4 March 18

On this date in 1837, the city of Chicago was incorporated, so I'm showing off my map of downtown Chicago. Also of note -- today is National Grammar Day, and the birthday of theoretical physicist George Gamow (1904-1968). I can't resist mentioning the connection of Gamow with two other famous physicists in the 1948 publication of the "Alpher-Bethe-Gamow" paper, whose authorship is a pun on the Greek letters αβγ. Gamow and Ralph Alpher were the real authors, but they included Hans Bethe to create the historical joke. Gamow later encouraged another physicist to change his name to "Delter" so they might be able to construct a quadruple pun, but the fourth man did not follow through. I wish I could draw a connection for any of these physicists to Chicago.