Talk:J. H. C. Whitehead

This article is rated C-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

	University of Oxford portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject University of Oxford, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the University of Oxford on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.University of OxfordWikipedia:WikiProject University of OxfordTemplate:WikiProject University of OxfordUniversity of Oxford articles
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.
	This article has been automatically rated by a bot or other tool because one or more other projects use this class. Please ensure the assessment is correct before removing the `\|auto=` parameter.

Biography: Science and Academia

	Biography portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles
	This article is supported by the science and academia work group.

Mathematics High‑priority

	Mathematics portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Mathematics, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of mathematics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.MathematicsWikipedia:WikiProject MathematicsTemplate:WikiProject Mathematicsmathematics articles
High	This article has been rated as High-priority on the project's priority scale.

Untitled[edit]

I think this article is no longer at the level of a stub, so I destubbed it. To make it better, the article really needs a photograph of J. H. C. Whitehead. I tried the one on the top-right from [1], but unfortunately someone removed it, though almost surely the photo is in the public domain, and clearly over 50 years old. Any ideas how to find a photo of Whitehead that would pass muster? Turgidson 23:41, 5 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Turgidson, I know Whitehead's son, and could email him to ask if he has a suitable photo, and could scan it and email it to me. Should I do this? Sosayso 14:09, 14 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

That would be great! I'd say, let's give it a try. Turgidson 19:58, 14 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I've fired off an email, and will let you know what transpires. Sosayso 20:39, 14 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I found a rather grainy 1934 family photo of JHCW on a backup CD of mine and could send it to you if you could provide an email address. Oliver W says that there are some good pictures amongst the family photos but they are all in Ireland with his brother David, who is less computer-adept and -equipped. I will pursue this route but it may take a while, and meanwhile perhaps the '34 photo may be adequate as a gap-filler. Sosayso 07:46, 15 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for doing this. I don't know how much you know about Wikipedia's copyright situation (so forgive me if you know all this already!) but if you're negotiating with others, I thought I should mention that we try and get hold of photographs under a free license of some description, the simplest being the Creative Commons "Attribution Share-Alike" license described here. This allows anyone to copy or even modify the photograph, but requires attribution, and stipulates that any changes must be distributed under the same terms as the original (largely equivalent to the same terms as the text of Wikipedia, which is under the GFDL license). (I don't believe that 50 years is sufficient for a photograph to enter the public domain, see Wikipedia:Public domain). — Matt Crypto 18:37, 15 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, Matt. No, I didn't know about this! Perhaps it explains why there are so few pictures on Wikipedia pages? I'm not sure if the Whitehead sons will want to go to these lengths. On the other hand, the same problem will arise with Max Newman photos, so perhaps I'd better study the Creative Commons site, and try and help the Whiteheads deal with the paperwork. Sosayso 21:16, 15 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I was about to say pretty much the same thing. The problem is not so much with uploading the pic (it's actually quite easy, and convenient), but with the copyright issue, which I learned the hard way (after only a few weeks at wikipedia) what a pain in the neck it can be. I still have no idea how one can put any picture here, unless it's from the 19th century or something! I think one way would be to prove that the individual who uploads the pic is the one who took it, and state in detail how and where, and forfeit any rights to said pic. But don't take my word on that, better read the fine print. At any rate, I'd say let's keep mulling this over, I think it's worth trying to get to the bottom of it, especially in memory of such a great man as Henry Whitehead, who I really think deserves at least a photo here (and of course, further expansion of the text). Turgidson 21:37, 15 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

If a third party owns the copyright to a photograph, then the process doesn't need to involve much paperwork. Essentially, all the copyright holder need do is agree to license the image under the terms of whichever license (Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike is probably the best choice for images, but others are used, such as the GFDL). In practice, this can be confirmed by a simple email saying "I agree to license such and such in this way", which is then (ideally) forwarded to permissions-en AT wikimedia DOT org. In the past, I've uploaded images saying merely, "I've communicated with the copyright holder and they've agreed to freely license", and that's sufficed, but it's more helpful for Wikipedia if there's some way for a third-party to double check, even superficially. — Matt Crypto 22:41, 15 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Trivia[edit]

There is a chair (or professorship) at Oxford currently occupied by Martin Bridson named after Whitehead. Also, I've been told that his students claimed that "J.H.C." stood for "Jesus, He's Confusing". :) Sam nead (talk) 20:45, 29 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, that's a pretty famous joke. There's a related joke (true story?) that CW complexes were supposed to be JHCW complexes. The "H" would refer to Hausdorff of course, but nobody could figure out what "J" should be. --C S (talk) 22:05, 19 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]