NationMaster - Encyclopedia: List of eponymous laws

The list of eponymous laws provides links to articles on laws, adages, and other succinct observations or predictions named after a person. In some cases the person named has coined the law - such as Parkinson's law. In others, the work or publications of the individual have led to the law being so named - as is the case with Moore's law. There are also laws ascribed to individuals by others, such as Murphy's law; or given eponymous names despite the absence of the named person. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... This is a list of adages named after people (eponymous adages). ... For law within legal systems see law. ... An adage is a short, but memorable saying, which holds some important fact of experience that is considered true by many people, or it has gained some credibility through its long use. ... An eponym is a person, whether real or fictitious, whose name has (or is thought to have) given rise to the name of a particular place, tribe, discovery, or other item. ...

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Amara's law - "We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run". Proposed by Roy Amara.
Amdahl's law - Used to find out the maximum expected improvement to an overall system when only a part of it is improved. Named after Gene Amdahl (born 1922)
Ampère's law - In physics, it relates the circulating magnetic field in a closed loop to the electric current passing through the loop. Discovered by André-Marie Ampère.
Asimov's three laws of robotics - also called, more simply, the Three Rules of Robotics, a set of rules which the fictional robots appearing in the writings of Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) must obey.
- First law: A robot may not harm a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
- Second law: A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
- Third law: A robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Subsequently, a Zeroth Law was added to precede these three: A robot may not injure humanity, or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.

Avogadro's law - In chemistry and physics, one of the gas laws, relating to the volume and molarity of a gas.
Beer-Lambert law - in optics, the empirical relationship of the absorption of light to the properties of the material the light is travelling through. Independently discovered (in various forms) by Pierre Bouguer in 1729, Johann Heinrich Lambert in 1760 and August Beer in 1852.
Benford's law - In any collection of statistics, a given statistic has roughly a 30% chance of starting with the digit 1.
Boyle's law - In physics, one of the gas laws, relating the volume and pressure of an ideal gas held at a constant temperature. Discovered by and named after Robert Boyle (1627–1691)
Brooks' law - Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later. Named after Fred Brooks, author of the well known tome on Project Management, The Mythical Man-Month.
Clarke's three laws. Formulated by Arthur C. Clarke. Several corollaries to these laws have also been proposed.
- First law: When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
- Second law: The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
- Third law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
De Morgan's laws - apply to formal logic regarding the negation of pairs of logical operators.
Dilbert Principle - Coined by Scott Adams as a variation of the Peter Principle of employee advancement. Named after Adams' Dilbert comic strip, it proposes that the most ineffective workers are systematically moved to the place where they can do the least damage: management.
Dollo's Law - "An organism is unable to return, even partially, to a previous stage already realized in the ranks of its ancestors." Simply put this laws states that evolution is not reversible.
Duffy's law - "Most people are wrong about most things most of the time."
Duverger's law - After Maurice Duverger. Winner-take-all (or first-past-the-post) electoral systems tend to create a 2 party system, while proportional representation tends to create a multiple party system.
Earle's Curve of Predictive Reliability - In behavioral finance and epistemology, a conjecture holding that when polled on phenomena familiar to them, expert opinions will tend to be reliable (accurate) over micro/short time frames; erroneous or even wildly inaccurate over intermediate time frames; and generally correct over longer time horizons. Earle's Curve, graphically plotted, will strongly tend toward describing an elongated 'u'- or 'v'-shape, variously transformed. Proposed by Peter C. Earle in 2004.
Finagle's law - Generalized version of Murphy's law, fully named Finagle's Law of Dynamic Negatives and usually rendered "anything that can go wrong, will". Not strictly eponymous, since there was no Finagle.
Fitts' Law - A principle of human movement published in 1954 by Paul Fitts which predicts the time required to move from a starting position to a final target area. Fitts' law is used to model the act of pointing, both in the real world, e.g. with a hand or finger, and on a computer, e.g. with a mouse.
Gauss's law - In physics, gives the relation between the electric flux flowing out a closed surface and the charge enclosed in the surface. It was formulated by Carl Friedrich Gauss.
Godwin's Law - An adage in Internet culture that states "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one." Coined by Mike Godwin in 1990.
Goodhart's law - When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.
Graham's law - In physics, a gas law which states that the average kinetic energy of the molecules of two samples of different gases at the same temperature is identical. It is named for Thomas Graham (1805–1869), who formulated it.
Gresham's law - "bad money drives good money out of circulation". Coined in 1858 by British economist Henry Dunning Macleod, and named for Sir Thomas Gresham (1519 - 1579).
Grimm's law - explains correspondence between some consonants in Germanic languages vs. other Indo-European languages. Discovered by Jacob Grimm, (1785 – 1863), German philologist and mythologist and one of the Brothers Grimm.
Hanlon's razor - A corollary of Finagle's law, normally taking the form "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.". As with Finagle, possibly not strictly eponymous.
Hartman's Law of Prescriptivist Retaliation - "any statement about correct grammar, punctuation, or spelling is bound to contain at least one eror".
Henry's law - The mass of a gas that dissolves in a definite volume of liquid is directly proportional to the pressure of the gas provided the gas does not react with the solvent.
Hofstadter's law - "It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law." It was created by Douglas Hofstadter in his book Gödel, Escher, Bach.
Hooke's law - The tension on a spring or other elastic object is proportional to the displacement from the equilibrium. Named after Robert Hooke (1635 - 1703)
Hotelling's law in economics - Under some conditions, it is rational for competitors to make their products as nearly identical as possible.
Hubble's law - Galaxies recede from an observer at a rate proportional to their distance to that observer. Formulated by Edwin Hubble in 1929.
Kepler's laws of planetary motion - govern the motion of the planets around the sun, and were first discovered by Johannes Kepler
Kerckhoffs' law on secure cryptography by Auguste Kerckhoffs
Kirchhoff's laws - one law in Thermodynamics and two about electrical circuits, named after Gustav Kirchhoff.
Linus's law - named for Linus Torvalds, initiator of the kernel of the GNU/Linux operating system, states "given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow". This law is, incidentally, the only one on this list to use the forename rather than the family name.
Little's law, in queueing theory, says The average number of customers in a stable system (over some time interval) is equal to their average arrival rate, multiplied by their average time in the system. The law was named for John Little from results of experiments in 1961.
Littlewood's law - States that individuals can expect miracles to happen to them, at the rate of about one per month. Coined by Professor J E Littlewood, (1885–1977)
Meadow's law is a precept, now discredited, that since cot deaths are so rare, "One is a tragedy, two is suspicious and three is murder." It was named for Sir Roy Meadow, a paediatrician prominent in the United Kingdom in the last quarter of the twentieth century.
Metcalfe's law - In communications and network theory, states that the value of a system grows as approximately the square of the number of users of the system. Framed by Robert Metcalfe (born 1946) in the context of the ethernet.
Moore's law - An empirical observation stating that the complexity of integrated circuits doubles every 18 months. Outlined in 1965 by Gordon Moore (born 1925), co-founder of Intel
Moynihan's law - "The amount of violations of human rights in a country is always an inverse function of the amount of complaints about human rights violations heard from there. The greater the number of complaints being aired, the better protected are human rights in that country." Coined by Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1927 - 2003).
Murphy's law - Most commonly formulated as "if anything can go wrong, it will", less commonly "If it can happen, it will happen". Ascribed to Edward A. Murphy, Jr.
Newton's laws of motion - In physics, three scientific laws concerning the behaviour of moving bodies, which are fundamental to classical mechanics. Discovered and stated by Isaac Newton (1643– 1727).
- First law: A body remains at rest, or moves in a straight line (at a constant velocity), unless acted upon by a net outside force. This law isn't valid any more (outside classical mechanics) since Einstein showed that the "gravitational attractive force", that was thought to accelerate all free falling bodies, doesn't exist and so it turns out that all free falling bodies "accelerate" on their own without acted upon by any external force. The law is still valid in hypothetical inertial reference frames if one manages to create them.
- Second law: The acceleration of an object of constant mass is proportional to the force acting upon it. This law translated from classical mechanics to the real world, to be still valid, has to be preceded by a phrase "In an inertial reference frame". Never mind the difficulty to construct an inertial reference frame. In the times of Newton "absolute space" (while it existed) and all systems that moved with a constant velocity in relation to it were considered inertial reference frames. Removing "absolute space" from physics by Einstein created some problems with finding a suitable inertial reference frame to test the law.
- Third law: Whenever one body exerts force upon a second body, the second body exerts an equal and opposite force upon the first body.
Newton's law of cooling - the rate of cooling (or heating) of a body due to convection is proportional to the difference between the body temperature and the ambient temperature.
Occam's razor - States that explanations should never multiply causes without necessity. When two explanations are offered for a phenomenon, the simplest full explanation is preferable. Named after William of Ockham (ca.1285–1349)
Ohm's law - In physics, states that the ratio of the potential difference (or voltage drop) between the ends of a conductor (and resistor) to the current flowing through it is a constant, provided the temperature doesn't change. Discovered and named after Georg Simon Ohm (1789–1854).
Parkinson's law - "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion". Coined by C. Northcote Parkinson (1909–1993)
Pareto principle - States that for many phenomena 80% of consequences stem from 20% of the causes. Named after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, but framed by management thinker Joseph M. Juran.
Peter principle - "In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence". Coined by Laurence J. Peter (1919–1990)
Poisson's Law of Large Numbers - For independent random variables with a common distribution, the average value for a sample tends to the mean as sample size increases. Named after Siméon-Denis Poisson (1781–1840) and derived from "Recherches sur la probabilité des jugements en matière criminelle et en matière civile" (1837; "Research on the Probability of Criminal and Civil Verdicts").
Raoult's law - In chemistry, Raoult's law states that the vapor pressure of mixed liquids is dependent on the vapor pressures of the individual liquids and the molar vulgar fraction of each present in solution.
Reed's law is the assertion of David P. Reed that the utility of large networks, particularly social networks, can scale exponentially with the size of the network.
Reilly's law - of Retail Gravitation, people generally patronize the largest mall in the area.
Rothbard's law - everyone specializes in his own area of weakness.
Say's law - attributed to economist Jean-Baptiste Say and contrasted to Keynes' Law (discussed above), saying that "supply creates its own demand," i.e., that if businesses produce more output in a free market economy, the wages and other payment for productive inputs will provide sufficient demand so that there is no general glut.
Stevens' Power Law - In physics this law relates the intensity of a stimulus to its perceived strength. It supersedes the Weber-Fechner law, since it can describe a wider range of sensations. The theory is named after its inventor, S. Smith Stevens (1906–1973).
Stokes' law - an expression for the frictional force exerted on spherical objects with very small Reynolds numbers, named for George Gabriel Stokes, (1819–1903)
Sturgeon's law - "Ninety percent of everything is crud." Derived from a quote by science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon (1918–1985)
Sutton's law - "'Go where the money is'". Often cited in medical school's to teach new doctors to spend resources where they are most likely to pay off. The law is named after bank robber Willie Sutton, who when asked why he robbed banks is claimed to have answered "Because that's where the money is."
Ugol's law, names for Max Ugol, who first formulated it on the alt.sex.bondage newsgroup: "If you ever ask 'Am I the only one who has this kink?' the answer is invariably 'no'."
Verner's law - Stated by Karl Verner in 1875, Verner's law describes a historical sound change in the Proto-Germanic language whereby voiceless fricatives *f, *þ, *s and *x, when immediately following an unstressed syllable in the same word, underwent voicing and became respectively *b, *d, *z and *g.
Weber-Fechner law - This law named after Ernst Heinrich Weber and Gustav Theodor Fechner attempts to describe the human perception of various physical stimuli. In most cases, Stevens' power law gives a more accurate description.
Wilcox-McCandlish Law of Online Discourse Evolution - The chance of success of any attempt to change the topic or direction of a thread of discussion in a networked forum is directly proportional to the quality of the current content.
Zipf's law - in linguistics, the observation that the frequency of use of the nth-most-frequently-used word in any natural language is approximately inversely proportional to n, or, more simply, that a few words are used very often, but many or most are used rarely. Named after George Kingsley Zipf (1902–1950), whose statistical work research led to the observation. More generally, the term Zipf's law refers to the probability distributions involved, which are applied by statisticians not only to linguistics but also to fields remote from that.
Wirth's law - Software gets slower faster than hardware gets faster.

Amaras law is a maxim stating: It was put forth by Roy Amara of the Institute for the Future. ... Amaras law is a maxim stating: It was put forth by Roy Amara of the Institute for the Future. ... Amdahls law, named after computer architect Gene Amdahl, is used to find the maximum expected improvement to an overall system when only part of the system is improved. ... Gene Myron Amdahl (born November 16, 1922) is an American computer architect and hi-tech entrepreneur of Norwegian descent, chiefly known for his work on mainframe computers at International Business Machines (IBM) and later his own companies. ... 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... An electric current produces a magnetic field. ... Current flowing through a wire produces a magnetic field (M) around the wire. ... In electricity, current is the rate of flow of charges, usually through a metal wire or some other electrical conductor. ... AndrÃ©-Marie AmpÃ¨re (January 20, 1775 â€“ June 10, 1836), was a French physicist who is generally credited as one of the main discoverers of electromagnetism. ... This cover of I, Robot illustrates the story Runaround, the first to list all Three Laws of Robotics. ... A humanoid robot playing a trumpet In practical usage, a robot is a mechanical device which can perform complex tasks either according to direct human control, partial control with human supervision, or autonomously (that is, fully under computer control). ... Isaac Asimov (courtesy of Jay Kay Klein) Dr. Isaac Asimov (c. ... 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... The Zeroth Law of Robotics was first formally laid out in Isaac Asimovs Robots and Empire (ISBN 0586062009) as an extension of his Three Laws of Robotics. ... In 1811 Amedeo Avogadro stated the hypothesis which we now call Avogadros law: (See: this site for an English translation of his 1811 paper). ... Chemistry (derived from the Arabic word kimia, alchemy, where al is Arabic for the) is the science that deals with the properties of organic and inorganic substances and their interactions with other organic and inorganic substances. ... A black hole concept drawing by NASA. Physics (from the Greek, Ï†Ï…ÏƒÎ¹ÎºÏŒÏ‚ (physikos), natural, and Ï†ÏÏƒÎ¹Ï‚ (physis), nature) is the science of the natural world dealing with the fundamental constituents of the universe, the forces they exert on one another, and the results produced by these forces. ... The gas laws are a set of laws that describe the relationship between thermodynamic temperature (T), pressure (P) and volume (V) of gases. ... In optics, the Beer-Lambert law, also known as Beers law or the Beer-Lambert-Bouguer law is an empirical relationship that relates the absorption of light to the properties of the material through which the light is travelling. ... See also: List of optical topics Optics (appearance or look in ancient Greek) is a branch of physics that describes the behavior and properties of light and the interaction of light with matter. ... In science, an empirical relationship is one based on observation rather than theory: that is, there is no theoretical reason to believe that a relationship should be as claimed; only data that indicates it is. ... Absorption has a number of meanings: In physics, absorption is a process in which particles of some sort encounter another material and are taken up by or even disappear in it. ... Prism splitting light Light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength that is visible to the eye (visible light) or, in a technical or scientific context, electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength. ... Pierre Bouguer (February 16, 1698 – August 15, 1758) was a French mathematician. ... Events July 30 - Baltimore, Maryland is founded. ... Johann Heinrich Lambert Johann Heinrich Lambert (August 26, 1728 – September 25, 1777), was a mathematician, physicist and astronomer. ... 1760 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... August Beer (July 31, 1825 - November 18, 1863), German mathematician, chemist, physicist. ... 1852 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Benfords law, also called the first-digit law, states that in lists of numbers from many real-life sources of data, the leading digit 1 occurs much more often than the others (namely about 30% of the time). ... Image:Boyle. ... A black hole concept drawing by NASA. Physics (from the Greek, Ï†Ï…ÏƒÎ¹ÎºÏŒÏ‚ (physikos), natural, and Ï†ÏÏƒÎ¹Ï‚ (physis), nature) is the science of the natural world dealing with the fundamental constituents of the universe, the forces they exert on one another, and the results produced by these forces. ... The gas laws are a set of laws that describe the relationship between thermodynamic temperature (T), pressure (P) and volume (V) of gases. ... Temperature is the physical property of a system which underlies the common notions of hot and cold; the material with the higher temperature is said to be hotter. ... Robert Boyle The Honourable Robert Boyle (January 25, 1627 - December 30, 1692) was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, noted for his work in physics and chemistry. ... Events A Dutch ship makes the first recorded sighting of the coast of South Australia. ... Events March 5 - French troops under Marshal Louis-Francois de Boufflers besiege the Spanish-held town of Mons March 20 - Leislers Rebellion - New governor arrives in New York - Jacob Leisler surrenders after standoff of several hours March 29 - Siege of Mons ends to the cityâ€™s surrender May 6... Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later. ... Frederick Phillips Brooks, Jr. ... Project Management is the discipline of defining and achieving targets while optimizing the use of resources (time, money, people, materials, energy, space, etc) over the course of a project (a set of activities of finite duration). ... Book cover The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering is a classic book on software project management written by Fred Brooks. ... Sir Arthur C. Clarke Science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke formulated the following three laws: // Origins Clarkes Law, later the first of the three laws, was proposed by Arthur C. Clarke in the essay Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination, in Profiles of the Future (1962). ... Arthur C. Clarke Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (born December 16, 1917) is a British author and inventor, most famous for his science-fiction novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, and for collaborating with director Stanley Kubrick on the film of the same name. ... Sir Arthur C. Clarke Science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke formulated the following three laws: // Origins Clarkes Law, later the first of the three laws, was proposed by Arthur C. Clarke in the essay Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination, in Profiles of the Future (1962). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The ancient symbol of the pentagram is often used as a symbol for magic. ... In logic, De Morgans laws (or De Morgans theorem) are rules in formal logic relating pairs of dual logical operators in a systematic manner expressed in terms of negation. ... Logic (from ancient Greek λόγος (logos), meaning reason) is the study of arguments. ... The Dilbert Principle refers to the 1990s satirical theory that companies should promote their worst employees to management. ... Scott Adams (born June 8, 1957) is the creator of the Dilbert comic strip and the author of several business commentaries, social satires, and experimental philosophy books. ... The Peter Principle is a theory originated by Dr. Laurence J. Peter. ... Thriving on Vague Objectives, the latest Dilbert book Dilbert animated series, episode 212 Dilbert is a popular American comic strip. ... Dollos Law is a hypothesis proposed by French-born Belgian paleontologist Louis Dollo (1857-1931) in 1890 that states that evolution is not reversible. ... Duvergers Law is a principle which asserts that a first-past-the-post election system or in other words, a Single-member, Simple-plurality system, naturally leads to a two-party system. ... In the epistemological study of economics and finance, a theory asserting that a statistically significant group of experts asked to independently predict the future course of prices, trends, or developments (as applies) within their field of expertise will tend toward accuracy over short and long time frames, while demonstrating significant... Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences winner Daniel Kahneman, was an important figure in the development of behavioral finance and economics and continues to write extensively in the field. ... Epistemology, from the Greek words episteme (knowledge) and logos (word/speech) is the branch of philosophy that deals with the nature, origin and scope of knowledge. ... The adage Finagles Law of Dynamic Negatives is a version of Murphys law, and usually rendered: One variant (known as OTooles Corollary of Finagles Law) favored among hackers is (but see also Hanlons Razor). ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Murphys Law Murphys law (also known as Finagles law or Sods law) is a popular adage in Western culture, which broadly states that things will go wrong in any given situation. ... In ergonomics, Fitts law is a model of human movement, predicting the time required to rapidly move from a starting position to a final target area, as a function of the distance to the target and the size of the target. ... 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Paul M. Fitts was a psychologist at Ohio State University (later at the University of Michigan). ... An abstract model (or conceptual model) is a theoretical construct that represents physical, biological or social processes, with a set of variables and a set of logical and quantitative relationships between them. ... A computer is a machine capable of undergoing complex calculations. ... Operating a mechanical 1: Pulling the mouse turns the ball. ... In physics and mathematical analysis, Gausss law gives the relation between the electric flux flowing out a closed surface and the electric charge enclosed in the surface. ... A black hole concept drawing by NASA. Physics (from the Greek, Ï†Ï…ÏƒÎ¹ÎºÏŒÏ‚ (physikos), natural, and Ï†ÏÏƒÎ¹Ï‚ (physis), nature) is the science of the natural world dealing with the fundamental constituents of the universe, the forces they exert on one another, and the results produced by these forces. ... In the various subfields of physics, there exist two common usages of the term flux, both with rigorous mathematical frameworks. ... Electric charge is a fundamental conserved property of some subatomic particles, which determines their electromagnetic interactions. ... Carl Friedrich Gauss (GauÃŸ) (April 30, 1777 â€“ February 23, 1855) was a German mathematician and scientist of profound genius who contributed significantly to many fields, including number theory, analysis, differential geometry, geodesy, magnetism, astronomy and optics. ... Godwins Law (also Godwins Rule of Nazi Analogies) is an adage in Internet culture originated by Mike Godwin on Usenet in 1990 that states: As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Nazism. ... Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945, standard German pronunciation in the IPA) was the Führer (leader) of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party) and of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. ... Mike Godwin Mike Godwin is an American attorney, perhaps best known on the Internet as the creator of Godwins Law. ... This article is about the year. ... Goodharts law is the equivalent in the social sciences of the uncertainty principle in physics. ... Grahams law, also known as Grahams law of effusion, was formulated by Thomas Graham. ... Kinetic energy is energy that a body has as a result of its speed or energy of motion. ... Thomas Graham (December 21, 1805 â€“ September 16, 1869) was born in Glasgow, Scotland. ... 1805 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1869 (MDCCCLXIX) is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... Greshams law is stated as: Bad money drives good money out of circulation. Greshams law applies specifically when there are two forms of commodity money in circulation which are forced, by the application of legal tender laws, to be respected as having the same face value in the... Henry Dunning Macleod (1821 - July 16, 1902), Scottish economist, was born in Edinburgh, and educated at Eton, Edinburgh University, and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1843. ... Portrait by Anthonis Mor, c. ... Grimms law (also known as the [First] Germanic Sound Shift; German: Erste Deutsche (Germanische) Lautverschiebung) was the first non-trivial systematic sound change ever to be discovered; its formulation was a turning-point in the development of linguistics, enabling the introduction of rigorous methodology in historical linguistic research. ... The Brothers Grimm on a 1000DM banknote. ... Philology is the study of ancient texts and languages. ... The word mythology (from the Greek Î¼Ï…Î¿Î»Î¿Î³Î¯Î± mythologÃa, from Î¼Ï…Î¿Î»Î¿Î³ÎµÎ¹Î½ mythologein to relate myths, from Î¼Ï…Î¿Ï‚ mythos, meaning a narrative, and Î»Î¿Î³Î¿Ï‚ logos, meaning speech or argument) literally means the (oral) retelling of myths â€“ stories that a particular culture believes to be true and that use supernatural events or characters to explain the... Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm The Brothers Grimm (GebrÃ¼der Grimm) are Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, German professors best known for publishing collections of authentic folk tales and fairy tales. ... Hanlons Razor, a corollary of Finagles law, is an adage which reads: Also worded as: The origin of this adage is unknown. ... Hartmans Law of Prescriptivist Retaliation states that any article or statement about correct grammar, punctuation, or spelling is bound to contain at least one eror. ... In chemistry, Henrys law is one of the gas laws. ... Mass is a property of a physical object that quantifies the amount of matter it contains. ... A gas is one of the four main phases of matter (after solid and liquid, and followed by plasma), that subsequently appear as a solid material is subjected to increasingly higher temperatures. ... Volume, also called capacity, is a quantification of how much space an object occupies. ... A liquid will assume the shape of its container. ... Pressure (symbol: p) is the force per unit area acting on a surface in a direction perpendicular to that surface. ... A solvent is a liquid that dissolves a solid, liquid, or gaseous solute, resulting in a solution. ... Douglas Richard Hofstadter (born February 15, 1945) is an American academic. ... Douglas Richard Hofstadter (born February 15, 1945) is an American academic. ... GEB cover GÃ¶del, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (commonly GEB) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Douglas Hofstadter, published in 1979 by Basic Books. ... In physics, Hookes law of elasticity is an approximation which states that if a spring is elongated by some distance, x, the restoring force exherted by the spring, F, is proportional to x by a constant factor, k. ... A portrait, claimed by historian Lisa Jardine to be of Robert Hooke Robert Hooke, FRS (July 18, 1635 - March 3, 1703), one of the greatest experimental scientists of the seventeenth century, played an important role in the scientific revolution. ... Hotellings law is an observation in economics that in many markets it is rational for producers to make their products as similar as possible. ... Economics (from the Greek Î¿Î¯ÎºÎ¿Ï‚ [oikos], house, and Î½Î¿Î¼Î¿Ï‚ [nomos], rule, hence household management) is a social science that studies the production, distribution, trade and consumption of goods and services. ... Hubbles law is the statement in physical cosmology that the redshift in light coming from distant galaxies is proportional to their distance. ... Edwin Hubble Edwin Powell Hubble (November 20, 1889 â€“ September 28, 1953) was an American astronomer, noted for his discovery of galaxies beyond the Milky Way and the cosmic red shift. ... Johannes Keplers primary contributions to astronomy/astrophysics were his three laws of planetary motion. ... Johannes Kepler (December 27, 1571 â€“ November 15, 1630), a key figure in the scientific revolution, was a Lutheran mathematician, astrologer, and astronomer. ... In cryptography, Kerckhoffs law (also called Kerckhoffs assumption, axiom or principle) was stated by Auguste Kerckhoffs in the 19th century: a cryptosystem should be secure even if everything about the system, except the key, is public knowledge. ... Auguste Kerckhoffs Dr Auguste Kerckhoffs (19 January 1835 - 1903) was a Flemish linguist and cryptographer who was professor of languages at the School of Higher Commercial Studies in Paris in the late 19th century. ... There are two Kirchhoffs laws, both named after Gustav Robert Kirchhoff: Kirchhoffs circuit laws Kirchhoffs law of thermal radiation See also Scientific laws named after people This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ... Gustav Kirchhoff Gustav Robert Kirchhoff (March 12, 1824 â€“ October 17, 1887), a German physicist who contributed to the fundamental understanding of electrical circuits, spectroscopy, and the emission of black-body radiation by heated objects. ... Linuss law, named after Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, states that given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow. More formally: Given a large enough beta-tester and co-developer base, almost every problem will be characterized quickly and the fix obvious to someone. ... Linus Benedict Torvalds (born December 28, 1969 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish software engineer best known for initiating the development of Linux. ... Tux, a cartoon penguin frequently featured sitting, is the official Linux mascot. ... A computer bug is an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program that prevents it from working as intended, or produces an incorrect result. ... In queueing theory, Littles result, theorem, or law says: The average number of customers in a stable system (over some time interval) is equal to their average arrival rate, multiplied by their average time in the system. ... // Queueing theory is the mathematical study of waiting lines (or queues). ... John D.C. Little is an Institute Professor and the Chair Management Science at the MIT Sloan School of Management. ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Littlewoods Law states that individuals can expect a miracle to happen to them at the rate of about one per month. ... John Edensor Littlewood (June 9, 1885 - September 6, 1977) was a British mathematician. ... 1885 (MDCCCLXXXV) is a common year starting on Thursday. ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... Meadows Law was a precept much in use till recently in the field of child protection, specifically by those investigating cases of multiple cot or crib death â€” SIDS â€” within a single family. ... Sir Samuel Roy Meadow (born 1933) is a prominent British paediatrician. ... Pediatrics (also spelled paediatrics or pædiatrics) is the branch of medicine that deals with the medical care of infants and children. ... Metcalfes law states that the value of a network equals approximately the square of the number of users of the system (n2). ... Communication is the process of exchanging information, usually via a common protocol. ... Network theory is a branch of applied mathematics, with the same general subject matter as graph theory, namely the idea of a graph as a representation of a symmetric relation, and of a directed graph for a general binary relation. ... Robert Metcalfe (born 1946 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American technology pioneer who invented Ethernet, founded 3Com and formulated Metcalfes Law. ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... It has been suggested that IEEE 802. ... Growth of transistor counts for Intel processors (dots) and Moores Law (upper line=18 months; lower line=24 months) Moores law is the empirical observation that at our rate of technological development, the complexity of an integrated circuit, with respect to minimum component cost, will double in about... Optical Microscope image of an integrated circuit showing defects in the aluminium layer deposition. ... 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link goes to calendar). ... Gordon Moore This article is about the co-founder of Intel and coiner of what became Moores law. ... 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... The following article is about the multinational corporation; intel is also an abbreviation for intelligence, used in reference to military intelligence and espionage. ... Daniel Patrick Moynihan, former Senator (D-NY) and United Nations Ambassador under Gerald Ford, said regarding allegations of human rights: The amount of violations of human rights in a country is always an inverse function of the amount of complaints about human rights violations heard from there. ... Daniel Patrick Moynihan Daniel Patrick Pat Moynihan (March 16, 1927 â€“ March 26, 2003) was a U.S. Senator, ambassador, and academic. ... 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Murphys Law Murphys law (also known as Finagles law or Sods law) is a popular adage in Western culture, which broadly states that things will go wrong in any given situation. ... Newtons first and second laws, in Latin, from the original 1687 edition of the Principia Mathematica. ... This is a list of physical laws discovered by science. ... In physics, motion means a change in the position of a body with respect to time, as measured by a particular observer in a particular frame of reference. ... In physics, classical mechanics or Newtonian mechanics is one of the two major sub-fields of study in the science of mechanics, which is concerned with the set of physical laws governing and mathematically describing the motions of bodies and aggregates of bodies. ... Sir Isaac Newton, PRS, (4 January [O.S. 25 December 1642] 1643 â€“ 31 March [O.S. 20 March] 1727) was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, alchemist, inventor and natural philosopher who is regarded by many as the most influential scientist in history. ... // Events January 21 - Abel Tasman discovers Tonga February 6 - Abel Tasman discovers the Fiji islands. ... Events June 11 - George, Prince of Wales becomes King George II of Great Britain. ... Albert Einstein photographed by Oren J. Turner in 1947. ... In physics, an inertial frame of reference, or inertial frame for short (also descibed as absolute frame of reference), is a frame of reference in which the observers move without the influence of any accelerating or decelerating force. ... Heat flow along perfectly insulated wire Conduction is the transfer of heat or electric current from one substance to another by direct contact. ... Occams Razor (also spelled Ockhams Razor), is a principle attributed to the 14th-century English logician and Franciscan friar, William of Ockham. ... Hello, I am Sam, Sam I am. ... For broader historical context, see 1280s and 13th century. ... // Events August 24 - Black Death outbreak in Elbing (modern-day Elblag in Poland) October 20 - Pope Clement VI publishes a papal bull that condemns the Flagellants The bubonic plague is spread to Norway when an English ship with everyone dead on board floats to Bergen Births September 9 - Duke Albert... Ohms law, named after its discoverer Georg Ohm [1], states that the potential difference or voltage drop (U or V) between the ends of a conductor and the current (I) flowing through the conductor are proportional at a given temperature: The equation contains the proportionality constant R, which is... This article may be too technical for most readers to understand. ... In science and engineering, conductors are materials that contain movable charges of electricity. ... Resistor symbols A pack of resistors A resistor is a two-terminal electrical or electronic component that resists the flow of current, producing a voltage drop between its terminals in accordance with Ohms law. ... In electricity, current refers to electric current, which is the flow of electric charge. ... Georg Simon Ohm, (March 16, 1789 - July 6, 1854), German physicist, was born in Erlangen and educated at the university there. ... 1789 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1854 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Parkinsons law states that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. ... Cyril Northcote Parkinson (July 30, 1909 - March 9, 1993) was a British historian and author of some sixty books. ... 1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... The so-called Pareto principle (also known as the 80-20 rule, the law of the vital few and the principle of factor sparsity) states that for many phenomena 80% of consequences stem from 20% of the causes. ... Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto (born July 15, 1848 in Paris, France - died August 19, 1923 in Lausanne, Switzerland) made several important contributions to economics, sociology and moral philosophy, especially in the study of income distribution and in the analysis of individuals choices. ... Dr. Joseph Moses Juran, industrial engineer and philanthropist was born in 1904 in Braila, Romania and later lived in Gura Humorului. ... The Peter Principle is a theory originated by Dr. Laurence J. Peter. ... Dr Laurence J. Peter (1919-1990) was an educator and hierarchiologist, best known to the general public for the formulation of the Peter Principle. ... 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... This article is about the year. ... In a statistical context, laws of large numbers imply that the average of a random sample from a large population is likely to be close to the mean of the whole population. ... Simeon Poisson. ... 1781 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1840 is a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1837 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... In chemistry, Raoults law states that the vapor pressure of mixed liquids is dependent on the vapor pressures of the individual liquids and the molar vulgar fraction of each present in solution. ... Chemistry (derived from the Arabic word kimia, alchemy, where al is Arabic for the) is the science that deals with the properties of organic and inorganic substances and their interactions with other organic and inorganic substances. ... The vapor pressure is the pressure (if the vapor is mixed with other gases, the partial pressure) of a vapor (this vapour being formed from molecules/atoms escaping from a liquid/solid). ... A liquid will assume the shape of its container. ... In chemistry, concentration is the measure of how much of a given substance there is mixed with another substance. ... In arithmetic, a vulgar fraction (or common fraction) consists of one integer divided by a non-zero integer. ... Reeds law is the assertion of David P. Reed that the utility of large networks, particularly social networks, can scale exponentially with the size of the network. ... David P. Reed is an American computer scientist, educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, known for a number of significant contributions to computer networking. ... In [economics]], utility is a measure of the happiness or satisfaction gained consuming good and services. ... A social network is a social structure between actors, mostly individuals or organizations. ... In mathematics, a quantity that grows exponentially (or geometrically) is one that grows at a rate proportional to its size. ... Reillys Law of Retail Gravitation states that larger cities will have larger trade areas than smaller ones, meaning people travel further to reach a larger city. ... Murray Newton Rothbard Murray Newton Rothbard (March 2, 1926 - January 7, 1995) was an American economist and political theorist belonging to the Austrian School of Economics who helped define modern libertarianism and anarcho-capitalism. ... In economics, Sayâ€™s Law or Sayâ€™s Law of Markets is a principle attributed to French businessman and economist Jean-Baptiste Say (1767-1832) stating that there can be no demand without supply. ... Economics (from the Greek Î¿Î¯ÎºÎ¿Ï‚ [oikos], house, and Î½Î¿Î¼Î¿Ï‚ [nomos], rule, hence household management) is a social science that studies the production, distribution, trade and consumption of goods and services. ... Jean-Baptiste Say (January 5, 1767 - November 15, 1832) was a French economist and businessman. ... Keynes reading from his General Theory Keynesian economics (pronounced KAYNzian), is an economic theory based on the ideas of John Maynard Keynes, as put forward in his book The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, published in 1936 in response to the Great Depression of the 1930s. ... Stevens power law relates the intensity of a stimulus to its perceived strength. ... The Weber - Fechner law attempts to describe the relationship between the physical magnitudes of stimuli and human perception of the intensity of stimuli. ... 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... In 1851, George Gabriel Stokes derived an expression for the frictional force exerted on spherical objects with very small Reynolds numbers (e. ... Friction is the force that opposes the relative motion or tendency of such motion of two surfaces in contact. ... In physics, a net force acting on a body causes that body to accelerate; that is, to change its velocity. ... The Reynolds number is the most important dimensionless number in fluid dynamics and provides a criterion for determining dynamic similitude. ... George Gabriel Stokes Sir George Gabriel Stokes, 1st Baronet (13 August 1819â€“1 February 1903) was an Anglo-Irish mathematician and physicist. ... 1819 common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... 1903 (MCMIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Prestons Law is an adage derived from a quote by science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon: Nothing is always absolutely so. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Theodore Sturgeon (February 26, 1918 â€“ May 8, 1985) was an American science fiction author. ... 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... Suttons law states that in attempting to diagnose a problem, one should first do the experiment that can confirm the most likely diagnosis. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Ugols Law was formulated in the alt. ... alt. ... Verners law, stated by Karl Verner in 1875, describes a historical sound change in the Proto-Germanic language whereby voiceless fricatives *f, *Ã¾, *s and *x, when immediately following an unstressed syllable in the same word, underwent voicing and became respectively *b, *d, *z and *g. ... Karl Adolf Verner (* 7. ... Sound change or phonetic change is a historical process of language change consisting in the replacement of one speech sound or, more generally, one phonetic feature by another in a given phonological environment. ... Map of the Pre-Roman Iron Age culture(s) associated with Proto-Germanic, ca 500 BC-50 BC. The area south of Scandinavia is the Jastorf culture Proto-Germanic, the common ancestor (proto-language) of Proto-Norse, Anglo-Frisian, Old High German, and Gothic, and the contemporary Germanic languages. ... The Weber - Fechner law attempts to describe the relationship between the physical magnitudes of stimuli and human perception of the intensity of stimuli. ... Ernst Heinrich Weber, born on June 24, 1795 in Wittenberg, died on January 26, 1878 was a German physician. ... Gustav Theodor Fechner (April 19, 1801 - November 28, 1887), was a German experimental psychologist. ... Stevens power law relates the intensity of a stimulus to its perceived strength. ... The Wilcox-McCandlish Law of Online Discourse Evolution, developed by Bryce Wilcox and Stanton McCandlish on Usenet, is There are numerous corollaries: McCandlishs First Corollary to the Wilcox-McCandlish Law The Exception to McCandlishs First Corollary When a thread reaches the flame war stage, all changes in thread... This article may be too technical for most readers to understand. ... Linguistics is the scientific study of human language, and someone who engages in this study is called a linguist or linguistician. ... George Kingsley Zipf (IPA ), (1902-1950), was an American linguist and philologist who studied statistical occurrences in different languages. ... 1902 (MCMII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... In mathematics, a probability distribution assigns to every interval of the real numbers a probability, so that the probability axioms are satisfied. ... Niklaus Wirth made this law popular in 1995. ...

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