My recent silence arose from my being away, rampaging up and down Cape York. Now I'm back and rampaging here again.

About thirty years ago, I read an article in New Scientist called something like 'Who was Wimshurst'.  James Wimshurst invented the Wimshurst machine, a neat gadget with two spinning discs that generates static charge. It got me started on a long-running temporary obsession with the people who gave their names from things as diverse as the Loop of Henle, the Islets of Langerhans, Goldbach's Conjecture, Wimshurst machines, Down syndrome (not Down's syndrome and more), Boyle's law—and the Bunsen burner.

The Bunsen burner has something in common with the Wheatstone bridge: both were not invented by the person they are named after.  It would require a complete eccentric to know that the inventors were actually Peter Desaga and a Mr Christie, and I don't know where you'd find one of those at this time of day, but that's the good oil, trust me.

I was put in mind of that today when I tripped over a report on the death of Robert Bunsen which reads in part like this:

" /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0mm 5.4pt 0mm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0mm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} His scientific attainments are well known, and the "Bunsen battery" bears his name as a monument of his inventions in electrical science. In public and private life he was both admired and respected, and at the present moment we do not think that Prussia has a man that can fill his place."

So how about that, then?  No mention of the famous burner, or, for that matter, of the Bunsen grease-spot photometer.

I wonder what we can do to control what we are remembered for?

By the way, that link will fail in a few weeks, but I will try to remember to upgrade it before then.  This comment is mute evidence that I have not yet done so.