Chronicles Newsletter of the UCSD Emeriti Association

September 2012 Volume XII, No. 1

UC’s Atkinson Ye ars: Staying Afloat and Altering Course

By Sanford Lakoff portant changes of direction for the sys- Dickson Professor Emeritus of Political tem and for higher education generally. She examines his contributions under Patricia A. Pelfrey, Entrepreneurial Pres- five headings: ident: Richard Atkinson and the University of 1. Assuring opportunity and di- California, 1995-2003 (Berkeley: Univer- versity in admissions. After preferential sity of California Press, 2012, pp. 231). treatment of applicants was banned, first by the Regents’ Resolutions SP-1 and SP-2 Clark Kerr, UC President from in 1995 and then by the passage of state 1958 to 1967, once joked that college Proposition 209, Atkinson won approval presidents were expected to provide three for two measures that softened the impact essential services: sex for the undergradu- of the controversial ban: “comprehensive ates, football for the alumni, and parking administrative version of chaos theory” — review,” allowing consideration of fac- for the faculty. As he also knew from hard and got back to La Jolla, his palms free tors other than high school GPA, such experience, managing a state-sponsored, of visible stigmata and his reputation not as demonstrated success in overcoming multi-campus research university like ours only intact but enhanced. disadvantage, and “Eligibility in the Lo- means extracting money from the state’s That in itself was no mean feat. But cal Context,” which takes into account general fund (a sum now shrunk to only in this very readable, thoughtful, and whether an applicant has attended under- 11% of the total UC budget) and helping richly informative account, Pelfrey uses performing schools. These steps quieted each affiliate acquire additional support an insider’s perspective gained by working the controversy and raised numbers of from wealthy donors, foundations, corpo- in the Office of the President over three minority admissions almost back to what rate partners, and federal agencies. And decades to show how Atkinson not only they had been. while he is at this Sysiphean task, he also helped the University survive the first 2. Keeping the Los Alamos and has to protect the whole enterprise from wave of the state’s ongoing budget crisis, Livermore Labs under UC manage- the onslaughts of a host of interested but brought about or sustained several im- ment. In response to security lapses at parties and constituencies, including the Los Alamos and reports of lax business governor, the legislature, federal agen- practices, he instituted a major reform cies, activist Regents, students and their Inside of the University’s oversight mechanism. families irate over tuition increases, and With the help of an investigation led by ideologically-committed agitators to the former UCSD administrator Bruce Dar- Remembering Bill Nierenberg . 5 left and right. When all else fails, he is ex- ling, he succeeded in tightening control well enough to enable the University to pected to spread his arms stoically while Correction ...... 7 being nailed to the cross for our alleged win approval (under his successor, Presi- sins (in Kerr’s case by Ronald Reagan act- Anecdotage...... 7-8 dent Robert Dynes) to retain manage- ing as Pilate). Dick Atkinson somehow ment of both facilities. He saw this as a fended off all the political furies over an Mark Your Calendar...... 8 service to the nation ­— one that gives the eight-year term — a tenure Patricia A. labs’ researchers more creative freedom Pelfrey nicely describes as a test of “some Continued on p.2 ➝

UCSD Emeriti Association Page 2 September 2012 v Chronicles than they might have under government war as the “Route 128 effect” and was per- work. Like academic freedom, shared gov- or industrial control and also benefits UC fected at Stanford, thanks largely to the ernance has always been an ambiguous and students. initiatives of Provost Frederick Terman, concept, as became especially obvious in 3. Strengthening Campus Autono- the engineer who became the “father of the controversies over the loyalty oath and my. Atkinson continued the project be- Silicon Valley,” beginning with two of his the free speech movement and protests of gun by Kerr and pursued under President students, William Hewlett and David the 1960s. In this instance, Regent Ward Jack Peltason (1992-95) of dismantling Packard, and continuing through Google Connerly, with the support of Governor the “highly centralized organizational and lately Instagram. Atkinson worked at Pete Wilson, spearheaded the campaign edifice” created under President Robert Stanford under Terman and later served to stop the University from using racial Gordon Sproul (1930-58). He saw the as director of the National Science Foun- and ethnic preferences in admissions system as “a collection of ten research uni- dation — the very institution that was cre- — which in practice amounted to admit- versities — a single but not a monolithic ated to implement Bush’s vision by sup- ting less qualified students solely because institution,” much to the relief of the porting basic research at universities. they were in one of the recognized minor- nine chancellors and faculties. As of 2010, Bush, Terman, and Atkinson have ity categories. After Conerly’s counter- UCOP’s budget was cut by $85 million all recognized that the modern research campaign succeeded with the passage of ($30 million of which was transferred to university must become the key active Prop. 209, faculty and student groups the campuses) and its workforce by 28%. agent in the pursuit and dissemination of demanded the ban be reversed. Since the As Pelfrey comments, “In ceding to the new knowledge. And just as important, it 1970s, radical members of the legislature chancellors an unprecedented degree of must promote links between the expand- had been calling on the University to budgetary authority, Atkinson imposed ing frontiers of knowledge and users — by achieve a student body that mirrored the strong limits on this presidential preroga- mating physics and mathematics with state’s diversity. When Atkinson became tive.” At the same time, he used his au- applied engineering (electrical, mechani- president, the Latino caucus — now the thority to encourage progress on the new cal, structural, computational, telecom- largest in both houses — was demanding Merced campus and to spur creation of munication, and environmental); biology that UC enroll an undergraduate student intercampus ventures like the California and chemistry with medicine, agricultural body (as Pelfrey puts it) “that approximat- Institute for Telecommunications and In- science, biotechnology, synthetic materi- ed the ethnic and racial composition of formation (CALIT2) linking als engineering, energy production, and the state’s public high schools.” The Re- UCSD and UCI. environmental preservation; oceanogra- gents in 1988 went part of the way toward 4. Reforming the SAT. Boldly and phy with climate science and much else; meeting these demands by ordering that single-handedly, he challenged reliance philosophy, linguistics, and cognitive sci- each campus enroll a student body that on the SAT I test and brought about a ma- ence with neuroscience and its applica- not only demonstrates “high academic jor reform in the SAT. He did so by calling tions; the social and legal studies achievement” and “exceptional personal for studies that showed the SAT I was a with constitutional, business, and social talent” but also “encompasses the broad poor predictor of first year performance. reform; the arts and humanities with new diversity of cultural, racial, geographic, He successfully argued for reliance instead (“post-modernist”) forms of creativity in and socioeconomic backgrounds charac- on SAT II, which measured what students fiction, criticism, theater, graphic arts, teristic of California.” had learned, and got the Educational and music. In other words, the university Atkinson took on this issue not just Testing Service to get rid of analogies on must now be the central instrument in out of a desire to try to placate the pro- SAT I and add a writing requirement. the transition to a post-industrial society testors or ward off threatened legislative 5. Pointing the system toward a new more dependent than ever before on the sanctions. He agreed as a matter of prin- model, which Pelfrey calls the “entrepre- rapid acquisition and application of scien- ciple with the protestors and legislators, neurial university.” The seed of this new tific findings. out of a belief that “if race [understood model was planted by in Each of these accomplishments to include ethnicity] cannot be factored 1945, in Science, The Endless Frontier, where warrants examination, but in this com- into admissions decisions at all, the eth- he argued, with the recent example of the mentary I will limit the focus to the first nic diversity of an elite public institution mobilization of science for war in mind, because it is controversial and the last be- such as the University of California may that the closing of America’s geographi- cause it is increasingly urgent. well fall behind that of the state it serves.” cal frontier need not produce economic Accordingly, he and the Academic Senate “Affirmative Action” stagnation, as one school of economists persuaded the Regents to approve a new feared. Science would become an “endless The issue of affirmative action or path to admission, modifying the Master frontier” as the production of new knowl- preferential treatment, as Pelfrey points Plan target of the top 12.5% of the state’s edge in university and industrial labs be- out, raised the question of how “shared high school graduates so as to extend eli- came an ever-renewing cornucopia. The governance” among the Regents, the fac- gibility to students ranked in the upper model took shape around MIT after the ulty, and the administration, ought to 4% of each high school class — a way of

UCSD Emeriti Association Chronicles v September 2012 Page 3 opening access to students from relatively in disciplinary departments). Instead of because higher education must now serve inferior high schools. (Texas/Austin goes preparing students for careers or graduate the needs of a society critically dependent further by extending eligibility to the top study, these departments and programs on research and highly skilled profession- 10% of the state’s high school graduat- encourage them to become militant advo- als. Modern nations are all in a process ing classes.) Admission standards were cates of one sub-group or another. (Thus, of transition from older forms of social also broadened to become “comprehen- a UCSD Ethnic Studies course “explores structure and the aims of education must sive,” so that factors such as potential for collective mobilizations for resources, be adapted to that transition. leadership and persistence in overcoming recognition, and power by members of When universities were first created hardships could be taken into account. aggrieved racialized groups, past and pres- in Europe, the pace of change was hardly The result was that by the end of Atkin- ent . . . and . . . the prospect for collective as rapid as it is now. They were designed son’s term, minority enrollments had mobilization for change within aggrieved to serve as repositories and transmitters mostly returned to the percentages they communities in the present and future.”) of existing knowledge, at first especially had reached before Prop. 209, except at Preferential treatment, moreover, the eternal verities of religious doctrine several campuses, including Berkeley and does enormous psychological harm to — as Cambridge’s college names, , UCLA. the cohesiveness and morale of a liberal Jesus, Christ’s, All Souls, Magdalene, etc., These changes are consistent with democratic society because it leads ben- shouted from their spires. In time, the the Supreme Court’s 1978 Bakke deci- eficiaries and non-beneficiaries alike to Protestant sanction of earthly vocations sion, which outlawed quotas in graduate become cynical about the real meaning of allowed civil subjects and callings to be schools but stipulated that racial diversity the ideal of equal opportunity. As numer- added to the curriculum. Both Harvard could be one factor among others in ad- ous observers have noted, the “goals and and Yale were founded to rear young men missions decisions. They are nevertheless timetables” adopted to achieve diversity from the ranks of the privileged, as the open to serious criticism on a number of become for all practical purposes quotas Yale charter of 1701 laid out, “fitted for grounds. in disguise, and applicants with better Public employment both in Church & This sort of affirmative action does credentials than those admitted suffer civil State.” nothing to address the sources of minority “reverse discrimination.” And the logic In the nineteenth century, reform- under-qualification, such as poverty, poor of Atkinson’s belief that the university ers like Cardinal John Henry Newman schooling, and dysfunctional or at least should not fall behind the ethnic makeup helped free British universities from the poorly educated families. By itself the uni- of the state has awkward consequences, to authority of the church but defined their versity can hardly do enough to raise the say the least. If a third of the UCSD stu- function as one of teaching, no different still dismally low school performance of dent body consists of Asian-Americans, in from that of preparatory “colleges” like African-American and Latino young peo- a state in which they comprise only 9% of Eton and Harrow. Cambridge’s celebrat- ple. The reform of K-12 education poses a high school students, should we deplore ed Cavendish Laboratory was first created monumental challenge for the state and that outcome or be grateful to all their for pedagogy, not research. New contri- for that matter the nation. But despite a Asian Tiger moms for rearing them? Even butions to knowledge were presumably serious effort to create outreach programs the reference commonly made to the “un- to be made by independent scholars and (such as those of UCSD Extension aimed derrepresentation” of minority groups in scientists. (Newton worked at the Royal at upgrading school teachers’ skills), and the student population makes it seem that Mint, Einstein at the patent office, Dar- the successful establishment of UCSD’s there is something undemocratic about win at home.) The central preoccupation Preuss School, the University does very an institution designed, as this one is, to of institutions of higher learning was to little to address that handicap. And one educate an intellectual elite — the segment be the study of humane letters — culture thing it has done has compounded the of the population Jefferson and John Ad- being defined canonically by Matthew problem. It has encouraged the prolifera- ams described as “the natural aristocracy.” Arnold as “the best that has been said tion of topical departments and programs Pelfrey applauds Atkinson because his ef- and thought in the world.” In his 1960 outside discipline-based social science forts provided “a more inclusive defini- lectures on the tensions between the “two and humanities departments, like Ethnic tion of merit.” She might at least also have cultures” (the humanities and the natural Studies, Black Studies, Chicano Studies, indicated that his views on this subject are sciences) C. P. Snow lamented that in Women’s Studies, Queer Studies, or UC- not above serious criticism. the most prestigious British universities SC’s GLBTI (for “Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, the natural sciences were barely tolerated Trans and Intersex”). Some minority stu- The Entrepreneurial University junior partners ( being known dents admitted for the sake of diversity are Atkinson is on much more defensible familiarly in the Common Room as the drawn to these programs, which reinforce ground in promoting the model of the en- “stinks dons”). their sense of social alienation and victim- trepreneurial university, not just because In America, for most of the nine- hood (and provide FTEs for faculty who the UC campuses all have to figure out teenth century, higher education became might otherwise not gain appointments how to survive the state’s budget crisis but Continued on p.4 ➝

UCSD Emeriti Association Page 4 September 2012 v Chronicles an enterprise bifurcated between public Gilman (his surname now fittingly known an entrepreneurial university are already and private institutions. The private col- to commuters as the road to UCSD!), the impressive: One in six communications leges and universities followed the British research university first came into being — firms in the state was started by a UC sci- model, but less faithfully. Jefferson had complete with the German Ph.D. (symbol- entist. One in four biotechnology firms proposed that at the University of Vir- ically memorialized by the Berkeley barber- had a UC -founder, and 85 per- ginia, “every branch of science, deemed shop known as Hair Doctor). By the time cent of California biotech firms employed useful at this day, should be taught in its Kerr took office, he recognized that the UC alumni with graduate degrees. UC highest degree.” Engineering and other modern university had become a smorgas- has long been the most prolific producer forms of technical education found a bord of undergraduate general education, of patents of any American university. home in the secular, state-sponsored land- disciplinary majors, graduate and profes- In 2008 the University of California sys- grant colleges and private schools like sional schools of every conceivable variety, tem earned $164,314,433, in licensing RPI (founded in 1824), MIT (1861), and affiliated labs, and pre-professional athlet- revenue, with 1,913 active licenses, 244 Caltech (1891). In both private and pub- ics — a “multiversity” catering to the range issued in 2008, and 899 new patent appli- lic higher education, America’s pragmatic of needs in complex modern societies. By cations. UC research produced fifty-five spirit gave the natural sciences a more re- the 1960s, when UCSD was founded, it start-up companies that same year. spectable place than they had in Britain. became obvious (especially to Roger Rev- Given the importance of the research This very pragmatism became the elle, who originally wanted this to be sole- universities to critical national and state bane of educational reformers in the twen- ly an institution for research and graduate needs, they merit continued public and tieth century, who complained that Amer- education) that the research university was private support. But that expectation pre- ican education was too concerned with what modern society needed most. supposes public appreciation. During the inculcating practical skills and parochial Atkinson gave this trend definition Cold War (and its incident Space Race), American values and not enough with and made it central to the UC mission. At concern for national security, power, and opening young people’s minds to all that UCSD, he expanded industry-university prestige made support for the research civilization entailed. At Chicago (where research and enrollments in engineering university a high priority. The first ma- Atkinson earned his undergraduate de- and computer science. He presided over jor federal fellowship program was the gree and was inspired to pursue academic the campus when Irwin Jacobs and An- National Defense Education Act in the studies), Robert Maynard Hutchins and drew Viterbi created Qualcomm. UCSD 1950s. Federal agencies provided grants to Mortimer Adler championed a curricu- and other local created Hybri- universities and R&D contracts to indus- lum based on the Great Books and Great tech and a host of other biotech startups try. The demand for scientific manpower Ideas. At Harvard, Charles W. Eliot said on Torrey Pines mesa. With his encour- grew as a result. The quest for answers to famously that the elements of a liberal agement, Extension developed initiatives diseases like cancer and AIDS and alarm education could be obtained by spending like its “Connect” program to midwife over environmental degradation provided fifteen minutes a day reading from a col- innovative enterprises. The astonishing further stimulus. lection of books that could fit on a five- growth of our medical research and treat- The willingness of Californians to foot shelf. He then filled that shelf with ment facilities started when he helped support stem cell research is encourag- a set known as the Harvard Classics. At create Thornton Hospital, at first derided ing evidence that the anti-scientific atti- Columbia, a core curriculum was intro- as a white elephant. Around the medical tudes prevalent elsewhere may not be as duced, and the General Education move- complex have arisen other research-orient- widely held here. But the nation’s Great ment swept the country. ed facilities, notably including the stagger- Recession and the state’s parlous budget- This passion for the classics and gen- ingly ambitious one headed by UCSD ary imbalance make it imperative that eral education — derided in the 1970s as Ph.D. Craig Venter. the University become even more entre- worship of the works of “dead white Euro- As UC president, Atkinson founded preneurial than it has been. At the same pean males” ­— has been eviscerated by glo- the California Digital Library, considered time, Atkinson’s successors (and ours in balized notions of culture, relativistic and the best online research library in the the active faculty) will need to think seri- subjectivist “deconstructioinism,” and the country, and joined with Governor Gray ously about how to preserve its core func- increasing emphasis on disciplinary spe- Davis to found four California Institutes tions in the face of inevitable austerity. He cialization. The core curriculum, as one for Science and Innovation. He under- himself can look back with pride on his critic has pointed out, “still exists in modi- stood that the research university must stewardship: for keeping the University fied form as a kind of charming anachro- be the foundation of “the New Economy, strong and pointing it in the right direc- nism at a few leading universities, Chicago built on ever more powerful tion, Dick Atkinson ranks among the best and Columbia most prominently.” and on the translation of fundamental leaders we have had. And Pelfrey is to be The really lasting trend was set in scientific knowledge into new prod- commended for showing us why. v motion at Johns Hopkins in 1876 when, ucts…” As Pelfrey points out, the results under former UC President Daniel Coit of the University’s move toward becoming

UCSD Emeriti Association Chronicles v September 2012 Page 5

Remembering Bill Nierenberg

By Charles F. Kennel (UCSD), Rich- Late in his life Bill talked occasionally ard S. Lindzen (MIT) and Walter about how he made the transition from Munk (UCSD). what we now call the South Bronx to Cali- fornia and gave great credit to Townsend Part I: The Early Years Harris High School, where he was admit- ted by competitive examination in 1933. (Reprinted — minus footnotes — from the Townsend Harris was a citywide school Memorial published by the National Acad- for the gifted; it recognized and rewarded emy of Sciences) his prowess in mathematics, schooled him Bill Nierenberg (1912-2000) excelled in physics, paid him small sums for grad- in two scientific fields: physics and ocean- ing papers, and prepared him for the City ography. As a , he worked on the College of New York. Bill knew he had Manhattan Project and contributed to a high IQ. Even his boyhood gang called molecular beam research and cascade the- him “the Brain.” As a youth he was ambi- sic, and continental viewpoints. France ory. He helped to shape national policy in tious, competitive, and excited to be out broadened Bill’s American outlook and oceanography and to develop oceanogra- and in the world; these characteristics made room for his big personality. France phy into a multidisciplinary, planetary sci- stayed with him for life. in 1938 was in a foreboding mood, how- ence with a pivotal role to play in climate Bill had the advantage of grow- ever, and Bill went home expecting a Eu- change research and earth science. ing up in a great city. He spent his free ropean war. Even during this period Bill Nierenberg was born February 13, time at Botanical Garden was dismissive of the Left Wing at CCNY 1919, in Manhattan to a family that lived and developed an interest in science at in the 1930s, and he was a committed an- on Houston Street in the Lower East Side the American Museum of Natural His- tifascist. He expected to enter military ser- and then moved up to the Bronx. His tory. He went to high school with Her- vice; naval aviation appealed to him, but family was of Austro-Hungarian Jewish man Wouk and college with Bernard his enlistment was delayed when, through ancestry, and his first job was as a “floor Feld, and he met Richard Feynman at Fermi and Dunning, he was offered an boy” in the garment industry. The Bronx an intercollegiate math contest. Physics opportunity in 1941 for six months of war was near to his heart and still perceptible was a small world then, and he quickly work in what turned out to be the Man- in his diction when he died 81 years later established himself at CCNY in a set hattan Project. in La Jolla, California, after a long and that included Eugene Booth, William Bill worked with Dunning and Clark distinguished career as a physicist and Havens, Jr., and teachers like Henry Williams and had a role in the project, oceanographer. Semat, Mark Zemansky, and Walter which he later said was closer to engineer- Zinn. While CCNY was purely an un- ing than physics, but it placed him within dergraduate institution, students and the haut monde of physics and gave him faculty there participated in research Emeriti Website opportunities and responsibilities unusual at Columbia and New York University. for a physicist who had just passed the Clark Williams took Bill to visit his lab qualifying examination for his doctorate. The UCSD Emeriti Associ- at Columbia, and they became friends. This work was cited when Bill was nomi- ation maintains a website: The talk in physics at CCNY was all nated for election to membership in the http://emeriti.ucsd.edu. about the work of Enrico Fermi, I. I. National Academy of Sciences. Rabi, and John Dunning at Columbia. His family responsibilities expanded Clicking the Chronicles Bill first met Rabi in 1939,when he took at about the same time, when Bill married button will allow you to view his course in statistical mechanics. Edith Meyerson in 1941. Their daughter, past issues of this newsletter. Bill competed for and won many Victoria, was born in New York, and their honors, medals, and prizes. He spent his son, Nicolas Clark Eugene, at Berkeley. The website also provides junior year as the Aaron Naumberg fel- Nicolas was named in honor of Bill’s the constitution and by- low at the University of Paris, where he French classmate, and his friends Clark laws, lists of members, and polished his physics and his French at Williams and Eugene Booth. minutes of meetings. the Sorbonne. His closest friend was a After Bill’s graduation from CCNY French classmate, Nicolas Zafiropoulo, in 1942, he was accepted at Columbia as who introduced him to new foods, mu- Continued on p.6 ➝

UCSD Emeriti Association Page 6 September 2012 v Chronicles a graduate student of I. I. Rabi and was physics that concentrated heav- fore and after World War II by comparing received everywhere as a brilliant young ily on slow neutron phenomena. the work done by Rabi at Columbia with physicist, although the acerbic Rabi told It was in these lectures that he that of E. O. Lawrence at Berkeley. He said him he was too forward and brash. Bill demonstrated the utility of the that Rabi did his great work with grants of scattering length and the virtue listed Rabi first among those who influ- of his version of the Born ap- a few hundred dollars from foundations enced him, and Bill considered Rabi a proximation in scattering calcu- and the loan of Navy electric submarine great teacher, despite poor skills as a lec- lations that became known as cells for magnet power supplies. This turer, because of the personal approach the Golden Rule after the war was “small” physics that concentrated on Rabi took with his students. among the graduate students. clean, spare problems that did not require His most appealing feature was complicated apparatus. Lawrence built He was always available to us the revealing simplifications of in his office, singly or in groups what were normally displayed huge and advanced physics laboratories of two or three, to work over as extremely complex computa- by convincing the University of California some obscure or difficult point. tions in the literature. A good and the federal government that research He would spend several hours example occurred in his course in physics strengthened the university and with us, if necessary. Some of in geophysics that he had ear- the time, of course, was used the country. Although Bill occasionally lier given in Rome and then lamented the loss of community that re- to locate some reprint in the fa- repeated at Columbia. This was sulted from postwar big physics, he agreed mous pile of papers on the table a tremendous simplification of behind his desk. Jeffrey’s treatment of the cooling with Lawrence’s vision. In 1958 Bill was Rabi had a lifelong influence on Bill, of a spherical earth including the selected as the first E. O. Lawrence memo- but their relationship remained that of heating due to radioactivity. rial lecturer by the National Academy of teacher and pupil, not an equal friend- Rabi got a National Research Coun- Sciences. In the 1980s, when some ques- tioned whether funding for big science ship. Rabi drew Bill into science advisory cil Fellowship for Bill in 1945, and Bill re- projects, like space science and the super circles. Rabi was involved in the creation turned to his doctoral research as soon as accelerator, was justified when society had of the Hudson Labs at Dobbs Ferry, and the war ended. He reopened Sidney Mill- other pressing needs, Bill said he didn’t Bill directed the labs in 1953-1954, his man’s molecular beam laboratory and understand the question. What he meant first contact with oceanography. Rabi worked on an elucidation of the quadru- was that the commitment to science made introduced Bill to Alan Waterman and pole broadened alkali resonances in the by the after World War II Manny Piore, then at the Office of Naval alkali halides. The committee for his orals was not merely a commitment of funds, Research, and to the North Atlantic Trea- included Rabi, Norman Ramsey, Willis it was a decision that American society ty Organization science committee. Fred Lamb, and Hendryk Kramers. In 1948 would be knowledge-based with the ex- Seitz recommended that Bill succeed him Bill had a new Ph.D. and a letter of rec- pectation that research would build pros- in the position of assistant secretary gen- ommendation from Rabi: perity. Bill was, of course, being coy. He eral for scientific affairs at NATO in Paris Nierenberg belongs to a from 1960 to 1962. fully understood that the question itself small group of men who are ca- marked a transition from the view that Those years in Paris improved Bill’s pable both experimentally and French accent and deepened his interest in theoretically. He is not a theorist science was an essential part of the solu- French culture and literature. Bill’s special in the sense of Nordsieck, but tion to society’s problems to the view that interest in Turkey dates from these years. rather a man who gets a com- science was simply another supplicant at plete grasp of the theory of his Rabi and Nierenberg were both interested the trough. field of experimental work and in music, particularly opera, and Bill even Bill started work at Berkeley by build- who can carry a problem right ing a molecular beam apparatus, modeled briefly adopted Rabi’s recipe for martinis: through to the end. eight parts gin to three parts vermouth. on the one he had used at Columbia. Bill received excellent offers from ac- Bill also acknowledged the influence His research included gaseous diffusion ademic departments of physics but none of his high school physics teacher, Ivan theory and experiment, cascade theory, from the place he wanted to go, Berkeley. Hurlinger; the Sorbonne mathematician atomic and molecular beams, the mea- Therefore, he went to Ann Arbor for two André Leon Lichnerowicz; and Maurice surement of nuclear spins, magnetic mo- years and arrived in Berkeley during the Biot and Enrico Fermi at Columbia. Bill ments, electric quadrupole moments, wrote about Fermi in his unpublished Au- summer of 1950 as an associate professor hyperfine anomalies with particular appli- tobiography: of physics. He planned to teach, work on cation to radioactive nuclei, and similar the systematic measurement of the spins applications to atomic electronic ground Fermi . . . was a most ex- and magnetic moments of radioactive states. He hoped to learn more about nu- traordinary lecturer on any branch of physics he chose. His nuclei, and live near E. O. Lawrence on clear structure, and he became a leader in most important series was his Tamalpais Road. his field. He formed a group to measure seminar on advanced nuclear Bill contrasted American physics be- spins and magnetic moments of radio-

UCSD Emeriti Association Chronicles v September 2012 Page 7 active nuclei, and over the course of his the Middle East. His French was fluent; years at Berkeley he published a hundred he became familiar with several European Correction papers in physics and trained 40 doctoral languages and began seriously studying students. He developed an excellent repu- Turkish. Andy Viterbi called our attention tation as a teacher. He established the While at Berkeley, Bill was recruited to two errors in the remembrance of atomic beam research group at Lawrence by Rabi and Piore to work on Project Mi- Stuart Hughes in the April issue. We Radiation Laboratory. He worked with chael, an Office of Naval Research effort reported that in a lecture for the Ju- and admired Edwin McMillan and met to establish an academic base for use of daic Studies program he mentioned supporting Hughes when he ran as Jerry Wiesner during these years. There long-range low-frequency sound in sub- an independent for the Senate from were lots of parties and social interac- marine detection. This led to the creation Massachusetts; in fact, Andy only tions among the in Berkeley. of the Hudson Labs at Dobbs Ferry, New mentioned that Hughes had made The McMillans introduced the Nieren- York, and Nierenberg took a leave from the race. He met him for the first bergs to Borrego Springs and encouraged Berkeley in 1953 to direct the lab for a time years later at UCSD when he them to explore the deserts of California year. While there he was responsible for invited him to his home to meet the and Mexico. Luiz Alvarez borrowed and the introduction of the concept of the Italian writer Primo Levi. We also erred in dating Krystallnacht as hav- played Bill’s mandolin at faculty dinners. vertical hydrophone array for the signal- ing happened in 1937; the year was When the physics department pur- to-noise improvement possible due to the actually 1938. We regret the errors. chased an IBM 650 computer in the special distribution of noise in the vertical early 1960s, Bill taught himself how to plane in the deep oceans. He also made program it with FORTRAN, and then some contributions to anti-mine warfare. taught FORTRAN to other members of While in New York, Bill and his wife, the department. He was closely involved Edith, attended the opera and theater in the development of the applications of and had an opportunity to see Jose Ferrer Anecdotage computers to nuclear physics and particle in the role of Cyrano de Bergerac at the physics at Lawrence Radiation Lab. The Repertory Theater. Bill ad- short-lived radioactive nuclei were flown opted the French physicien as an alter ego, By Sandy Lakoff into his labs by helicopter for rapid mea- and researched and lectured on his life. Warum? surement. One of the laboratory doors He described his work on Cyrano as an Legend has it that a German father got had a sign that read, “Every nucleus has obsession, but it was typical of Bill to pick so tired of his son asking “Warum?” its moment,” and Physics Today pub- a subject completely outside his academic (why) that he finally replied in rhetorical lished a poem on the laboratory wall: interests and become an expert on it. exasperation: “Warum! Warum! Warum Low-energy nuclear physics and Lament of an Ancient Beamist ist die banana krumm?” (Why! Why! Why atomic beams was an exciting and promis- There are moments to remember. is the banana crooked?) There are moments to forget. ing field in physics in 1950, but by 1965, There are moments to publish. when Bill left the field, its promise was Which leads us to our own “warums.” There are moments to regret. somewhat played out. Bill was interested Why do some Britons named Ralph in highly precise measurements, and these pronounce their given name as “Rafe” (as Bill was responsible for the determi- yielded some elegant clarifications, but in “Rafe” Vaughan-Williams ) whereas nation of more nuclear moments than any they didn’t produce new ideas. He told others (like the actor Sir Ralph Richard- other single individual, as he was fond of friends that he found the huge imbed- son) do not. Thanks to Geoff Corre, a telling visitors. This work was cited when ded bureaucracy of physics objectionable letter-writer to the Times of London, we Bill was elected to the National Academy and the process of writing lengthy propos- can explain: “‘Rafe’ became ‘Ralf’ rather of Sciences in 1971. als for research support debilitating. The than vice versa. The origin of this name Bill built and flew model airplanes Free Speech Movement had altered the so- is to be found in the Hebrew word rofe in Berkeley with his son, and Bill quickly cial ambience of Berkeley, and stimulated or rafe meaning healer or doctor. As is moved to full-size aviation. He and his Bill to become active politically. He was common in Hebrew names, the suffix family purchased a vacation home in Bor- ready for a change. Ironically, he spent the ‘el’ was added to denote the divine, as in rego and he explored Mexico both from next 21 years shepherding oceanography such names as Michael and Gabriel. In the air and on the ground. He was an avid through a similar transition from small the case of Raphael, this became abbrevi- traveler and a linguist. Bill and his family science to big science. v ated to Ralph.” enjoyed their two years in Paris when Bill was on assignment for NATO. Bill also And why do people encourage actors to served as professeur associé at the University “break a leg?” Because in Elizabethan of Paris and traveled widely in Europe and Continued on p.8 ➝

UCSD Emeriti Association Anecdotage from p.7 10. They told me I had type-A blood, but it was a Type-O. times, when actors received applause they would bow slightly, 11. Why were the Indians here first? They had reservations. but when they received an ovation they would take a deeper 12. We’re going on a class trip to the Coca-Cola factory. I bow by bending the knee. hope there’s no pop quiz. 13. I didn’t like my beard at first. Then it grew on me. Now you know warum! 14. Did you hear about the cross-eyed teacher who lost her v v v job because she couldn’t control her pupils? 15. When you get a bladder infection urine trouble. Puns for Groan-Ups 16. Broken pencils are pointless. (Thanks to Claire Angel) 17. I tried to catch some fog, but I mist. 1. I changed my iPod’s name to Titanic. It’s syncing now. 18. What do you call a dinosaur with an extensive vocabu- 2. When chemists die, they barium. lary? A thesaurus. 3. Jokes about German sausage are the wurst. 19. England has no kidney bank, but it does have a Liver- pool. 4. I know a guy who’s addicted to brake fluid. He says he can stop any time. 20. I used to be a banker, but then I lost interest. 5. How does Moses make his tea? Hebrews it. 21. I dropped out of communism class because of lousy Marx. 6. I stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Then it dawned on me. 22. I got a job at a bakery because I kneaded dough. 7. This girl said she recognized me from the vegetarian club, 23. Haunted French pancakes give me the crêpes. but I’d never met herbivore. 24. Velcro — what a rip off! 8. I’m reading a book about anti-gravity. I just can’t put it down. 25. A cartoonist was found dead in his home. Details are 9. I did a theatrical performance about puns. It was a play on sketchy. words. 26. Venison for dinner again? Oh deer!

r C You alen Chronicles rk da a r Newsletter of the UCSD Emeriti Association M ! v v v Gary Jacobson Sanford Lakoff Editor ([email protected]) Jeff Calcara Layout and Design Distinguished Professor of Political Science Polarized Politics in the 2012 Elections Officers Richard Nelesen President Wednesday, October 10, 4:00–5:30 pm David Miller Vice President Phyllis Mirsky Secretary/Treasurer Ann Craig Past President; Awards

Executive Committee Members at Large: Joel Dimsdale, Mel Green, Charles Kennel, Carmel Myers, Fred Randel, Lea Rudee Ex-Officio: Robert Hamburger, Historian; Nancy Groves, Liaison to UCSD Retirement Association; Sandy Lakoff, editor, Chronicles; Suzan Cioffi, Director, Retirement Resource Center; Mary McIlwain, Liaison to Oceanids Forward queries, changes in mailing/e-mail address to Suzan Cioffi, Executive Director, UCSD Retirement Resource Center, 0020, UCSD, 9500 Gilman Drive, 92093-0020; telephone (858) 534-4724 • [email protected] Green Faculty Club