Optics Puzzle: Six Degrees of Optics

Posted by Christina Folz, OPN Managing Editor

According to a well-known sociological theory, everyone on the planet can be linked to any other person through six connections, or "degrees of separation." How well can you apply this concept to make connections between the following popular celebrities and optical pioneers? Please post your answers here as a "comment" or send them to us via e-mail at opn@osa.org.

1. Connect Edwin Land, founder of the Polaroid Corporation and inventor of the Polaroid camera (and namesake of OSA's Edwin H. Land Medal) to Dolly Parton, queen of country music, by no more than five people.

2. Connect Sir Arthur Eddington, an astrophysicist who brought the theory of relativity to the English-speaking world, to baseball great Joe DiMaggio, by no more than five people.

3. Connect Max Born, Nobel prize winner in physics (and namesake of OSA's Max Born Award), to socialite Paris Hilton, by no more than five people.

4. Connect Nicholas Negroponte, tech guru and 2007 OFC/NFOEC plenary speaker, to Ralph Lauren, famous American fashion designer, by no more than five people.

5. Connect Robert Metcalfe, Ethernet inventor and 2008 OFC/NFOEC plenary speaker, to martial arts star Chuck Norris, by no more than five people.

These puzzles were first published in Insight, OSA's staff newsletter. The OPN team would like to thank Annabella Goff and the OSA marketing team for allowing us to use them for OPN.