Dissolve My Nobel Prize, Fast (2011)

Sure, the Danes basically lay down and let the Germans march in, but really? The Germans needed to get to Norway asap, and were probably more concerned about that. Secure airfields, harbors, that kind of thing.

More likely the Danish cooperation policy helped later on, after the Germans had established themselves. Basically, the Danish government decided to save everyone a lot of trouble by cooperating with the invaders, a policy that is much discussed in Danish politics. It came to an end in 1943 after the Germans had done a number of hard to tolerate things.

maxerickson2• 10 years ago

So the thing to do then is to track down the source quoted in the article When the Nazis ransacked Bohr's institute and figure out if it is exaggerated.

Your mere disbelief is rather weak in the face of statements like that one.

lordnacho2• 10 years ago

Flipping through the book, it doesn't give much detail as to when exactly the German stormtroopers came knocking.

The notes and errata at the end of the book don't seem to specify it either.

The point is the article makes it look like "oh crap the nazis have invaded, let's dissolve these medals" rather than "they been here for a few weeks and look like they're about to settle some bits of nazi business".

greenshackle2• 10 years ago

They weren't looking for the medals specifically, they were looking for evidence of wrongdoing. If you're going to search for evidence, you're going to do it at least semi-thoroughly , cause you don't expect that sort of thing to just be sitting on a workbench (though you probably wouldn't go as far as digging holes in the backyard, unless you have specific reasons to think evidence was literally buried).

erelde2• 10 years ago

I like how the author of this piece talk about Sir Martyn Poliakoff.

But the article predates his knighthood. (and presumably youtube fame)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martyn_Poliakoff

dr_zoidberg2• 10 years ago

Actually, the piece barely mentions Poliakoff, and not even by name:

As you can see in this video from the University of Nottingham, dissolving gold is a slow business. The narrator (who looks like he was cast by Mel Brooks, but is presumably, the real deal) explains that nitric acid loosens the gold atoms, after which hydrochloric acid moves in, using its chloride ions to surround and transform the gold.

I really don't see where you read that he's been knighted, other than Wikipedia. From the videos YouTube page I didn't get his name either, and there are no comments in the article.

erelde2• 10 years ago

That I was able to know his name without even knowing what was the video (I was behind a firewall which blocked youtube) should tell you that he has become pretty famous in the "internet famous" sense. The description was a giveaway and I remembered the video in question.

There's absolutely no need to be condescending... That description (which you quoted) was genuinely funny to me because I know who he is.

zorked• 10 years ago

And this is how incredibly smart people can over-engineer a solution to a simple problem...

Practicality2• 10 years ago

What is the simple, appropriately engineered solution?

edblarney6• 10 years ago

"What is the simple, appropriately engineered solution?"

To hide them.

The Germans are not going to spend a division of soldiers 4 years to dig up all of Copenhagen.

There are innumerable places to hide them.

They also could have simply been deformed i.e. markings removed, then they're just clumps of gold and evidence of nothing.

macspoofing2• 10 years ago

Take a boat out and toss the medals into the sea?

justin66• 10 years ago

The nice thing about this hidden in plain sight solution is that the location of the medals could be communicated among a small community of colleagues if necessary without the need for a messy paper trail. A set of coordinates or a treasure map is a lot less reliable in that it can be lost or intercepted.

philipkglass• 10 years ago

I'm going to guess that it looks over-engineered to you because you haven't been a chemist. This is the chemist equivalent of solving a problem with a 10 line Ruby script: perhaps more complicated than the very simplest conceivable solution, definitely a terrible path to solution if you were suggesting it to a lay third party, but not very complicated at all for someone who has spent a lot of time in the lab. It looks a lot more complicated to someone working outside the domain than someone working inside of it.

Angostura• 10 years ago

The solution only has three ingredients - it's quite an elegant solution really

edblarney6• 10 years ago

There are many places they could have been hidden and never found.

kbart• 10 years ago

Agree. While it's a cool story to tell your grandchildren, burying medals (of course, not on your own property) would be much faster solution.

harveywi• 10 years ago

I believe a there is a plot line in Pulp Fiction that touches on a solution satisfying both constraints.

Practicality2• 10 years ago

Is there some method of digging holes that I am not aware of that doesn't make it obvious there is a freshly dug hole?

I mean, that spot in your neighbors yard that looks freshly dug would probably be a good place to look. (They were occupying the whole country)

fivre• 10 years ago

Reminds me vaguely of https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/what-it-s-...

mikebay• 10 years ago

It's sad that Obama have one for peace also. Wrong man & wrong agenda from day one.

nilved2• 10 years ago

Yes, that really tarnished the entire thing for a lot of people.

GFK_of_xmaspast• 10 years ago

It's a minor blemish compared to Henry Kissinger winning one.

kafkaesq• 10 years ago

now that Denmark was suddenly part of the Reich

Actually, rather than being annexed into the Reich itself, Denmark was made into a protectorate (so the government and king were left in place -- but instrumented to serve the Reich's purposes). Similar to the status of the Netherlands and Norway.

Dissolve My Nobel Prize, Fast (2011)

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