What if the past giants of science had Twitter?

I personally love Steve Mirsky's way of explaining things. This is one of his best. Enjoy..


Have you joined the twitterverse? All over the world millions of people are posting their 140-or- fewercharacter tweets online via Twitter. As a confirmed Twitterer, I wondered what it might have
been like if Twitter, and all its users, had been around for, oh, the past few thousand years.

PythyinGreece Had amazing insight into right triangles.
Add squares of sides = square of hypo. Could be useful.

euclidmenot Working on something (book series called
Elements) to drive 10th graders nuts 4 thousands of years.
Conic section alone will make them cry.

Aristophanesridiculous @Euclidmenot Conic section? I thought
you said COMIC section. HaHA, I still got it! Hey, frogs are
funny, yes?

Arkymeets Note to self: take more baths. Do some of my
best thinking in the tub.

Galiheyo You know what moves when they show you the
torture instruments? Your colon. I’m gonna be ixnay on
the eetstway for an ilewhay.

Libnits Made way to figure out area under a curve
by dividing into smaller and smaller sections until width
of each disappears, call it calculus.

AppleNewt @Libnits You made that up? You couldn’t make
up a bedtime story for a 2-yr-old. Making a kid, BTW,
sounds disgusting.

Libnits @AppleNewt Keep sitting under trees, maybe something
big will fall on you next time.

AppleNewt @Libnits Apple falls near you, best idea you have
is “Ooh, let’s make applesauce.”

HairyAlbert @AppleNewt Pick on somebody your own size.
Btw, your gravity’s wrong. Just a teeny bit most of the time,
but hey. @Euclidmenot You too.

euclidmenot @HairyAlbert Prove it.

OzAScarecrow @PythyinGreece The sum of the square roots of
any two sides of an isosceles triangle is = to the square root
of the remaining side!

Mendelayoff @Euclidmenot Calling my thing Periodic Table
of the Elements. Different elements from yours. OK?

euclidmenot @Mendelayoff We’re
like two lines that go next to each
other for infinity but don’t ever touch.

PythyinGreece @OzAScarecrow So very
wrong, but congrats on the degree.
At least you’re failing upward.

AppleNewt @PythyinGreece You can’t
fall upward.

HairyAlbert @Euclidmenot Two lines
that never touch? Those lines are
gonna touch, trust me.

ChuckinDown Worms and
barnacles again today. I don’t
feel so good.

PythyinGreece @AppleNewt I said he was FAILing upward, not
falling upward. You’re doing too much alchemy, get fresh air.

HairyAlbert @Mendelayoff I’ll take number 99 on your table.

AlfieWallace @ChuckinDown Are you eating the worms and
barnacles? Hey, did you get the package I sent?

ChuckinDown @AlfieWallace Yes, got package. Adding to my
tummy troubles. We need to talk.

Curieous Went through thousands of pounds of pitchblende
to get a speck of radium. I hate pitchblende.

inAHuff It snowed in DC, which proves beyond a shadow of
a doubt that there is no global warming. I rest my case.

Beefranklin @InAHuff I risked my life in electrical storms for
guys like you?

Bigstick99 @HairyAlbert Hey, I’m also number 99. There’s a lot
of interesting physics in ice hockey.

inAHuff @Bigstick99 But the hockey stick is broken!

Beefranklin @InAHuff Seriously, you’re embarrassing us.

HairyAlbert @Bigstick99 I prefer elevator races.

SJGould I’m supposed to say something in 140 characters?
That’s ludicrous. It’s absurd. It’s beyond ridiculous. In fact,
it’s impossible. What idio

rogertoryPete Tweet!