Log24

Google celebrates its 16th birthday today.

Here are some family values found with its help.

The father-in-law of the late Thomas A. Tombrello
(previous post) was sociologist Robert K. Merton.
See a tribute to Merton by his daughter Stephanie,
Tombrello's widow. See also a Log24 post mentioning
Merton from Oct. 19, 2005. That post leads to a
post from the date of Merton's death, Feb. 23, 2003.

From that 2003 post:

“Her wall is filled with pictures,
She gets ‘em one by one.”

— “Sweet Little Sixteen,” by Chuck Berry
(Chess Records, January 1958)

Steve Chawkins in the Los Angeles Times
Friday, September 26, 2014, 12:09 PM LA time —

"Tom Tombrello, a Caltech physics professor for more than
50 years and an inspiration for freshmen who had to grapple
with diabolically complex riddles to enter his legendary class
on scientific thinking [Physics 11], has died. He was 78.

Tombrello collapsed Tuesday [Sept. 23, 2014] on a bus
between terminals at London's Heathrow airport, his wife,
Stephanie, said. The cause of his death has not yet been determined….

… Tombrello accepted only a handful of students for each year's
session of Physics 11."

How many students is a handful?

Related material from this journal on the day of the professor's death: