Gell-Mann is one of my favorite scientist, partly because he conforms to my idea of what a scientist is, ie. diverse interests (linguistics, systems science), fun communicator (just check YouTube), very slightly eccentric (Yann LeCun's story on how Gell-Mann pronounced his name), captain of big intellectual debates (the whole field of Complex Systems, or as he called it "Plectics" is fun, fun, fun!) and last but not least a great wine connoisseur (the Wine Spectator made a lengthy interview with him in June 2004). Nine decades well spent on our planet. R.I.P.
The term was coined by author, film producer, medical doctor Michael Crichton. He explains the irony of the term, saying it came about "because I once discussed it with Murray Gell-Mann, and by dropping a famous name I imply greater importance to myself, and to the effect, than it would otherwise have"
