Fueling Petty Feuds Since 1977

This could be the most one-sided fight since 1973 when Ali faced an eighty-foot tall mechanical Joe Frazier. My memory isn't what it used to be, but I think the entire Earth was destroyed.

- George Foreman a la "Futurama" (1999)

It's all summed up in the e-mail I sent yesterday. Just read it.

First, I'd like to say that my interest in this issue is purely academic and had nothing to do with anything personal nor did I intend for my acts to be perceived as unprofessional. I am truly sorry that that is how I made you feel last Friday.

As any educator and life-student should, I faithfully encourage academic debate. I feel that it is an essential component in creating an environment that necessitates finding a means to an end, or an answer if you will. It is with this passion that I engaged in the debate regarding the ultimate death of our sun.

During our department discussion, I challenged your statement that our sun would eventually explode. I haven't studied astronomy for several years, but I was fairly certain that I remembered that our sun would expand into a red giant then collapse into a white dwarf where it would ultimately die its heat death. You rebutted with information about the temperature/pressure equilibrium and the Chandrasekhar limit and I conceded the debate at this point due to the fact that I admit that I haven't studied the matter in quite some time.

Later, I did some preliminary research and most of my findings agreed with what I had thought. At this point, I printed up the most concise article I could find regarding the issue, mostly because I didn't want to waste too much paper. I gave it to you at the end of the meeting, not to "prove a point" as you may have perceived but rather in hopes that perhaps you would provide information supporting your argument.

I read the material in the textbook that you then brought to me, the two entire chapters, and I still have found no evidence that the sun will explode. As a matter of fact, a blurb in the "brown box" titled Review: Critical Inquiry seems to suggest that my original hypothesis, that the sun would not explode, was correct. I have also located several supporting resources on the Internet. The source that most directly answers the question is offered by astronomers at Cornell University and can be found at the following URL.

http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=232

I would gladly accept any alternative suggestions from reputable sources. And if you are not fully convinced, I am willing to agree to disagree.

Sincerely,
Me

Now fully prepared for honest academic discourse, here was the response I received in its unedited entirety.

Thank you for pointing it out and we will keep on agreeing to disagree becasue discussion are good for the academic soul.
Him (not The Him)

Just to let you in on the real reason it's an issue... he's our astronomy teacher.

In the meantime, I'll chalk that one up as a victory.