From Oliver Sacks
Steve Haake’s fascinating Instant Expert on sports engineering (7 July) revived a thought I had, long ago, in my shot-putting days.
Having relatively small hands, and finding the 16-pound (7.26 kilogram) shot difficult to grip, I could not help thinking that if it were made of tungsten – which is nearly two-and-a-half times as dense as steel – it would be no larger than a cricket ball and perhaps could be hefted further.
A minor technological advance, but one which might alter world records, if legal.
New York, US
