4 ms·

I have no idea with what nationality Andrew Jackson identifies with, but as an immigrant myself, your comment puts my back up a bit. How much of one's life mus

I have no idea with what nationality Andrew Jackson identifies with, but as an immigrant myself, your comment puts my back up a bit. How much of one's life must be spent in a country before being considered "from" that country in your philosophy? If you are born in one country does it indelibly mark you for life? Do you have to be raised in a country in order to identify with it? If you move somewhere, live many years there, have a family there, speak the language, follow the customs, have citizenship there and have no intention of every living anywhere else are you still cursed with your original nationality? Do you feel that such people who have not spent the entirety of their life in a single location need some sort of asterisk next to their nationality? Not a "real" Danish person. Can never become one. I can understand your question: are they really Danish physicists, or simply physicists working in Denmark. Personally, I don't care but I suppose if you are thinking that Denmark is claiming something they don't deserve, then I suppose it's not a crazy question. However, I hope you can see that the way you put it could be pretty insulting to someone who literally is Danish, but just happens not to be born there.

flexie 8y ago
I think you misread my comment. I have nothing against immigrants. I am an immigrant as well, and I have lived in 4 different countries. I also think it's a bit hard to say that he is "cursed" with his original nationality or "marked" for life. I don't know him but from his own page on the Niels Bohr Institute, he sure doesn't seem embarrassed or sad with his American background: http://nbia.nbi.ku.dk/members/jackson/ http://nbia.nbi.ku.dk/members/jackson/ And why should he be. I was simply asking why they call it the "Danish" 5 times in the article. I believe the answer is that they really want to stir up the idea of another Danish/Copenhagen school as opposed to the mainstream views in physics. That's it. And I doubt this little debacle will ever evolve into anything as important as the original Copenhagen school. Now, I don't think it necessarily matters what nationality we identify with. To many people, nationality is a legal concept, not a matter of feelings. That view on nationality has the advantage of being clear. It's hard to know what people identify with. I am not even sure what I identify with anymore. A bit of different countries, I guess. Maybe none. As a legal concept, however, nationality becomes something that is objectively right or wrong. As to who deserves the credit or blame (Denmark or the US), I have no idea. A huge part of what makes a great scientist is his upbringing, primary and secondary education. In this case, they guy got his entire formal education in the US, and spent several decades there before going to Denmark. Maybe it's not nation states that deserve credit. Did Argentina make Messi or did Spain? Or was is just genes and the fact that his family of football players? I don't know...
- iguy 8y ago
  Agree this usage is odd. My guess is that they are used to describing people by their institutions: writing things like "Caltech scientists showed..." etc. is very common in such articles, to save readers from having to keep the names straight. And of course this identifier is uncontroversial the day after they got hired. But who counts as Danish is obviously a thornier question. I don't know that "nationality we identify with" captures it, as it's mostly about what others think of the person. It doesn't line up perfectly with having been issued a passport either. And being Danish is also different to being American... This applies to sub-national identities too: Wasn't the old-time saying (something like) that you could become a New Yorker in 6 months, but to come from Boston took generations?
esrauch 8y ago
I find the parent's Einstein example odd, as I would have called him exactly what you suggested no one would call him. He was German born, but I wouldn't hesitate to say he was American, Swiss or Austrian
gdy 8y ago
"cursed with your original nationality?" Just out of curiosity, where were you born?

flexie 8y ago

I think you misread my comment. I have nothing against immigrants. I am an immigrant as well, and I have lived in 4 different countries. I also think it's a bit hard to say that he is "cursed" with his original nationality or "marked" for life. I don't know him but from his own page on the Niels Bohr Institute, he sure doesn't seem embarrassed or sad with his American background: http://nbia.nbi.ku.dk/members/jackson/ http://nbia.nbi.ku.dk/members/jackson/ And why should he be. I was simply asking why they call it the "Danish" 5 times in the article. I believe the answer is that they really want to stir up the idea of another Danish/Copenhagen school as opposed to the mainstream views in physics. That's it. And I doubt this little debacle will ever evolve into anything as important as the original Copenhagen school. Now, I don't think it necessarily matters what nationality we identify with. To many people, nationality is a legal concept, not a matter of feelings. That view on nationality has the advantage of being clear. It's hard to know what people identify with. I am not even sure what I identify with anymore. A bit of different countries, I guess. Maybe none. As a legal concept, however, nationality becomes something that is objectively right or wrong. As to who deserves the credit or blame (Denmark or the US), I have no idea. A huge part of what makes a great scientist is his upbringing, primary and secondary education. In this case, they guy got his entire formal education in the US, and spent several decades there before going to Denmark. Maybe it's not nation states that deserve credit. Did Argentina make Messi or did Spain? Or was is just genes and the fact that his family of football players? I don't know...

iguy 8y ago
Agree this usage is odd. My guess is that they are used to describing people by their institutions: writing things like "Caltech scientists showed..." etc. is very common in such articles, to save readers from having to keep the names straight. And of course this identifier is uncontroversial the day after they got hired. But who counts as Danish is obviously a thornier question. I don't know that "nationality we identify with" captures it, as it's mostly about what others think of the person. It doesn't line up perfectly with having been issued a passport either. And being Danish is also different to being American... This applies to sub-national identities too: Wasn't the old-time saying (something like) that you could become a New Yorker in 6 months, but to come from Boston took generations?

esrauch 8y ago

I find the parent's Einstein example odd, as I would have called him exactly what you suggested no one would call him. He was German born, but I wouldn't hesitate to say he was American, Swiss or Austrian

gdy 8y ago

"cursed with your original nationality?" Just out of curiosity, where were you born?