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Friday, February 11, 2011

Neils Bohr's Coat of Arms with 太極圖

Right after yesterday's blog on 道德经, Robin talked about Neils Bohr in his email.
When Bohr received his Nobel, he didn't have a coat of arms, this is what he made up:






(I copied the image from wikipedia, not exactly what Bohr wore at the ceremony.)


The inscription reads CONTRARI SUNT COMPLEMENTA, meaning opposites are complements.  太極 (Tai Chi)is in the middle surrounded by the elephant medal. I'm sure Bohr put a lot of thoughts into it. 


Sometimes I don't know if we have given the ancient Chinese too much or too little credit. Did they really know something very profound? The complementing opposites of 陰陽 is very much the Taoist view of the world. 


On the other hand, Neils Bohr's genius is never in doubt, giving him the Nobel Prize is like giving Gandhi the Nobel Peace Prize, the prize is dwarfed by their achievements. 


Ironically, Gandhi was nominated multiple times but never won the Nobel Peace Prize. I am glad he didn't, the Nobel committee is not necessarily qualified to judge greatness and it shows.


   





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