Being a loyal fan of Scottish single malt whisky, I never thought I’d be blogging about Irish whiskey, but this is why we get out of bed in the morning - we seek the stuff we can’t guess*.
So I was going to point out to you an amusing distraction. The series of radio ads for Jameson Irish Whiskey that you can listen to here. There’s one featuring a physicist, you see, and a friend of mine sent me the link for that reason**. There’s the idea of attraction, and so gravity is brought in by the ad man trying to use the concept to sell the product, and the physicist is obviously not having it… a short bit of fun play between segments of some program on some station somewhere or another. I can see that they’d work rather well. Have a listen.
That was going to be it, until I found another - real - physics connection. Turns out that Guglielmo Marconi - he of the use of electromagnetic waves for telegraph communication, Nobel prize, and so forth - is the the key to the connection. Do you know what it is?
Marconi’s mother was Annie Jameson. She was the daughter of Andrew Jameson, of the same Jameson Irish Whiskey.
Now you’re wondering the same thing that I am. Did the ad makers know this connection when they decided to do one of the ads with a physics connection? I might know a way to find out, so if I do, I’ll let you know.
-cvj
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*That and the need to pee. Sorry. Had to be said. Can’t be too lofty about things all the time.
**Thanks A.B.!
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On this day on Asymptotia...
- Science Debate 2008 on Science Friday - 2008
- De-Lurking Week! - 2007
- Women in Physics - 2007
- Site Map of Asymptotia - 2007
Some Related Asymptotia Posts (not exhaustive):
“but this is why we get out of bed in the morning - we seek the stuff we can’t guess*.”
And here I thought you meant the whisky…
Funnily (maybe) one of Marconi’s test transmissions took place much nearer to that other Irish distillery on the North coast. So one can visit Marconi’s Cottage, near Ballycastle, in the heart of Bushmills country.
As the old country song lyric states:
“I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy”
e.
There’s a good anecdote for the pub. Thanks!
Cheers,
IP
But do you, a committed Scotch man, like the Irish product? An interesting physics/fine wines connection was Schwinger’s spending his Nobel Prize money on setting up a vineyard (which subsequently also won prizes) - co-recipient Feynman was of course securely on the wagon by that point
Hi…. Extensive research required before I can answer. Will let you know.
Best,
-cvj
Hi, I’m am a pal of A.B’s and I’m the one who actually produces those whiskey ads. I just wanted to let you know that we did one on Marconi as well! I like you blog.
- sk
Hi! Really? I’ll look!
And thanks for the nice remark about the blog.
Cheers.
-cvj
Ah! Of course… the one entitled “Radio”. Silly me for not noticing before.
Thanks, and great work!
-cvj