F.D.C. Willard: The Siamese Cat Who Co-Authored a 1975 Physics Paper

In 1975, Jack H. Hetherington, a physics professor at Michigan State University, authored a research paper on low-temperature physics for the journal Physical Review Letters. A colleague cautioned him that the draft would be rejected immediately due to the editor's prohibition on the term "we" in single-author submissions. Instead of revising the manuscript, Hetherington had his secretary modify the title page to include a second author: his Siamese cat, Chester, whose father, Willard, was noted as one of the rare unfixed male Siamese cats in Aspen, Colorado. The initials F D, representing Felix Domesticus, were added, resulting in F D C Willard. The article, titled "Two-, Three-, and Four-Atom Exchange Effects in bcc 3He," was accepted, featuring Willard's paw print as a signature. The ruse was uncovered when a visitor inquired about Willard while Hetherington was absent, leading to laughter. Hetherington noted that only the journal's editors missed the joke. He later shared this story in the 1982 book More Random Walks in Science, with additional details available on the website TodayIFoundOut.