Fedora 14 to be named Laughlin

Robert B Laughlin
Source: large.stanford.edu The Fedora community has selected the name Laughlin for Fedora 14, the version of Fedora which will be developed after the release of Fedora 13. Fedora 13, due for release on the 18th of May, has recently moved into release candidate phase.

The name, selected by a community vote, is connected to Fedora 13's name Goddard, on the basis that both Goddard and Laughlin refer to physicists. For the first time the Fedora name refers to a living person, Robert B. Laughlin, professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Stanford University. In 1998, Laughlin, with Horst L. Strörmer and Daniel C. Tsui, were awarded the Nobel Prize for physics for their work in explaining the fractional quantum Hall effect. Laughlin currently researches high temperature superconductivity theory.

Laughlin is also an exponent of emergence, a concept which says that "the whole is more than the sum of its parts". This is an idea which the proposer of Laughlin's name suggested was a good match to Fedora as "Fedora is more than the sum of its software".

The name Laughlin beat the other contenders - Laramie, Ventnor, Mitikas, Hoppin and Fytnargin - in the vote, with over 200 ballots cast in total. A history of Fedora release names is available on the project's wiki.

(djwm)