From: utzoo!decvax!cwruecmp!glassner
Newsgroups: net.jokes
Title: Physicist joke
Article-I.D.: cwruecmp.427
Posted: Sat Jan 22 15:29:03 1983
Received: Mon Jan 24 04:52:01 1983


As long as we're telling physicist/engineer/etc. jokes,
I thought I would include this one, told to me by my
brother several years ago while he was attending Cornell
as an undergraduate.

	One day a very well-dressed man entered the
office of the President of Cornell.  He declared that
he had just won longest shot at the horse races he had
ever taken, and was now a multi-millionaire.
	"I would like to donate several of my millions
to this school," he declared, "but there is a condition.
To remind me always of where my wealth came from, and
to generate more wealth, you must set your finest minds
on the task of developing the perfect race horse."
	The president accepted the challenge, and called
together the heads of each of the different departments,
to determine which department should get the generous
advance the old man had left for the necessary research.
	The chairman of the Biology Department announced,
"Clearly the horse is a biological creature; therefore
the Biology Department should do the work."
	The chairman of the mechanical engineering department
then declared, "Why, obviously the solution is a mechanical
one; the mechanical engineering department should receive
the grant."
	"No!", cried the systems department chairman.
"A complex animal such as a horse is a complete system and
must be analyzed as such.  We are the logical choice."
	Well, the argument raged back and forth among the
different departments, until the physics chairman spoke up.
	"The physics department historically has undertaken
projects related to all these disciplines.  With our
equipment, brains, and many undergraduate students the physics
department should recieve the project and money."
	Needless to say, this eloquent speech netted the
physics department the project, and they set their minds to
it the next day.

	One year later the old gentleman returned to the
president's office to receive his horse and donate the
rest of the money.  Together the president and the millionaire
went to the physics chairman's office.
	"Have you completed the project?  Have you designed me
a perfect race horse?" demanded the old man.
	The physics professor looked up and smiled, and said,
"Well, the problem of designing the perfect race horse is
formidable and yet unsolved.  However," he went on,
"we HAVE solved the problem for the perfectly spherical horse."




		-well, my brother told it originally!
		   a little afraid to sign my name, so I'll just type it...

		-Andrew Glassner    !decvax!cwruecmp!glassner