Talk:Mark Oliphant

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Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
June 14, 2013	Good article nominee	Listed
April 14, 2014	WikiProject A-class review	Approved
April 18, 2015	Featured article candidate	Promoted
Facts from this article were featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "On this day..." column on October 8, 2019, and October 8, 2022.
Current status: Featured article

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Dismissal?[edit]

Article says he was involved in the dismissal of Whitlam and supported John Kerr - any refs for this, given Barwick, Kerr and Fraser have previously been the only names mentioned - and how was he "involved"? Also the role with the Democrats appears in the lead but not in the body. There is only three refs for the whole article. I've temporarily downgraded this to Start until these issues are resolved. Orderinchaos 14:30, 17 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Are you stalking my contribs? :P Timeshift (talk) 14:41, 17 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Nope... followed a link from the Dems page, and noted the B class rating for the article which didn't seem right given the above issues. Good photos btw :) Orderinchaos 20:00, 17 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The role in the dismissal was very minor - he had to issue writs for the senate election. User:Bjenks deleted it on 21-Aug-2007 (See diff here [1]) but unfortuantely left in the summary phrase "he was involved in the dismissal of the Whitlam government". So I'll delete it now. Peter Ballard (talk) 02:42, 18 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

WikiProject Military history/Assessment/Tag & Assess 2008[edit]

Removed Military History Tag as article is out of scope. --16:37, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

High-Functioning Autism?[edit]

From what I have read about Oliphant's personality and abilities, he may have had high functioning autism/Asperger's. ("Oliphant: The Life and Times of Sir Mark Oliphant" by Stewart Cockburn & David Ellyard). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 114.30.96.226 (talk) 10:02, 10 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think speculative assumptions' by unqualified people. As to what he may or may not have had serves any purpose or adds any improvements to the article ... Backwards diagnoses' is of no help one way or the other ... If were are going to start diagnosing dead people with conditions AFTER they are long dead ... Then where will it end. ... Example, Somebody might decide to diagnose hitler as having had a fetish for jews. or on historical facts Elvis way gay, ( i mean common .. he wore White leather & swede ) (( get my point,)) Post Diagnosing historical figures with conditions that they had "not" been diagnosed with' while they where alive. Is about as usefull as having ones horoscope read. == High Functioning Autism == Where is the proof & where are your facts. & while were on it .... If were just making stuff up now, ... i hear he may have had two penises aswell. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 1.125.127.254 (talk) 18:07, 6 September 2014‎ (UTC)[reply]

Quite. "may have had high functioning autism/Asperger's" - if so, the two named authors may have made medical history. Not only have they correctly diagnosed a patient they have never actually met, they have also diagnosed him when he is in fact, dead.

I suspect The BMJ will not be beating a hasty path to their door. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.150.18.150 (talk) 10:47, 6 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified[edit]

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External links modified[edit]

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Buried lead[edit]

I summarized

disamb'ed syntax ... re two particle species that are [more] obscure to many readers; ... than even "nucleus" and "fusion".
--Jerzy-can't-log-in-today ---- 10:29, 8 October 2018 (UTC) (Jerzy•t)[reply]

Whoops! Sorry for the confusion, I AM still logged in after all!
--Jerzy•t 10:35, 8 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

(If I can't fix my unbalanced "small [-sized-font]" format markup from home, hopefully I can make it to a public terminal in the next 15 hours) Jerzy•t 10:43, 8 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

OK: It appears on this device (my iPad II) that there may have been no harm from my bone-headed <\i> markup error; hopefully i have not been deceived by the rendering delivered by the aforesaid device.
--2601:199:C202:287E:3CD7:D9C8:335F:DB89 (talk) 11:08, 8 October 2018 (UTC) Oh, hell! --2601:199:C202:287E:3CD7:D9C8:335F:DB89 (talk) 11:08, 8 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

A new source[edit]

"The basis of everything" by Andrew Ramsey, HarperCollinsPublishers Australia, 2019, ABN 36 009 913 517. --Bduke (talk) 04:39, 10 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Read it. Didn't see anything that made me want to update the article. Trying to write a double-biography about two people a generation apart made the narrative a bit choppy as it shifted back and forth in time. Still some room for another biography. I've added it under "Further reading" Hawkeye7 (discuss) 07:05, 10 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Advocate of nuclear proliferation[edit]

According to the Wiki article the subject gave Pakistan the idea, and encouraged them to develop nuclear weapons. Why is their no mention in this article about this encouragement for nuclear proliferation? Rustygecko (talk) 10:23, 1 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Because it isn't true. Oliphant did not encourage Pakistan to start a nuclear weapons program. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 11:24, 1 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Does anyone have access to Eating Grass: The making of Pakistan atomic bomb (Khan, Feroze Hassan (2012) Stanford, CA: Stanford Security Studies. ISBN 978-0804776011) ?

Placement and caption of the Oliphant photo in the article Pakistan and weapons of mass destruction give a misleading impression. From 1945 Oliphant was "one of the most fervent evangelists" for "the use of atomic energy for peaceful and constructive ends" [Oliphant, Cockburn and Ellyard (1981) Axiom ppk p.129]. Doug butler (talk) 22:54, 1 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Sure I do. The relevant page (p. 26) of Eating Grass says:

In 1954, Dr. Rafi Mohammad Chaudhry oversaw the formation of the “High Tension Laboratory” in the Physics Department of Government College, Lahore, in order to carry out nuclear research. Chaudhry, both as an institution-builder and teacher, proved to be one of the most influential figures in creating the scientific foundation for Pakistan’s subsequent nuclear efforts.46 He had trained under Ernest Rutherford, the leading British nuclear physicist of his era, at the renowned Cavendish Laboratory of Cambridge University, completing his dissertation in 1932.47 Chaudhry had returned to India, becoming head of the Physics Department at Aligarh University, the preeminent Muslim higher education institution in what is now the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. At the time of partition, Mark Oliphant—a leading Australian physicist who worked with Rutherford and Rafi Chaudhry in Cambridge—corresponded with Pakistan’s founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, and suggested to him that he hire Chaudhry. Apparently in response to Oliphant’s advice, Jinnah worked to secure Chaudhry a position at Government College, Lahore, in 1948, when Chaudhry migrated from India to Pakistan.48

Hawkeye7 (discuss) 01:35, 2 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

So relevant to Rafi Muhammad Chaudhry, peripheral to Nuclear power in Pakistan and almost totally irrelevant to Pakistan and weapons of mass destruction. I shall move the image to Chaudhry, where he is mentioned by name. Doug butler (talk) 04:49, 2 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Fission[edit]

First paragraph, Oliphant's work was the first demonstration of the energy in nuclear fission (as used in the "atomic bomb"), not nuclear fusion (used in the "hydrogen bomb") - needs correcting. 60.226.137.240 (talk) 12:14, 26 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

No, Oliphant's work was the first demonstration of the energy in nuclear fusion , not nuclear fission, which was discovered later bu Hahn and Strassmann. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 12:29, 26 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]