Re: On 1/4*Pi*epsilon in Coulomb's law

["Bernard G. Cleyet & Nancy Ann Seese" <georgeann@REDSHIFT.COM>]

"Timothy S. Sullivan" wrote:

> I am sympathetic to the issues you raise and the many more like them.
> However, I don't think of, say, the 1/4 pi epsilon_0, or the archaic
> term "permittivity" as "dogma". Rather I emphasize that physics is a
> very human endeavor and in particular that the terminology of physics
> has a *history*. In fact, I have great fun when introducing units. I
> have a class vote with every new quantity about whether the combination
> of base SI units is good enough or whether we should honor some "dead
> white guy". I talk about the injustice of dropping a single letter from
> Alessandro Volta's name when we keep all of Ampere's.

The French won on Concorde also, at least he, A. V.,  got honored.  (They
have a thing" about their language  -- e.g. the French Academy)