Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Assessment/Stanislaw Ulam

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The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Promoted -- Ian Rose (talk) 12:57, 19 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Stanislaw Ulam[edit]

Nominator(s): Hawkeye7 (talk) and User:Deer*lake (talk)


Yes, another Polish ACR. I present Stan Ulam, the mathematician, flying the Polish flag for the Manhattan Project. (Apparently, Joseph Rotblat isn't famous enough.) He's best known for the Monte Carlo method, the Fermi–Pasta–Ulam problem and other mathematical wonders, but for us military historians, he's the co-inventor of the Teller–Ulam design, which make multi-megaton weapons possible. Hawkeye7 (talk) 00:58, 8 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Comments - Dank (push to talk)

  • "Nuclear thermal rocket": all uppercase if it's a proper noun, lowercase if not
  • "Even the inherent statistical fluctuations of neutron multiplication within a chain reaction have implications with regard to implosion speed and symmetry. In November 1944, David Hawkins and Ulam addressed this point in a report entitled "Theory of Multiplicative Processes".": Your thoughts on this? "In November 1944, David Hawkins and Ulam addressed the statistical fluctuations of neutron multiplication in a report entitled "Theory of Multiplicative Processes"." - Dank (push to talk) 18:57, 16 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]
    • The first one is better; it tells you why it is so important. The point is that implosion requires some serious mathematics, physics and ordnance. Hawkeye7 (talk) 21:53, 16 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  • "von Neumann decided to use electronic computers. This approach was made possible by his access to computers: ENIAC at Aberdeen, a new computer, MANIAC, at Princeton, and its twin": von Neumann decided to use ENIAC at Aberdeen, the new MANIAC computer at Princeton, and its twin
  • "to follow a completely different approach, which was guided": ... approach that was guided, or: ... approach, one guided
  • "With the aid of a cadre of female "computers", including Françoise Ulam, who performed computations on mechanical calculators": a suggestion: "With the aid of Françoise Ulam and a cadre of women, then called "computers", who performed computations on mechanical calculators"
    • I've re-worded it this way: Françoise Ulam was one of a cadre of women "computers" who carried out laborious and extensive computations of thermonuclear scenarios on mechanical calculators , supplemented and confirmed by Everett's slide rule. I am reminded that in American English, "women" is used where we would say "female" and vice versa. Hawkeye7 (talk) 08:41, 17 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Comments:

  • In one caption, you note that the Scottish Cafe is now in Lviv, but the rest of the article calls the place Lwow or Lemberg (with explanations as to why). Perhaps an added explanation in the caption would be helpful to a reader? Not being familiar with Galicia, I had to click to make sure Lviv was the same as Lwow and Lemberg. On the other hand, it's not terribly pressing, if you don't have a quick source to cite for it, or if you think it'd be tacky.
    • It's in the article. Basically, Lemberg is the traditional German name, Lwow is Polish and Lviv is Ukrainian. Added a bit of explanation to the caption. Hawkeye7 (talk) 21:20, 17 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]
      • Thanks. I saw the Lemberg-Lwow connection, but didnt see Lwow-Lviv explained explicitly in the text. Looks good now. Cdtew (talk) 23:54, 17 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  • For aesthetic's sake, on my monitor at least, I'm seeing a large amount of white space between the end of the "Nuclear propulsion" subsection and the "Return to academia" section, caused by the NASA Project Orion illustration. Is this just me? Perhaps shifting it's location may avoid that formatting gap?
    • No it's me inserting markup that prevents the next heading from starting on the right. I've moved the picture up a paragraph to reduce this. Hawkeye7 (talk) 21:20, 17 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  • In Fn 37, is the page range supposed to be italicized? Looks like that's all in the title field of that ref
  • Image check: All images have appropriate PD tags, but not many -- if any -- alt texts. I know that's not a requirement, just thought I'd mention it.
    • No, it isn't, not even at FAC, but I have added it anyway. Hawkeye7 (talk) 21:20, 17 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]
      • I understand its not a clear requirement, but I think it's best practice for our visually-impaired friends. Cdtew (talk) 23:54, 17 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Support at this time for ACR, regardless of whether or not the above is substantively addressed. Cdtew (talk) 18:41, 17 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your review. I have addressed the problems you raised but am not sure a resolution to the layout one is possible. Hawkeye7 (talk) 21:21, 17 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]
No problem. It was nice to learn about Mr. Ulam. Cdtew (talk) 23:54, 17 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
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