineering



(I do frown upon anyone's "religious day" being a national holiday, and
would far prefer a "seasonal holiday" be available to anyone who wants a
day off during the week in December."

Harry, celebrating the birth of these Jews should be done on the day
of their births. I have no problem with that.

Christmas celebrates the day of one particular Jew's birth, Jesus. You
may find that galling, but it's a fact.

--
John Wishing you the best as we celebrate the birth of our Lord, Jesus
Christ.

It's just an "assigned" day, John.
I don't find it "galling" for any private persons to celebrate anyone's
birthday, but I don't believe the state should in any way honor or
acknowledge anyone's religious "holiday."



So what are you doing on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Harry?



I'm not "the state," Jim. I'm a private person. What *I* do or what you
do on Christmas eve or Christmas day is a non-issue. Remember, my
objection is to "the state" (government or its agencies) recognizing
anyone's religious day with a "national day off."

On Christmas eve, we'll be attending a Solemn Mass at a fairly large
Catholic church in the Washington, D.C., area.

Sure hope it changes your attitude, Harry. How many of the 45 million
babies killed would have lived if they'd simply been born at the time
they were killed? More than a thousand? Ten percent? One percent?

--
John

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Wishing you the best as we celebrate the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ.