The competition came and went - in all there were 8 competitors - Heartwood had a difficult choice and eventually awarded the prize to Folkal Point. The runner-up was a very scientific song from and by Howard Kaplan. He gave me permission to repost it here - and it's a gem. Thanks to those who posted suggestions above - pity you couldn't perform them in Toronto!

Now Howard's song! (By the way, technique I use at work is based on Einstein's photoelctric effect - so it hit a chord, so to speak.

Cheers Rana

The Solution ©2001 by Howard L. Kaplan

The rich, red colour one observes when viewing neon signs Is actually composed of isolated spectral lines, And this was once a mystery. When Newton thought to pass A beam of sunlight in a darkened room through beveled glass, He saw the rainbow's colours, a continuous array. But light emitted from pure gas, unknown in Newton's day, When spread out by a prism or a grating, it was seen, Forms separated, coloured lines, with nothing in between. Eventually it was found that each such spectrum bears A likeness of the gaps between reciprocals of squares Of integers: one fourth, one ninth. A child, still in school, Could work out all the decimals – but why was that the rule?

In Germany, around the time this question first arose, The physicist Max Planck became the first one to propose That radiated energy, as either light or heat, Exists as quantized packets that are separate, discrete. This theory gave a good account of how hot objects glow And forms the basis of the quantum physics that we know. He later would receive the Nobel Prize and had such fame The Kaiser Wilhelm institute instead took on his name. Then Albert Einstein showed the way such quanta could explain Why, when light strikes a metal plate, electrons might remain Unmoved by bright red light when even dim blue sets them free. He won his Nobel Prize for this, not relativity.

What is the physics Nobel Prize? Of what does it consist? It is, of course, an honour, for one's name goes on a list Of all great modern physicists. The prize will also bring An invitation to a banquet with the Swedish king.

To isolated spectral lines our tale returns again. The quantum way of thought appealed to Neils Bohr, a Dane. Within the atom, he maintained, electrons are not free To move in orbits having arbitrary energy; Discretely quantized are the orbits they can occupy. When energy's emitted or absorbed, it's only by Transition jumps between these orbits, of which there are few. Between one pair, the energy might correspond to blue, Between another, yellow, and the spectrum thus could spread Up to the ultraviolet, or down to infrared. For hydrogen, Bohr's formula, within a few percent, Explained the squared reciprocals found through experiment.

In Copenhagen, in the years between the two world wars, The best of Europe's physicists were guests of Neils Bohr's. For some, the stays were brief; they came from Gottingen or Rome Or Manchester for conferences, and afterwards went home. The funds for this were plentiful, for profits being accrued Through sales of the lager that continued to be brewed By Carlsberg were donated to support the institute. Some others stayed to study there, experiment, compute, Discuss, refine, and publish. Many articles were read That came from Copenhagen, where the laboratory's head Continued to collaborate, encourage, and advise, For decades after he himself had earned the Nobel Prize.

And, more than a diploma drawn with calligraphic pen, A Nobel Prize's value can convert to pounds or yen. Enrico Fermi, with his prize, became an émigré, Departed fascist Italy, moved to the USA.

If X-rays, though more penetrating, are akin to light, Then they must have a wavelength, and in consequence, they might Be subject to diffraction by a crystalline array, Its structure thus revealed by the consequent display. This is the case, for which all crystallographers give thanks, So Max von Laue was added to the Nobel laureates' ranks. Electrons barely fast enough to cause emitted light When bumping into atoms would, if Neils Bohr were right, Have energy equivalent to that emission line Produced by the collision, and the light would be a sign Of energy absorption. For such work supporting Bohr, James Franck would share the Nobel Prize when he was 44.

The Prize is also tangible, an object one can hold, A medal, struck in Sweden, that is cast in gleaming gold: Nobel, the goddess Isis, and a small plate to record The full name of the physicist receiving the award.

Though both James Franck and Max von Laue remained in Germany When Nazi persecutions had forced other men to flee, They'd smuggled their gold medals out for safety at a time When taking gold from Germany had been declared a crime. The medals were in Copenhagen; each one bore a name, A danger to its owner when the occupation came, For if it were discovered, word would certainly be sent To Germany, which Neils Bohr intended to prevent. He knew that they would not corrode if buried in the ground, But that was much too dangerous: the medals might be found. So he devised a better plan with Georg von Hevesy, Who never won the physics prize – but did in chemistry.

An atom, not a molecule, gold cannot be destroyed By ordinary means, and for that reason is employed In surfaces and circuits where it's vital to resist Corrosion and reaction, but there is a tiny list Of liquids in which gold dissolves. The one that comes to mind Is aqua regia, in which strong nitric acid is combined With hydrochloric acid, and this frothing, yellow brew Was used by Georg von Hevesy in Copenhagen to Disguise two Nobel medals, each one in a separate jar, Unlabelled, of black liquid. When the horrors of the war Had ended, and the danger to the scientists had passed, The gold was sent to Sweden, where new medals would be cast.