Wirt Atmar writes:

>Nonetheless, the idea of giving the Nobel Prize to an engineer isn't sitting
>well among many physicists. Today's NY Times reports the following:

Nobel's original bequest did say, "discovery or invention." It was only
early in the last century that there began to be a bright line between
science and engineering.

>As an interesting aside, the Beetles funded the development of the CT
>scanner, albeit not directly.

Actually, EMI is a British company. Beetles are German :-). (I think Wirt
means "Beatles".)

>There are other similar inventions that have also received the Nobel Prize as
>well, beginning with the discovery and use of X-rays and ending more recently
>with the scanning electron microscope, but they have generally not been given
>in physics itself.

Not to mention the transistor (invented in 1948, prize awarded in 1956)
and the maser. Both involved new physics, but so did fabrication of an
integrated circuit.

-- Bruce


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