Mothers and Fathers

Hard to tune in to a TV news show, or pick up a newspaper without hearing about "The Mother of All Bombs," isn't it? I thought it was just another use of an old expression, "the mother of all ______.," usually meaning the greatest or most unforgettable version of one thing or another.  I felt altogether nonplussed when I learned it was also a play on the acronym "MOAB."  This "Mother" is also known as a Massive Ordnance Air Blast. I learned it also has another name, GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast.  I suppose the "GBU" also stands for something besides "Great Big Ugly" (I made that one up, but what the hey....).  

Given as I am to letting my mind wander all over the place, I had two thoughts about this "Mother."  First, I thought of another figurative parent of a weapon--The Father of the Atomic Bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer.  He was a theoretical physicist who either headed up or had a most central role in the development of the first atomic bomb, which ultimately brought about the end of World War II, after the deaths of many thousands in Japan after the U.S. dropped a pair of those bombs there in an effort to bring about Japan's surrender.  I have read accounts of Oppenheimer's work and his role, including collaboration with Albert Einstein.   

I read also of then-President Harry Truman, who had to make the ultimate decision to use those bombs as they did.  Indeed, that decision often occurs to me when people make reference to the sign he had on his (the President's) desk declaring-- "The Buck Stops Here," and how he accepted the responsibility to make that ultimate decision.  I remember in the late 1970's attending a stage play at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, entitled "In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer."  The play dramatized a confidential hearing where Mr. Oppenheimer lost his security clearance (and thus his career working for the U. S. Government), during the second "Great Red Scare of the 1950's."  He had a lot to say about the relationship between theoretical research and governmental authority.  Anyway, there are other "fathers" we will talk about shortly.  

Back to those two thoughts about this "Mother," my second thought was to wonder how many other "Mothers" there were that I just hadn't heard of.  My friends at Google found dozens of examples--a few stuck with me long enough to jot them down--The Mother of All Baseball Bats, The Mother of All Lies, The Mother of All Ab Workouts, The Mother of All Mothers, The Mother of All Buddhas, and The Mother of All Conspiracies.  There are indeed a multitude of those last "Mothers Of All Conspiracies."  Look it up.

What about those "Fathers?"  I've used what I found there to create the following little quiz:  

1. Who was "The Father of History?"

2. Who was "The Father of Economics?"

3. Who was "The Father of Medicine?"

4. Who was "The Father of Geometry?"

5. Who was "The Father of Our Nation?"
  
I should insert some blank space or something to allow time for you to make your guesses.  Let  me see....  Oh, I know--Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-

Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-

Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-

Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-

Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-

Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-

Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-

Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-

Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-

Huh?  Where was I?  Oh, yeah, the answers--Did you guess Herodotus, Adam Smith, Hippocrates, Euclid and ... George Washington?  All were correct, except, of course, the last one.  Not George Washington, you say?  No, not George.  That was a trick question.  Did I say whose Nation?  No-o-o-o-o.  I did not.  There are lots of correct answers.  In Wikipedia I found no fewer than 66 countries with one or more "Fathers."  I found six nominees for "Father" of my own nation, the United States of America, and one "Father" of six countries--Simon Bolivar (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and Venezuela).  What a "Father!"

Well, that's all for now (what a "Mother" this was, eh?).