Albert Hibbs.html |
| | | ca | | | de | | | en | | | es | | | fr | | | it | | | nl | | | no | | | pl | | | pt | | | ru | | | ro | | | fi | | | sv | | | tr | | | vo | | |
| |  |
Albert R. Hibbs was a noted mathematician known worldwide as "the voice of JPL". He was born in Akron, Ohio on October 19, 1924 and died on February 24, 2003 of complications following heart surgery.
Hibbs was chosencitation needed to become an astronaut on an Apollo moon mission, but the program ended before his turn came.
In 1949, Hibbs and Roy Walford took time off, from graduate school and medical school respectively, to go to Reno and Las Vegas to beat the casinos at roulette. Studying biases in the roulette wheels, they made thousands of dollars (a significant sum at the time), variously estimated between $6,500 (Life magazine) and $42,000 (a Walford obituary).citation needed According to Albert Hibbs himself, during an episode of You Bet Your Life on which he was a contestant, he made "about $12,000."
In 1962, Hibbs began hosting a Saturday morning educational program on NBC television entitled Exploring. It mostly, but not exclusively, covered scientific topics, featuring segments with the Ritts puppets, cinematic short subjects, animated versions of famous legends, and music. It ran for several years, but received poor ratings, and was constantly shifted around the schedule.
Hibbs took his Ph.D. under Richard Feynman, with the study subject being the creation of ocean waves. He also transcribed and edited Feynman's lectures in quantum electrodynamics, and is coauthor for their book path integrals and quantum mechanics.1 He called upon his mentor at least once to provide recommendations to NASA for his selection as a science astronaut in the Apollo program.2
Hibbs enjoyed making kinetic sculpture as a hobby and was fascinated by self-actuated machines-- a field where he once again collaborated in a well known idea-experiment of Feynman's. According to Feynman, it was Hibbs who originally suggested to him (circa 1959) the idea of a medical use for Feynman's theoretical micromachines (see nanotechnology). Hibbs suggested that certain repair machines might one day be reduced in size to the point that it would, in theory, be possible to (as Feynman put it) "swallow the doctor."3
Notes
- ^ Feynman, R.P. and Hibbs, A.R. Quantum Mechanics and Path Integrals, McGraw Hill: 1965 (ISBN 0-07-020650-3).
- ^ See letters in the "1966-1969" section of Richard Phillips Feynman (2005). Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track: The Letters of .... Basic Books. ISBN 0738206369.
- ^ See There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom essay linked below.