Новости Клуба

Мы окончательно определились с местом проведения летнего семинара. В качестве такового выбран Военный санаторий "Одесский", который расположен в живописном уголке Одессы (16-я ст. Большого фонтана) на берегу Черного моря, в экологически чистом районе. Чрезвычайно благоприятные природные факторы: удачное сочетание морского и степного климата, теплое Черное море создают прекрасные условия для отдыха и лечения. Санаторий занимает территории площадью 3,9 гектара.

Размещение участников семинара в 9-ти этажном корпусе в 2-х местных номерах со всеми удобствами и лоджиями. Питание трехразовое в ресторане пансионата на заказ, входит в стоимость путевки. Пляж городской песчаный, граничит с территорией санатория. Кроме того имеются танцевальный зал, бильярдная, библиотека, детская площадка, волейбольная и баскетбольная площадки. Организованы культурные и спортивные мероприятия. В 50 метрах от санатория находится популярный в Одессе ночной клуб "Золотой берег", в котором выступают известные эстрадные артисты России и Украины.

Всем, получившим уже форму заявки на участие в семинаре, желательно срочно ее заполнить и выслать в Москву. Количество мест ограничено, так что мы не можем гарантировать удовлетворение всех заявок. Чем раньше Вы их вышлете, тем больше вероятность удовлетворения заявок.

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Разговор в письмах

Этот выпуск я посвящу письмам читателей рассылки, которые не требуют ответов. Один из подписчиков отозвался на выпуск посвященный отношениям граждан с чиновниками. Он приводит свои размышления, основанные на собственном опыте государственной службы:

Чиновники...

Представительница прекрасного пола попыталась как-то доказать, что нет, не все плохие, что в основном мы (а я тоже "чиновник" с 8-ми летнем стажем) Действительно та схема "перерождения" (раздражение => ненависть описана в точку. Есть причины, по которым это происходит.

Попадая в СИСТЕМУ человек постепенно набирается опыта, знаний, многие вещи становятся для него элементарными, появляются элементы власти, но посетители имеют постоянный уровень понимания функций органа, куда они обращаются. Приходя куда-то они как правило имеют с собой себя и желание сделать все дела сразу и сейчас. Причем каждый считает, что он уникален, и если сразу не получилось - "сидят там издеваются над народом".

Однако если понять элементарные принципы системы - все слишком просто.

1- предварительно позвони - узнай приемные дни. Дело в том, что если прийти лично и в не приемный день - могут послать, а по телефону все объяснят.

2- в 1 сразу узнай что необходимо.

3- если гонять начали - затей официальную переписку. Отбрасывает 60% ненужных проблем.

4- бурное проявление эмоций и высказывание своего мнения зачастую приводит к обратной реакции

5 - Самое главное - не допускайте хамства по отношению к себе. Спокойствие, внутреннее достоинство - 70% сделать все быстро и расстаться друзьями

Дмитрий Владимирович

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Еще один из наших подписчиков отозвался на выпуск рассылки, где говорилось о корреляции даты рождения и некоторых черт характера. Я ссылался на уже довольно давние исследования Айзенка по этому вопросу. Уважаемый подписчик пишет:

Некоторые полагают, что это фенология.

См. напр. этачнутую заметку, опубликованную в Scientometrics (1998, 41: 417-420). (кстати, имеет отношение к проблеме "подавление vs. раскрепощение")

bwAV

Scientists of old vintage support a 'winter-biased birthday' theory

Alexander E. Vinogradov

Institute of Cytology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Tikhoretsky Ave., 4, St.Petersburg

194064, Russia

Abstract. The association between the season of birth and lifetime intellectual achievement was

studied by means of analysis of two data sets, one of the prominent chemists of the world and

another of members of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). It is found that a (statistically)

significantly greater number of prominent chemists born before 1850 and of full members of

RAS born before 1875 were born in a month of the winter half-year than of the summer one. The

effect was gradually decreasing with time, the decrease being slower in Russia. The possible

influence of the season of birth on early personality development is discussed.

Keywords: Birth date . Season . Phenology . Personality development . Lifetime achievement .

Prominent scientists . History of science.

The effect of birth date on human personality development, heavily capitalized by astrologers,

remains under question. By analogy with animals where phenology of reproduction can have an

essential effect on important organismal traits (Vinogradov, 1994), some slight influence can be

expected in human beings as well. It was argued recently that the 'revolutionary-minded'

prominent scientists (judged by their early acceptance of novel theories - those of relativity and

of biological evolution) were born mostly in the winter half-year (October through March),

whereas their conservative opponents were born mostly in the summer one (Holmes, 1995). The

phenomenon was ascribed to the effect which the early childhood experiences, constraints in

winter versus freedom in summer, exhorted on the personality development. The sample was

rather small (total 28), which was criticized (Emilliani, 1995). It can be added to this criticism

that some revolutionists while being such in relation to one theory (e.g., Einstein on relativity),

can be conservative on the other (the same man on the quantum theory). Furthermore, any

prominent scientist should at least once be a kind of revolutionary on the point that made him/her

prominent. In other words, the degree of prominence itself may be a better measure of the feature

in question than a temporal attitude to one or another theory. The rationale can be reformulated

as follows: the early orientation reflexes (at the several months old when the child just begins to

move and to actively perceive the surroundings), if timely encouraged by unconstrained summer

experiences, are more likely to develop into a long-term passion for knowledge.

To check this consideration, I analyzed two datasets - a catalogue of prominent chemists

(Volkov et al, 1991), n=1199 (a few born in the Southern hemisphere were excluded), and the

register of members of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) elected before 1917, n=1437

(Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1974). It turns out that a significantly greater number of

prominent chemists born before 1850 and of full members of RAS elected before 1917, were

born in a month of the winter half-year than of the summer one (Fig 1A, Table 1). For the

corresponding members and foreign members of RAS, the difference, although consistently of the

same sign, was not significant (Table 1). The latter was also true for the chemists born after

1850 (Fig. 1B). Since the catalogue of chemists compiled by the Russian authors is inevitably

biased in regards to scientists of this country, the Russian and non-Russian chemists were

analyzed separately (n=547 and n=652, respectively). The 'winter-biased birthdays' theory

stands for the whole dataset of Russian chemists, and for non-Russian chemists born before

1825; for those who was born later the difference was of the same sign but not significant. On the

whole, the winter-summer difference gradually decreases with time and reaches a plateau after

1875 (Fig. 1B).

In the case of RAS members elected before 1917 (born in fact before 1875), the degree of

prominence should on average be related to their status: the election of full members was based

on a more careful scrutiny. In contrast, in election of foreign members, the political

considerations often took place (for instance, a number of crowned persons were enlisted). In

any case, the comparison of full members with the corresponding members (of the same country)

suggests a link between the degree of prominence and the winter bias of birthdays (Table 1). The

data on chemists indicate that besides prominence, two other factors may be involved: birthplace

in Russia, and birthday in older times. Generally, both are associated with the lower standards

of living. (An electric light and central heating are just two examples of devices decreasing with

time the human dependence on seasonality.) Therefore both can be interpreted along the same

line: the more severe living conditions and the more northern birthplace make sharper the effect

of seasonality on child development.

It was shown recently that a significantly higher incidence of students born during the

second trimester of the year occurred among those enrolled on the faculties of medicine in Porto

(n=263) and Florence (n=957) (Azevedo et al., 1995; Boddi et al., 1996). Although indicative of

the influence of the season of birth as well, these data suggest a somewhat different period of

year. The possible explanations of this discrepancy can include: a) more recent times; b) another

parameter being involved - intellectual success at a younger age, and another kind of intellectual

success - learning of existing knowledge as compared to discovery of something novel in the

works of prominent scientists (diligence versus creativity); noteworthy also is the difference in

selection intensity (below 1:3 in Florence), confer the case of full members of RAS versus

corresponding members (Table 1), which suggests a significant effect of selection intensity; c)

Mediterranean climate. In any case, it can be concluded that in human beings the season of birth

can also exhort its influence, though a much more slight than in animals.

One practical implication may follow: it is possible that in the critical period of child

development the effect of seasonality (for instance, encouragement of orientation reflexes) can be

simulated artificially in spite of the season of year. The analysis of larger and more diverse data

bases of birth dates and life-time performances, with taking into account geographic (climatic)

and social conditions, could allow one to outline this critical period more clearly.

REFERENCES

Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Personal Register. Book 1 (1724-1917). (1974). (Ed. G. K.

Skryabin) Nauka, Moscow, 480 pp.

Azevedo, I., Pinto -do-O, P. & Borges, N. (1995). Birth dates. Nature 376: 381.

Boddi V., Brizzi E., Conti A. & Gensini G. F. (1996). Birth dates in Florence. Nature 379: 394.

Emilliani, C. (1995). Revolutionary birthdays. Nature 376: 12.

Holmes, M. (1995). Revolutionary birthdays. Nature 373: 468.

Vinogradov A. E. (1994). In harmony with the earth rotation: is 1 kg equal to 1 year in

mammals? Oikos 71: 541.

Volkov V. A., Vonsky E. V. & Kuznetsova G. I. (1991). The Prominent Chemists of the World.

Biography Reference Book. Vysshaya shkola, Moscow, 656 pp.