Marriage Proposals in Scientific Journals

One of the reasons I started this blog was to show the lighter side of science. Usually, this means the silly side. But since Valentine’s Day is on Wednesday, today we’re looking at the romantic side. And I probably won’t even make more than one “great chemistry” joke, which is more than we can say for my labmates’ wedding reception. Today we’re looking at marriage proposals in scientific journals.

Statistical Mechanics

Rui Long’s paper from January is what inspired this post.  Refrigerators with finite cooling power are not exactly the most romantic topic ever. But you still hope a special someone might take a look at your paper. Or at least the acknowledgements. Because nothing is more exciting than thanking the funding agency! Well, except maybe…

“In addition, Rui Long wants to thank, in particular, the patience, care and support from Panpan Mao over the passed years. Will you marry me?”

Mao didn’t make Long wait for her response to make it through peer review. Which was yes, or we wouldn’t be talking about it. One would hope he knew it would be before proposing in a way that took ScienceTwitter by storm.

Paleontology

While looking for the above paper so I could link the reference, I came across another literature proposal. And while I could not have been more thrilled with my own marriage proposal, I have to admit “in a paper about discovering a new dinosaur” is also a pretty great proposal.

While the formatting of Long’s paper put his proposal conveniently on the first page, Caleb Brown’s  was buried at the very end of his description of a new horned dinosaur. There were also a lot more people to thank before getting to the all important:

“C.M.B. would specifically like to highlight the ongoing and unwavering support of Lorna O’Brien. Lorna, will you marry me?”

The editors were quite interested to hear the answer. After much consideration for how he was going to get O’Brien to notice the acknowledgement, Brown wound up showing it to her directly before the paper was actually released. Fortunately the answer was once again yes.