Talk:Peter Atkins

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"May you rot in hell"

The occasion was one of a series of two debates filmed at Oxford in the summer of 1993 and broadcast later that year or possibly the following year. The series was entitled "God: For and Against" and was broadcast by Channel 4 (U.K.).

I know that Atkins' words were included in the broadcast because I came across a recording of the debates yesterday (I'd been in the audience and kept a copy). Atkins' exact words were "May you rot in hell, Professor Swinburne, may you rot in hell". Swinburne's remarks weren't addressed to Atkins, hence Atkins wasn't "replying" to him.

For the record, Richard Dawkins didn't take part in the debate in question (on the problem of evil). He was involved in the other debate in the series (on science and religion). Atkins was involved in both, as was Swinburne.

H Remster (talk) 20:01, 23 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

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"Out of nothing"

This guy, even though he's not a mathematician, when debating John Lennox said, that he believes he can "create integers from the null set", meaning "out of nothing". It's a complete joke, and should be included. Video evidence here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZS5s-oVNsRo at around 44:00 mins. Extremely notable, and perhaps what this guy is most notable for. If you can create even the number 1 from 0 - you have just made news Peter Atkins! 2001:8003:6A23:2C00:2D88:2441:2998:18FF (talk) 13:37, 11 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

You need to know a huge amount of Maths to be a proffesor of Physical Chemistry so I wouldn't dismiss his opinions so quickly Ad hominem. DGtal (talk) 05:51, 13 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I think Atkins is just referring to the standard set theory construction of the natural numbers, and thus integers. This is not a joke. Imaginatorium (talk) 10:16, 13 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

If I recall correctly, John von Neumann also thought that integers can be created from the null set. But perhaps, like the Scotsman wearing pants under his kilt, von Neumann was not a 'true' mathematician.2A00:23C8:7907:4B01:6C7F:7F5F:AB13:76B4 (talk) 18:42, 27 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]