Talk:George Gabriel Stokes

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The 1911 article contained: "In 1852, in his famous paper on the change of refrangibility of light, he described the phenomenon of fluorescence..." This doesn't make any sense, since refrangibility (refractive index) is a property of the medium not light, and it doesn't have anything to do with fluorescence. At first I tacked on "wavelength" in brackets, but now I'm assuming Britannica was in error and changing it to wavelength outright. -- Tim Starling 01:38, Dec 15, 2003 (UTC)

[edit] Sunshine recorder

Stokes also modifed the John Francis Campbell sunshine recorder that bears his name as the Campbell-Stokes recorder. I'm not sure how to properly fit this into the current text. CambridgeBayWeather 18:47, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Done - in a list, but I actually feel that too much of this is based on the old 1911 encyclopedia style and a some time the article needs a rewrite. However, it is at present quite comprehensive and accurate so I guess this is not pressing. - Op. Deo 20:51, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Thanks. If I'd added it it would have come out much worse.CambridgeBayWeather 06:32, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Irish or Anglo-Irish?

I delicately offer the following contribution to the ongoing reverts over this.

• Stokes remained in close contact with his Irish roots throughout his working life in England, visiting Ireland every summer for holidays.
• His formative educational years were entirley in Ireland.
• When he went to England he was warned by his family not to talk too much and so advertise his Irish roots. This has been given, perhaps some what speculatively, as a cause of his reputation for being taciturn!
• I think that the fact that his later education and working life was in England should not be a factor in deciding whether to call him Anglo-Irish. After all many who made such a move both would both then and now still regard themselves as Irish. Or they could choose to classify themselves as British. As far as I know there were no formal requirements for declaration of nationality. One only had to declare place of birth at things like censuses.
• The article on Anglo-Irish suggests that the term is no longer used. It remains a term which was historically used. Its use in the Stokes article would seem to be correct in as much that he did not come from a working class background and that he was a protestant. However, these points do not need to be made in the opening paragraph of the article. Later in the article one could expound on his religious views, but they form a small part of his biography and are, I think, not needed in the summary.
• Although it is true that Stokes broke his arm riding a horse and was much concerned about what his parents would say, presumably over his rashness, I suspect that the Behan definition of Anglo-Irish as Protestants with horses is meant as a social comment rather than a nationality definition.
• I would accept British as a nationality defintion here, but Irish is also accurate and I think preferable. After all Stokes is celebrated as Irish by many including the academic, Alistair Wood who has published much biographical detail.

--Op. Deo 09:47, 29 January 2006 (UTC)

I won't insist on the point too much, but I would still like to comment: The problem, of course, is that in this period there was no such thing as legal Irish citizenship, but there was a great cultural and social difference between Ireland and Great Britain. Whereas it would seem to me egregious to describe, say, James Joyce as British or Lord Kitchener as Irish (even though both would technically be correct), it also seems to me misleading to identify a man who spent his entire adult life at Cambridge and was president of the Royal Society as Irish. Anglo-Irish, on the other hand, describes Stokes's cultural and social background perfectly. -- Eb.hoop 10:53, 29 January 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the comments. I think the intro could be improved by adding there that he worked at Cambridge & Royal Soc. This would overcome the problem you point out that the Irish designation does not inform the reader that he worked in England, and I think these items are appropriate for the intro paragraph. I will also add something later in the text, taken from Wilson's book, to make it clear that he was from an a protestant family. I followed your examples of Ireland-born people with interest. On other points, I was amused to see Joyce described as an expat when to my mind he had de facto permanently emigrated. As to Kitchner, the wp editors seem to just classify him as a British general/statesman, which I dont quarrel over. I was also interested to find List of Irish scientists, engineers and inventors, which defines itself as people who were either born on the island of Ireland or lived and worked there for an extended period. Stokes of course properly appears in such a list. This whole business of claiming Irishness needs care, if one is avoid the mish mash presently presented in List of Irish people ! -- Op. Deo 14:41, 29 January 2006 (UTC)

Elsewhere wiki uses post nominal leters to designate FRS ie [Fellow_of_the_Royal_Society|FRS] should probably be added after Bt.Alci12 11:49, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

The Irish Tricolour could be considered an appropriate way to express the nationality of a person like Stokes. Although it is synonymous with the Irish Republic, it's original purpose was to express the fact that Ireland is composed of two ethnic groups, the green and orange parts of the flag are the contemporarily recognised Irish and Anglo-Irish respectively. Ostensibly, the flag is in principle usable by both groups. However, in his time, Stokes would probably have used the Union Jack. 193.1.100.109 13:38, 29 November 2006 (UTC)