“Is Quantum Mechanics for the Birds?”

Summary

I would like to correct a misrepresentation made by several of the preceding speakers. We are not celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of Murray's birthday. We are celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of his conception. His actual birthday is in September.

We are, of course, celebrating Murray Gell–Mann, whom I've known now since 1951. We joined the University of Chicago the same year, a few months apart. And before I go into the more scientific part of my lecture, I think you might be interested in the origin of the name “Murray.” Presumably it was, like some other first names, derived from a surname. And these, in turn, often come from geographical names, in the present case, from a Scottish province, “Muraih.” Already in 1203 we find a William de Moravia, and in 1317 an Orland de Morris, and in 1327, an Andrew Muraih. [This does not prove the point, because these family names could well have come from “Murie,” the Middle English form of Merry.] As a first name, it has also been surmised, as I see from a book by Partridge, Name This Child, that “Murray” comes from “Murrey” a word for dark red or eggplant colored, an adjective which in turn presumably comes from mulberry, in turn connected to maroon. Which brings us back to Murray's favorite color of corduroy jackets at the University of Chicago.

Now having explained the word Murray, I cannot refrain from giving you the origin of the name Gell–Mann.