What's in a name? New Championship Divisions

[ay2b]

At the 2014 Championship, they announced that the 2015 Championship would be bigger -- taking up three venues instead of just one. A very reasonable conclusion from that is that there will be more divisions at each level, and in particular more than 4 divisions for FRC next year. I've heard competing rumors that there will be either 6 or 8 divisions in FRC. My question for the community is:

What names would you like to see used for new divisions?

My personal top choices are Ada Lovelace (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace), the first computer programmer, and Grace Hopper (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper), who developed the first compiler.

Additionally, I believe that at least half of the divisions at each level (FLL, FTC & FRC) should be named after women. That means for FRC, if they add two, they should both be women, and if they add four, at least three should be women.

Wikipedia has some lists that may be relevant:

List of female scientists before the 21st century (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_female_scientists_before_the_21st_century)
Index of women scientists articles (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_of_women_scientists_articles)

What names would you like to see used?

[MooreteP]

Henrietta Leavitt, the astronomer who created the method for measuring the size of the universe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrietta_Swan_Leavitt

Alan Turing,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing
A Turing machine is a hypothetical device that manipulates symbols on a strip of tape according to a table of rules. Despite its simplicity, a Turing machine can be adapted to simulate the logic of any computer algorithm, and is particularly useful in explaining the functions of a CPU inside a computer.
He could be our Michael Sam?

Karel Capek,
Why not an artist? Gave us the word Robot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_Čapek

None of these names have the recognition that that the current divisions have. That is an issue.
History is written by the victors.:(

[Jon Stratis]

Some of the students on my team tackled this question as a team brainstorming session over dinner Friday at champs... and our Dean's List winner already managed to find a way to send in our suggestions to HQ. We fully agree that half all divisions should be named for women, especially since there was such a big focus on women at champs this year.

Rear Admiral Grace Hopper is famous for her contributions to computer programming. She worked on the Harvard Mark I computer and created the first compiler for programming. Her work led to the development of the programming language, COBOL. She coined the term “debugging” based upon removing a real moth from a computer. As a reflection of her immense impact and dedication to the advancement of computer science, she earned the nicknames “Amazing Grace” and the “Mother of Programming.”

Elizabeth Blackwell was the first female in the United States to graduate from medical school and the first woman listed on the UK Medical Register. She persevered through many rejections from medical schools and hospitals who didn’t think women belonged in medicine. After earning the respect of her fellow students and even professors, she went on to promote women in education especially in the medical field. She was also a social activist and an abolitionist.

Dame Jane Goodall is famous for her 45 years of research of chimpanzees in the wild. She discovered chimpanzees use tools and the research of their behavior led to advancements in human psychology. Her mission is to irradicate animal testing and cruel exhibition of all animals, especially the chimpanzees. She is also a tireless advocate of environmental conservation. (However, she is still alive, which is different from all the other division names.)

Nicola Tesla is famous for his development of Alternating Current, the Niagra Falls electrical plant and numerous inventions. He created the foundation for radio and a better light bulb. Simply put, he was a visionary. Most importantly, he had a spirit of Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition, evidenced by his opinion that electricity should be free. Although, he is not a woman, he would make an excellent addition to the esteemed group of scientists celebrated by having a FRC division named in their honour.

[cadandcookies]

Hopper and Lovelace divisions seconded. Both are incredibly inspirational.

[Jessica Boucher]

Bring back Watt.

[Christopher149]

Gosh this thread grew fast. Anyway, this thread (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=129072) included a fair bit on possible names.

[ks68]

Kepler Division?

[brennonbrimhall]

I'd like to see a Schrodinger Division. Since we no longer can make jokes about the Curie Curse, it would be fun to see a division that may or may not be alive, real, etc. :)

[Whippet]

I would love to see a Herschel division.

[MrSandman416]

I would like to see "Tesla", "Da Vinci", or "Hawking"

[Andrew Schreiber]

Oppenheimer - Because being on the cover of TIME (http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19481108,00.html) and LIFE (http://oldlifemagazines.com/october-10-1949-life-magazine-2058.html) magazines isn't pretty common among scientists.

[AmoryG]

Euler, Euclid, Darwin, da Vinci, Edison, Tesla, Aristotle, Plato, etc. Just google famous scientists/mathematicians/philosophers/etc and you have yourself a decent list to choose from.

[Michael Hill]

Frank mentioned in Game Sense that there would probably be named after a minority scientist/inventor.

[dodar]

Carver and Kepler are 2 that havent been mentioned yet or very minimally.

[EricH]

Frank mentioned in Game Sense that there would probably be named after a minority scientist/inventor.

George Washington Carver would probably be a pretty good candidate for this one. I know there are more, though.

[ks68]

What about a Copernicus Division?

[BL0X3R]

It probably won't happen, but an Asimov Division would be cool.

[wilsonmw04]

I think we need another woman represented in FIRST. 1 in 5 just doesn't cut it.

[pastelpony]

I like Tesla and Fermi for division field names.

[Jared Russell]

If nothing else, a Tesla Division would be a great opportunity to ask Elon Musk to donate to FIRST.

[dodar]

I think Tesla, Kepler, Carver, Hopper would be the best 4 they could add. Very diverse additions: 1 Serbian, 1 German, 1 African-American, 1 Woman.

[Jasmine Zhou]

Some of the other girls and I on 1678 have talked about this briefly. We wanted to see more women's names, came up with Lovelace, and then we ran into the issue of not being able to think of anyone else who wasn't still alive.
I would suggest Rosalind Franklin, except that that's already the name of an FTC field.

There are more people than I expected that I would put into that strange category of role model/legend/inspiration/scientist that feel like potential division names. At first I couldn't think of any of them, but a quick glance through my bookshelves and internet search history brought up a good handful.
These all happen to be mathematicians (or close to it). I guess that says something about my background.
Sophie Germain, Arthur Cayley, Alicia Boole Stott, Emmy Noether, Niels Abel, Alan Turing, Charles Babbage.

And, of course, another vote for Hopper and Lovelace.

[z_beeblebrox]

Feynman.

[T^2]

Feynman.

Agree with Feynman.

[Brad Hanel]

Earheart Division

Amelia Earheart, the famous pilot and military nurse.

Barton Division

Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross

Walker Division

Madame C.J. Walker, first female self-made millionare in America.

Blackwell Division

Elizabeth Blackwell, first woman to graduate from medical school.

Roebling Division

Emily Warren Roebling, lead of CAD (the paper version :D) on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Tesla Division

Nikola Tesla, the one who gave us AC current and the coils that museums play Portal songs with.

Plato Division

Plato, teacher of Aristotle, Greek philospher.


I'm sure they're considering a lot of females for the new division names, especially after Dean Kamen's 50/50 speech, and I'm all for it. Madame Curie needs some friends. :)

[Boe]

My top four picks for new divisions in order

Schrodinger
Euclid
Pythagoras
Riemann

[Oblarg]

I said this in the other thread, but I think it'd be nice to have a bona fide mathematician, as opposed to the current dominance of physical scientists and engineers. My suggestions:

Galois (added pun-value for this one, also hugely under-appreciated)
Hilbert
Gauss
Weierstrass
Cauchy
Riemann
Abel

[tStano]

Lovelace please.

However, other than that, as it happens, most of my favorite scientists are dead white guys.
I'd love to see

Faraday: tons of stuff about electrochemistry(batteries) and significant contribution to electromagnetics(motors and stuff). He also didn't have a lot of formal schooling, and thats why I like him so much.

and Tesla: Huge contributions to motors, and AC

[alex.lew]

Meitner (http://xkcd.com/896/) Field would be pretty cool.
I'd also settle for von Neumann or Fibonacci.
And, considering today's Google doodle, Hodgkin Field.

[Moon2020]

Hedy Lamarr actress and inventor, Lovelace, Hopper, Blackburn, Hodgkin, and many many additional deserving women.

Would love to see Feynman, Schroedinger, Tesla, and Kepler too.

[BBray_T1296]

von Braun Division

I mean,

http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/rocketry/images/45.gif

pretty great legacy



.

[Ian Curtis]

Bring back Watt.

I'm totally with you. James Watt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Watt)'s epitaph in Westminster Abbey really sums up FIRST for me.

Not to perpetuate a name which must endure while the peaceful arts flourish, but to shew that mankind have learned to know those who best deserve their gratitude. The King, His Ministers, and many of the Nobles and Commoners of the Realm raised this monument to JAMES WATT who, directing the force of an original Genius, early exercised in philosophic research, to the improvement of the Steam Engine, enlarged the resources of his Country, increased the power of Man, and rose to an eminent place among the most illustrious followers of science and the real benefactors of the World. Born at Greenock MDCCXXXVI Died at Heathfield in Staffordshire MDCCCXIX.

I think Henry Maudslay (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Maudslay"), and Isambard Kingdom Brunel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isambard_Kingdom_Brunel) also deserve spots at the table.

It's always struck me as a little odd that while FRC is practically mostly engineering, our fields were named after people who were more famous for their science than their engineering. Maybe that's a good thing though.

[DampRobot]

von Braun Division

Basically the only famous pure "engineer" I can think of off the top of my head. Unfortunately, it would never happen for political reasons. Too bad, he's probably one of my biggest personal inspirations.

Alan Turing,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing
A Turing machine is a hypothetical device that manipulates symbols on a strip of tape according to a table of rules. Despite its simplicity, a Turing machine can be adapted to simulate the logic of any computer algorithm, and is particularly useful in explaining the functions of a CPU inside a computer.
He could be our Michael Sam?

This is a great suggestion. He fulfills the minority requirement (as a homosexual), and was hugely influential to cryptography, mathematics, physics, and engineering.

Oppenheimer - Because being on the cover of TIME (http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19481108,00.html) and LIFE (http://oldlifemagazines.com/october-10-1949-life-magazine-2058.html) magazines isn't pretty common among scientists.

Agreed, Oppenheimer would be a great guy to honor, although again political issues might come in the way. Personally, van Neumann was my favorite Martian though...

[wasayanwer97]

I'd really like to some of the following:

Male-
Euler, Darwin, Tesla, Salk, Freud, Goddard, Fermi, Seaborg

Female-
Carson, Hopper, Franklin, Meitner

[hiyou102]

I would live to see James Clerk Maxwell given that electricity and electronics are a huge part of what we do. Alan Turing would be a big one since not nearly enough people know who he is or his contributions to computing.

[cadandcookies]

Updated short list (for me):

Grace Hopper (this is a microsecond),
GW Carver (Peanuts!),
Nikola Tesla (Electrocity, pretty cool dude),
Richard Feynmann (because I just generally love that guy),
Lise Meitner (Because she's flipping awesome).

[dodar]

I just thought of another female that could be considered and am kind of surprised she hasnt been mentiond yet, Sally Ride.

[Grim Tuesday]

von Braun Division

I mean,

pretty great legacy



.

I'm sure FIRST would love to name a division after a Nazi SS officer who used enslaved concentration camp internees as labor for a project designed to kill people. I hope you're joking when you say he has a great legacy.

http://www.v2rocket.com/start/chapters/mittel.html

[T^2]

I'm sure FIRST would love to name a division after a Nazi SS officer who used enslaved concentration camp internees as labor for a project designed to kill people. I hope you're joking when you say he has a great legacy.

http://www.v2rocket.com/start/chapters/mittel.html

He also developed the V-2 rocket, the forerunner of all modern rockets. Under him, the Nazis were the first to have the capability to reach outer space. Later, he was in charge of the NASA team that created the Saturn V rocket. He was the progenitor of rocket science. Compare to Newton, who executed counterfeiters, or Archimedes, who developed a number of pretty brutal war machines. History is written by the victors, right?

[Johnnybukkel]

Tesla please. Tesla is the best. Even though he might have been a tad crazy.

[TheMadCADer]

There are plenty more names than there will be fields. The names should be put on a rotation year to year.

[Tristan Lall]

He also developed the V-2 rocket, the forerunner of all modern rockets. Under him, the Nazis were the first to have the capability to reach outer space. Later, he was in charge of the NASA team that created the Saturn V rocket. He was the progenitor of rocket science. Compare to Newton, who executed counterfeiters, or Archimedes, who developed a number of pretty brutal war machines. History is written by the victors, right?
"'Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down? That's not my department,' says Wernher von Braun." (http://youtu.be/TjDEsGZLbio?t=40s)

Whatever you make of his motivations, the chances of FIRST naming a field after von Braun are essentially zero.

[Akash Rastogi]

Leibniz!!!

...Tesla, Grace, Faraday, Pascal, Hawking, and Feynman are my other favorites. Oppenheimer and von Braun probably won't happen :(

[Peter Matteson]

von Braun Division

I mean, pretty great legacy.

Ummmm...
I think we should just go with von Braun's predecessor who is far less controversial.

Dr. Robert Hutchings Goddard
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H._Goddard

[pfreivald]

How is it possible that we've talked women and mathematicians but haven't said Emmy Noether?

http://xkcd.com/896/

[Lil' Lavery]

[Alan] Turing
Pythagoras [of Samos]
[Temple] Grandin
[Muḥammad ibn Mūsā] al-Khwārizmī

[itsjustmrb]

How about America's greatest living inventor....Kamen Field.

[Peter Matteson]

I forgot the obvious one that works on many levels...
BACON!!!

[nicholsjj]

Since no one has said it yet how about Baker :D .

I really like Euclid, Tesla, Hopper, and the older JVN http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann for my top four choices

[Basel A]

[Alan] Turing
Pythagoras [of Samos]
[Temple] Grandin
[Muḥammad ibn Mūsā] al-Khwārizmī

I've thought about it, and even though I'd personally love a field named after an Arab Muslim, I don't think it should happen, because people have enough problems with Curie :P

On a broader note, I don't think FIRST can go wrong here. 2/2 or 3/4 of the new fields really should be named after minorities of some kind, but there's more than a dozen good options mentioned here. I'm just excited to see who they pick.

[Gweiss96]

What about a Copernicus Division?

I like this one

[Matt_Boehm_329]

I personally would vote for Mandelbrot cause he is awesome, But I also back Lovelace and Hopper.

[JesseK]

Faraday
Tesla
Turing
Perlman, for Radia Perlman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radia_Perlman). Her work on early network protocols has probably had the greatest lasting impact on the internet than any single person's contributions.

[Oblarg]

Ramanujan would be cool, too.

[ay2b]

There are plenty more names than there will be fields. The names should be put on a rotation year to year.

I think it's unlikely to happen, as there is a financial cost to having a new name (all the banners, etc). However, this did spawn an idea that would be less costly than renaming all the fields each year.

What if the winning division got "naming rights" to the championship field, and then was retired? For 2015, retire Einstein (and Archimedes, Galileo & Newton) as a field name, and the divisional winners get to play off on the Curie field. For 2016, retire the Curie name and the winners get to play off on a field named for the division that wins in 2015. This allows for some name rotation, reduces the cause of cycling all the fields from year to year, and seems like a good way to celebrate braking the "Curie curse".

[dcculbreth]

Feynman, Richard Feynman - an excellent physicist, dramatic actor, and teacher. He introduced the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, quantum electrodynamics theory, and superfluidity of liquid helium. His form of dramatic teaching engaged his students and introduced physics concepts in a new, more relatable, and more memorable way. For many of his classes, other professors and graduate students would outnumber the actual students in the classroom because his presentations were so phenomenal. He developed and used a very pictorial representations of mathematical expressions describing the behavior of subatomic particles. These later became known as the Feynman diagrams. He is also credited with pioneering the field of quantum computing and nanotechnology. His merits would certainly earn him a name among the ranks of the fields.

tl;dr
Richard Feynman widely known for development in subatomic and quantum physics. Was an excellent teacher. Drew shapes to replace complicated math.

[dubiousSwain]

"Will science ever get over its' collective crush on Richard Feynman?"
--Randall Munroe

[piersklein]

I personally doubt almost all of the choices already given. If we look at what FIRST has chosen for names they are not engineers and there are many who are arguable more disturbing. What the requirement would seem to be is that the names be common in popular culture and used regularly by non scientists.
And so with that in mind:
Darwin
Hawking
Aristotle
Tesla
Pasteur
da Vinci
Bohr
Edison

[EricH]

And so with that in mind:
Darwin
Hawking
Aristotle
Tesla
Pasteur
da Vinci
Bohr
Edison
da Vinci and Edison (and Franklin) are out. FTC fields Edison and Franklin are grouped as da Vinci.

Samuel Morse.
Alexander Graham Bell.
If you're looking for a minority, I hear "the real McCoy" (Elijah McCoy) was a pretty prolific inventor, with 57 patents to his name.

[CaptainDanger]

I second Lovelace, and I absolutely love tesla...
also another female scientist to consider:

Caroline Herschel (she was an astronomer and the first woman to spot a comet)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Herschel
plus the name sounds pretty cool :)

[StillDefective]

Tesla HAS to happen.

[Moon2020]

Cannon, Meitner, Noether, R. Franklin, and Bell Burnell are the five women who should have received Nobel Prizes but did not. I still love Lovelace and Hopper as possible choices.

von Guericke, Boyle, Hooke, Carnot, Joule, Papin, Savery, Newcomen, Black, Watt, Maxwell, Boltzmann, Planck, Clausius, Rankine, Thomson (Lord Kelvin), Duhem, Lewis, Randall, and Guggenheim are all from thermodynamics.

If you want to get the rocket science in there - Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Robert Esnault-Pelterie, Goddard, and Hermann Oberth preceded von Braun.
If you want women aerospace engineers/rocket scientists, Mary Sherman Morgan and Yvonne Brill top the list. Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova was the first female in space, and Yuri Gagarin was the first male in space.

[Kris Verdeyen]

My desire for field names:

- More Americans (I get jealous of the FTC fields)
- More women would be nice.
- Maybe an Engineer?

How about: Feynmann, Lovelace, Watt, Tesla?
Or: Sagan, Hypatia, Jobs, Armstrong?

You could name it after the Wright brothers, and get two for one.

The FTC super regional in San Antonio named one of its fields after Ellen Ochoa...

[colin340]

the push toward female name for the sake of female names is really sketchy. and i would like to see poeple who made things not just ideas.

Tesla
Eames
Fuller

[hzheng_449]

Looking at the division already we have:

"historical" or "classic" engineer(Archimedes)
Astronomer (Galileo)
Classical physicist (Newton)
Modern Physicist (Curie/Einstein)

The new fields should probably be named for people in different fields. The two that come to mind are Aerospace and Computer Science. My nominations would be:

Aerospace - Goddard, von Braun, or Qian Xuesen (He founded JPL and the Chinese space program, his bio is pretty interesting.)

Computer Science - Hopper, Lovelace, Turing, or maybe even Babbage.

[David8696]

Tesla. With the number of contributions he's made to the world of both mechanical and electrical engineering, he seems like the obvious choice. For those of you less familiar with his work, here's a bit of perspective (not to mention one of the funniest, most eye-opening things I've ever read) (Warning: language) (But it's definitely worth it) http://www.theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla

[matthewdenny]

Tesla and Turing are the ones that response with me.

I think we should have some engineers represented. Don't get me wrong science is great but this is really an engineering competition.

[Oblarg]

Tesla and Turing are the ones that response with me.

I think we should have some engineers represented. Don't get me wrong science is great but this is really an engineering competition.

Archimedes was an engineer. So was Edison.

[ghesla]

Tesla and Turing!

[Tungrus]

One should be named after Dean!

[Carolyn_Grace]

It probably won't happen, but an Asimov Division would be cool.

I definitely second an Asimov Division! He was the first person to use the word "Robotics," created the Three Laws of Robotics, and is thought of as the father of Science Fiction. Bring the love for inventing great stories.

[Fielding S.]

I like Asimov and Tesla.

[StillDefective]

I like Asimov and Tesla.

+1 For these field names.

I hope someone from FIRST is watching this thread and is going to use these two.

[dodar]

It would be really telling about how FIRST did actually go forward with naming new field names. I wonder if they would pick from internally or do like a poll of FRC teams.

[JaneYoung]

Walter Cronkite.

[Michael Hill]

I wouldn't be surprised if FIRST begins to push STEAM rather than STEM (adding Art to STEM). It seems they're going that direction (and rightfully so). I wouldn't leave artists out of the mix for field names.

[EricH]

If we're going the sci-fi route...

Jules Verne. Rather prolific, and shockingly accurate with some of the devices he wrote about. Example, the Nautilus in 20000 Leagues Under the Sea could be considered to be quite similar to modern submarines, at least in concept if not in fact. Or, the Albatross from Clipper of the Clouds, which was made of paper (in a composite form), was heavier than air, and could beat any ligher-than-air craft at the time, at least in the story--see "airplane" and "helicopter". Some would consider Verne to be the inventor of sci-fi--as I recall, he did come before Asimov.

Also, Robert Heinlein.

[Zaque]

Tesla tops my list.

If you are looking for a minority, albeit one still living, Neil deGrasse Tyson comes to mind.

If you want a well known name, I think Carl Sagan is the way to go.

[Johnnybukkel]

Tesla. With the number of contributions he's made to the world of both mechanical and electrical engineering, he seems like the obvious choice. For those of you less familiar with his work, here's a bit of perspective (not to mention one of the funniest, most eye-opening things I've ever read) (Warning: language) (But it's definitely worth it) http://www.theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla

Also, for those unfamiliar with his work, look at about half of Edison's "work"...

[nuclearnerd]

My Votes:

Johannes Gutenberg (engineered the printing press - bringing an end of the dark ages and starting the enlightenment)
James Watt (enabled industrial revolution and feedback control)
Rachel Carson (a controversial choice? Certainly changed the way engineers and everyone else think about their work and world)
Ada Byron / Lovelace (first computer programmer)

[kghaemi96]

I wouldn't be surprised if FIRST begins to push STEAM rather than STEM (adding Art to STEM). It seems they're going that direction (and rightfully so). I wouldn't leave artists out of the mix for field names.

It's funny you mention that. I'm not sure of other areas, but to my knowledge our school seems to be the only one with SMERT (Robotics). Its pretty cool that we get our own letter in it :)

[Lil' Lavery]

James Watt (enabled industrial revolution and feedback control)


I may just be getting senile, but I think one of the fields at Epcot used to be called Watt.

[wilsonmw04]

I may just be getting senile, but I think one of the fields at Epcot used to be called Watt.

I can hear it now:

"what Division are we in?"

"Watt."

"What division are we in??"

"Watt Division."

"Yeah, what Division?!?!?"

[Michael Hill]

I can hear it now:

"what Division are we in?"

"Watt."

"What division are we in??"

"Watt Division."

"Yeah, what Division?!?!?"

"Who's in our division?"

"That ONE Team"

"Which one?"

[ad nauseam]

[Siri]

I personally doubt almost all of the choices already given. If we look at what FIRST has chosen for names they are not engineers and there are many who are arguable more disturbing. What the requirement would seem to be is that the names be common in popular culture and used regularly by non scientists.

the push toward female name for the sake of female names is really sketchy. and i would like to see poeple who made things not just ideas.

So the everyone's on the same page in this discussion: Frank Merrick, FRC Director (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFLiajjcYi0#t=40m05s)


I doubt that FIRST would over-push undeserving females/minorities. I mean, is there really a good STEM reason that Sagan is more of a household name than Hopper? (In terms of scientific advancement--I love Cosmos as much as the next guy, his whole UFO thing not withstanding.)

Eames is interesting. Charles and Ray?

[nuclearnerd]

Here's an outside-the-box thought: All of this effort on trying to find notable scientists / engineers plays right into the "Great Man" fallacy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_man_theory) - the idea that history is directed by single, powerful or brilliant men (or women, but mostly men in the fallacy). The truth is that we are all a product of the technology and culture we're born into. Einstein wouldn't have come up with the theory of relativity without the work of Hertz, Maxwell, Lorentz and even Newton before (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_special_relativity). Newton himself recognized how much he owed to the existing body of scientific knowledge when he said "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_on_the_shoulders_of_giants).

All of that is to say, maybe we should consider schools of thought, historical movements, or even organizations when naming new fields. Maybe "The Royal Society Field", "The ISO Field", "The Enlightenment Field", or even "Universal Suffrage Field". I'm sure there are better examples (or maybe we can't live without heroes :o ).

[dtengineering]

Good point about the "Great Man Fallacy". Certainly recognizing institutions would be a nod to the power of coopertition and GP. But I don't think that is likely to happen any time soon.

A few possibilities that pop to mind that I haven't seen yet in this thread...

Wright (as in brothers) and Bell (as in Sir Alexander Graham).

Both of them, however, fall short in that while they advanced technology, they didn't change how we actually viewed the universe. Einstein, Newton, Galileo, Archimedes, and Curie didn't just invent or create, they illuminated. They explained. They expanded not just our knowledge and abilities, but our understanding.

One scientist that hasn't been mentioned yet (apologies if I missed it) is Darwin.

Charles Darwin did for the life sciences what our current field nominees did for the physical sciences. It would be a particularly powerful statement because of the fact that Darwin's explanation of his observations continues to face the same kind of religious persecution that Galileo's explanations faced in his day.

Or maybe Louis Pasteur. Not only did Pasteur illuminate the workings of pathology, but through his work on vaccinations probably did more to improve and preserve human life than the current field nominees put together. ("Where's your field?" "Just Pasteur field.")

John Snow? Only founded the entire science of epidemiology. (Northern teams might appreciate playing on a Snow Field.)

But if you work on the idea that "You get what you celebrate" then I think we're already doing a pretty good job of celebrating European Male scientists. Not that they shouldn't be celebrated, but that if we want a more diverse range of scientists going forward, then we would be well-served to seek out a more diverse group to celebrate. I'm sure Darwin, Pasteur and their pals will forgive us if we seek out those who not only had to overcome scientific, but also social challenges in their path to better explain how our universe works.

Jason

[Lil' Lavery]

John Snow?
He knows nothing.

[BBray_T1296]

Wow, sorry to cause such an uproar.

But, you know, Godwin's law (http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_Law)

[dodar]

How about Edward Murphy? It would seem to be the "new Curie" division.

[efoote868]

Joseph Fourier

[Riverdance]

Hopper and Lovelace Divisions sound perfect. We need more representation for women in STEM, and I think that starts with giving the inspirational ladies that came before us the recognition they deserve. I also would love to see the Tesla Division be instated.

[Karthik]

I'd go with Abel and Galois, just for the mathematical humour of having an Abel Field (more aptly called the Abelian Field) and a Galois Field. Of course these fields would have to be "grouped" together.

Okay, I'm done.

[Jared Russell]

I'd go with Abel and Galois, just for the mathematical humour of having an Abel Field (more aptly called the Abelian Field) and a Galois Field. Of course these fields would have to be "grouped" together.

Okay, I'm done.

Nice

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Dean often says something along the lines of "Ask a kid to name a famous person from Hollywood or professional sports and they will rattle them off all day. Ask them to name a famous currently active scientist or engineer and they give you a blank stare".

With that, I'd love to see a yearly rotating division name. This division would be named after a new scientist every year. The names would be sampled from currently active scientists and engineers. It would be a great way to honor active scientists while also allowing the students to learn a bit more about current research topics.

[Sam390250]

Maxwell!! Maxwell's equation are essential to physics and engineering!

[JVN]

Dean often says something along the lines of "Ask a kid to name a famous person from Hollywood or professional sports and they will rattle them off all day. Ask them to name a famous currently active scientist or engineer and they give you a blank stare".

With that, I'd love to see a yearly rotating division name. This division would be named after a new scientist every year. The names would be sampled from currently active scientists and engineers. It would be a great way to honor active scientists while also allowing the students to learn a bit more about current research topics.

This is a fantastic idea. Even better would be if that same scientist or engineer would come to speak and be recognized.

[brennonbrimhall]

This is a fantastic idea. Even better would be if that same scientist or engineer would come to speak and be recognized.

That would be really cool. You could even have that engineer/scientist of honor personally hand out the division championship banners/medals for their division.

[Phyrxes]

This would be an awesome way to connect students with academic role models.

[Oblarg]

I'd go with Abel and Galois, just for the mathematical humour of having an Abel Field (more aptly called the Abelian Field) and a Galois Field. Of course these fields would have to be "grouped" together.

Okay, I'm done.

Not to nitpick, but for rings (and, by extension, fields) you use "commutative," not "Abelian" (in fact, fields are all assumed to be commutative; if not, they're called skew fields). ;)

[Grim Tuesday]

I love the idea of that - especially a scientist, since I think FIRST often gets a bit too much into engineering and misses out on the "S." It would be great if there were a life-scientist or something one year, as most of FIRST seems centered on physical sciences, and a lot of my team ended up in college for biology and the like.