Karen Brown’s appreciation of Joe (teapot/ponytail) Keller

Karen Brown visited two-time (1999 and 2012) Ig Nobel physics prize winner Joseph Keller, and wrote about it, on the Etsy blog. Here is the beginning of her essay:

The Teapot Effect: Why Teapots Drip

“Joseph B. Keller is an immensely distinguished scientist. Professor Emeritus in engineering and mathematics at Stanford University, he may be known best for the Geometrical Theory of Diffraction and the Einstein–Brillouin–Keller method.

“But his major work – honored with awards that include the National Medal of Science and the Wolf Prize – might not fully convey Dr. Keller’s sense of playful enthusiasm and perpetual curiosity.

What sparks the curiosity of a man who has attended lectures with Einstein and partied at Heisenberg’s house? For one, Joseph Keller is into teapots. Really into teapots. In fact, he is the world’s recognized expert on why teapots drip.

“Like many of us, Dr. Keller had long observed the pesky problem of that little bit of tea that always seems to run down the outside of the spout and drip into our laps. “Then, in 1956, I heard a lecture,” he told me. “An Israeli scientist reported he asked 100 physicists why teapots drip and they all said it was due to surface tension. This scientist did some experiments that proved it couldn’t be caused by surface tension, so what is the explanation? I wrote a paper, ‘The Teapot Effect,’ shortly thereafter, showing that the effect occurred through fluid and mechanical forces.…”