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Home , Joshua Lederberg, Robert Huber

Some Verses by Chnist/Poet Roald Hoffsmmn and His Foreword to Vohme 12 of Essays of an Information Scientist ?. Numbers 51-52 December 23-30, 1991

An Unusual State of Matter for John M. Thomas in the beach sandt of Kerala, The invisible searchlights abradedfiom the gneiss, of hell, gamma rays, in the stream sands of North Carolina jlash down the lattice. onejhk nronazite, (he solitary Alpha particles, crazed nuclear mineral. In its crystalline beginning debris, are thrust on megavolt there was ordet there was a lattice. missions of chance destruction. And the atoms-cerium, lanthanum, The remnant atom, transmuted, recoils, thon”um, yttrium, phosphate4anced freeing itse~fiom its lattice paint, round their prv&stined sites, cannonballs awry thtzmgh tethered by the massless springs a crowded darrcefloo~ of electrostatics There are no exits to run to. and by their neighbors’ bulk. In chm”ncot’lisions of disruption They vibrated, neighbors are knockedfiom their sites. and sang The crystal Swellsfiom once limpid in quantized harmony long-range, short-range order to absent listeners, to me. to yellow-brown amorphousness. Faults, But the enemy is within. defects, The radioactive thorium k vacancies, nervous nuclei explode dislocations, in the random thrum interstitiais, ofa hammer undejine the metamict state. 1 of no Norse god.

I fist became familiar with Roald Choosing a title for a volume that covers Hoffmarm’s poetry when we discussed the such a wi~e variety of topics is a diftlcult sciencdpmtry connection several years exercise. Just as the title of a book of poems ago.z “An Unusual State of Matter” is the cannot fully refleet its content. neither can a last entry in his fmt book of poems entitled reasonably short title for a collection of es- The Metamict State. 10ver the years, he and says. Nevertheless, the subject of creativity, I have become good fiends. Not long after both in science and the humanities, has been I lectured at Cornell University last year, I a regular theme of my essays for years, asked Rordd if he would write the foreword particularly in 1989, the peried covered by to the next volume of my Essays of an lnfor- volume 12. Hence the title Essays of an ntation Scientist. That playful foreword is Information Scientist: Creativity, Delayed reprinted below. Recognition, and Other Essays.s .

203 The publication of these volumes began in each had done his work independently. 1977. That year, two volumes covered the Hoffmann was recognized for his develop- essays published from 1962 to 1976. At fmt ment of the theory of electronic orbitals in these essays appeared intermittently-then chemical reactions.ss The theory has be- weekly from 1970 onward. Volumes 3 come an exceedingly practical instrument through 5 each covered two years of Current for a wide variety of chemicrd syntheses, Comments @between 1977 and 1982. From helping to define the obstacles and preferred then on, an annual volume, including in- paths of chemical reactions. dexes, has been published. Hoffrnam was born in Poland bu~ after As indicated in my preface to the collec- escaping the Holocaust, his family emi- tion, there are dozens of topics covered in this grated to the US. He attended Stuyvesant volume besides creativity and delayed rec- High School and in ognition. One of my favorites discussed the New York then did his graduate work at creativity of jazzman Rudy Wkdoeft and Harvard. He is now a distinguished profes- Saxophobia.4 And naturally several essays sor at Cornell University, Ithac& New York, involved citation analyses. where he gives an introductory course in I have never been reluctant to take advan- attended by some 850 students. tage of the wellspring of talents of esteemed He also teaches theoretical chemistry. His colleagues. This volume contains essays by mentors were Nobel laureates Robert Bums friends like Joshua Lederberg,s-g Harriet Woodward and William N. Lipscomb. In Zuckerman,W , 10 Rudolf 1962, Hoffmann and Lipscomb coauthored Schmid,ll and Bernard Dixon.lz.13 a Citation Classic@ on the theory of poly- There also are tributes to several others- hedral molecules that has been cited more among them Marjory Stoneman Douglas on than 700 times.~ Indeed, Hoffmann has co- celebrating her 99th birthdayl’t and to Man- authored two Citation Classic commentar- fred Kochenlson his untimely death that year. ies in Current Contents @.35.36One, a paper The constructive use of citation analysis is dealing with an extended Huckel theory, has illustrated in essays by economist Arthur been cited more than 3,000 times.ss Diamondlb.lT and information scientists “Hoffmann’s [theories] bridged the gap Jean King,ls Belver Griffith,lg and Ray- between quantum theory and practical mond McInnis. ZoThe need to recognize sci- chemistry, enabling the prediction of possi- ence education as a major problem in Amer- ble products and reaction conditions by (as ica was discussedzl and is certainly a The New York 71mes described it) jotting subject that needs continued coverage. pictures on the back of an envelope.”37 Among other topics covered that year were In addition to the , Hoffmann marine science joumals,zz humor in sci- received the 1990 Priestley Medrd, the high- ence, 11the Nobel Prizes,23-z6 and the notion est honor of the American Chemical Soci- of establishing a science court.zT ety. He is the only pmon in the history of Naturally the new services Iaunchedby 1S1@ the society to be honored in both organic that year, such as Current Contents on Dis- and inorganic chemistry. He also is accom- kette @28 and the Social Sciences Citation plished in solid-state chemistry. Index @JCompact Disc Edition,29 were re- When Nazi invaded Poland in viewed in detail. Since them I’ve provided UP 1941, Hoffmann’s family was imprisoned in dates covering developments like Key Wotrfs a forced labor camp. In 1943, young Rordd Plus [email protected] I and Current Contents on Dis- and his mother were smuggled out of the kette with Abstracts.32 camp. They were hidden in an attic by a Ukrainian family until the end of the war. The Poet/ Roald Hoffnmrm His father, Hillel Safrsn, who arranged for his son’s escape, and many other members shared the 1981 Nobel of the family were executed by the Nazis. Prize with of Japan, although Roald was five at the time. Only 80 of

204 12,000 in his hometown of Zloczow The fwst poem in that collection, “Evolu- survived the war. tion,” is reprinted below. Many of the poems Hoffmarm’s intrwiuction to poetry began in it were written at the wt colony in Califor- at Columbia University under Mark Van nia known as the Djerassi Foundation, Doren, the celebrated teacher and critic. He named after another podchemist. Carl began to write poetry in the 1970s and main- Djerassi is, of course, the author of the novel tains an interest in German and Russian lit- Cantor h Dilemrna39 and the more recent erature as well. His second book of prMtry, book of poems The Clock Runs Backwatd.40 Gaps and Verges, was published in 1990.38

“Evolution” I had written three pages the sun was on my desk on how insects are such good , I had somejlowers I had picked on the hill citing in a vase: bush lupine, Califontia poppies, the silkworm sex attrackwtt, and some of the grass that grows here. and the bombardier beetle, On the grass stalks the bracts were a few spraying out hot hydrogen pervxide when centimeters apart. threatened. They were beige, freely lined husks, And I was in the mkidle their line set by a &irk spikelet, of telling the story of the western pine more like a stiffened figellum than a beetle, thorn. which has an aggregation pheromone A hint of something feathered inside. calling all comers (of that species). The sun k warmth had burst some of the The pheromone has three components: pods, one from the male, fiontalin, which had fallen on the drajl exo-brevicomin wafted by the female (the wonis were lost in the sun), fallen and (ingenious) by chance next to the shadows of seed still abundant, pitch-smelling myrrene hanging, and, from the host pine. the grass seed I had written this the night before, like dormant grasshoppers, broken it abwn into short lines. legs of now bent spike[ets When I woke up Sunday and sat down to cast second, jiner shadows. work, Then I saw you walking on the hiM3a quietly with a second cup of coffee,

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My thanks to Paul R. Ryan arrd Eric I’?turschwe[lfor their help in the preparation of this introduction. !mIwlUa

REFERENCES

1. Huffrnam R. T6s msramicf state. Orlando, FL University of Central Florida Press, 1987, p, 43. 2. Garffeld E. Further reflections err the poemy-scierrce connection. Current Coruerm (7):3-9, 17 Febmmy 1986. (Reprinted in: Essays ofarr infmvmrtion scientist: towards scierrtography. Philadelphia 1S1 press, 1988. Vol. 9, p, 48-54.) 3. ------. Essays &an information scientist: creativity, delayed xcognition, and other essays. F%ikrdelphia 1S1Press, 1991. Vol. 12. 385p. 4. ------. How Rudy Wkkeft’s Saxq?hobia launched the saxua.1revohrtimr. Currwrt Conterm ( 10):3-8, 6 March 1989. (Reprinted in: Ibid. p. 68-73.) 5. Lederberg J & Tahmr E L. Gene recombination in .Esc/rerichia coli. 158:558, 1946. (Reprirrtcd in: Curreru Corrrena (3]4-5, i6 hrmary 1989 and ibid. p. [7-8.) 6, Zuekernmrr H & Lederberg J. Postnrature scientific discovery? Nrwurr 324:629-31, 1986. (Reprinted in: Current Contents (3h 18-23, 16 January 1989 and Ibid p. 5-10.) 7, Lederberg J. Me&crd science, infectious disease, and the unity of humankind. JAMA—J. Am, Med. Assn. 260684-5, 1988. (Reprinted in: Currerrt Contents (21)3-5.22 May 1989 and Ibid. p. 145-7.)

205 8. ------. Does sci.mtlfic progress comefiom projects or people ? Lecture presented tn the Nationsl Asauciation of State Universities and Land Chant Colleges, 9 November 1987, Waahingtun, DC, (Reprinted in Cunwrt Ccmfenfs (48):4- 12,27 November 1989 and Ibid p. 336-44.) 9. Zuckecrnmr H A. Jntrnductiozr intellectual property and diverse rights of ownembip in science. Sci. Technof. Hum. VaJ. 13:7-16, 1988. (Reprinted in Current Contents (26)4-9,26 June 1989 tmd Ibid p. 179-84.) 10. Djemsaf C. The quest for Alfred E. Nemnan. Grond Street 8:167-74, 1988. (Reprinted in Current Contents (24):4-7, 12 June 1989 and Ibid. p. 162-5.) 11. Schrnkl R ‘Jhe debt of humour in acieme to Uwis Carroll. Jabbenvocky: J. Lewis CarIUll Ser. 14:53-9, 1985, (Reprinted in: Currwrr Confenfs (4):5-8, 23 January 1989 and Ibid. p. 26-9.) 12. Dfxon B. The 102 most-cited Iife-wierrces publications in the new 1945-1954 Science Citation /rrak.z Pan 1. ‘ThIes,journals, and research fronts. Current Confenrs ( 15)4- 10, 10 April 1989. (Re@rrted in /bid. p. 102-8.) 13------. The 102 most-cited Jife-sciences publications in the new 1945-1954 Science Citation Index Pan 2, Wonder dm8s, ceJJ biochemistry, separation techniques highJight major trends of post-Wc#ld War II decade. Current Contents (16):3-10, 17 A@l 1989. (Reprinted in: Ibid p, 109-16.) 14. Gacfleld E. fn Jmnor of Marjory Strmeman Douglas, guardian of the Everglades. Current COnrenrs (33):3-8, 14 August 1989. (Reprinted in Ibid p. 223-8.) 15------. Manfred Kcchen: in memory of m information scientist pioneer qua world brsirr-iat. Currenf Con/en/s (25k3-6, 19 June 1989. (Reprinted in /bid. p. 166-9.) 16. Dfamond A M. TIE core journals of economics. Current Contents (1):4-1 1,2 January 1989. (Reprintrd in Ibid p. 2-9.) 17. ------Most-cited economics papers and current research fronts. Currenf Contents (2)3-8, 9 January 1989. (Reprinted in: /bid. p. 10-5.) 18. King J. A review of bibliometric and other science indicator and their role in research evacuation. J. Inform. Sci. 13:261-76, 1987. (Abrid8ed in: Cumertr Contents (14):4-10,3 April 1989 and Ibid. p. 94-100.) 19, Gr’fffltlt B C. Derek Price’s puzzles numerical metaphurs fw the operation of science. Sci. Technd. Hum. Vu/. 13:351-60, 1988. (Reprinted in: Current Contents (29)5-10, 17 July 1989 and Ibid p. 195-200.) 20. McInrds R G & Symea D. David Rieamrm and the concept of bibliographic citation. COILRes. LJbr 49:387-99, 1988. (Reprinted in: Current Confenrs (35):5-15,28 August 1989 and Ibid p, 240-50.) 21. Gmffeld E. Turning kids on to science the panmt- teacher-media-govemment connection. Current Contents (20):3-7, 15 May 1989. (Reprinted in: Ibid p. 140-4.) 22. Fuseler-McDnwell E. Dncurnenting the literature of marine , Currenl Conrenrs ( 19):4- 13, 8 May 1989. (Reprinted in Ibid p. 13@9.) 23. Gmffeld E. The 1988 Nobel prize in chemis~ goes to , Robert Huber, and Hatnrut Michel fm elucidating phctmynthetic pruceases. Current Contents (22):3-8, 29 May 1989. (Reprinted in: Ibid p. 148-53.) 24------. The 1988 Nnbel prim in mrxficinc Sir James W. Blsck, Gertmde B. EJion, and George H. Hiwhings ennnrrble pbarmaceuticd research. Current Contents (30):3- 13, 24 July 1989, (Reprinted in: Ibid. p, 201-11.) 25------. The 1988 Notcl Prize in physics: Melvin Schwarts, Leon Lederman, and the story of two neutrinos. Current Contenfs (32):3-9, 7 August 1989. (Reprinted in: Ibid. p. 216-22.) 26------. The 1988 Nobel Prize in economics honors Maurice Allah of Fraxe; Mezature prize gnea tn Egyptian novelist . Cumeti Content. (40)3-9, 2 October 1989. (Reprinted in: Ibid p. 274-80.) 27, ------Can a sciencecourt wade controversiesbetween scientists?Current Contents (28):3-6, 10 July 1989. (Repinted in: Ibid. p. 189-92.) 28, ------. Current Contents on Diskette new software for the Macintosh and Japanese NEC computers: journal coverage extended to CC/Physicaf, Chemical & Emth Sciences and CC/Agriculture, Liiofogy & Enviromrwrmd Sciences—2,SOIl jwmrds and still growing. Currenr Contents (42):3- 11, 16 October 1989. (Reprinted in: /bid. p. 287-95.) 29. ------Exfxmding the searching puwer of CD-ROM: 1S1’snew Sociul Sciences Citation /ndex Compact Di.ccEdition is compatible with the Science Citation Index on compact disq new wfhvsze streamlines sc.arching. Current Contents (37] 3-10, 11 September 1989, (Reprinted in: Jbid. p. 256-63.) 30. ------Key Wordr Pkr: ISf’s breaktbznugh retzieval method. Pmt 1. Expanding your smdring power on Current Contents on Diskette. Current Cotuerrts (32)5-9, 6 August 1990. 31------. KcyWordr Plus takes you beyond titJe words. Part 2. Expanrkd joumrd coverage for Current Contents on Diskette includes aocitd and behavioral sciences. Current Contents (33):5-9, 13 August 1990. 32------. Announcing Current Contents on Diskette m’th Abstracts. Current Contents (19):5-9, 13 May 1991. 33. Davis S A. Rcald Hoffmann. (Magill F N, cd.) The Nobel Prize winners: chemistry Paaadmm CA: SaJem PESS, 1990. p. 1068-75.

206 34, Hoffmann R & Llpacomb W N. ‘Theoryof polyhedml molecules. I. Physical factorization of the secular equation. J. Chem. Phys. 36:2179-89, 1962. 35. Hoffmann R. A simple quantum mecbsnicst method. Citation Classic. Commentary on J, Chem. Phys. 39:1397-412, 1%3. Current ConwnttiPhysical, Chemical & Earth Sciences 29(19):20, 8 May 1989. 36. Hoffmann R & EISm M. Bonding capabilities of transition metaf carbenyl fragments. Citation Claaaic. Commentary on Inarg. Chem 141058-76, 1975. Current ContenttiPhysical, Chemical & Earth Sciences 28(44):18, 31 October 1988. 37. Dada S A. Op. cit. p. 1071. 38. Hoffmam R Gaps aad veIxes. Orlando, FL University of Central Florida Press, 1990.88p. 39, Djeraaat C. Cantor k dilemma New York: Doubleday, 1989. 2?4 p. 40. ------7VIeclock non Iwckwards. Brownsville, OR: Story Line Press, 1991. 55p.

Foreword

RoaklHoffmann

The other day I tried to imagine a world without Gene Garfield. Oh, he’d still be with us, but let’s say Dr. Gtield turned out to be a great organic chemist instead of what he is. In that world, I’d saunter into the li- brary on a Saturday afternoon, as I’ve done for twenty five years. I’d glare at the under- graduates with their feet upon the table near the new journals, those 250 multicolored objects of my obsession, bringing the week’s good news to Cornell. Actually that Saturday afternoon there’s a football game, so there’s a little less competition between the undergraduates and professors for the space of many uses in Clark Hall Physical

Sciences Library. Roald Ho&tann I sit myself down, in that Gene-less world, and begin to look through the journals. I chemistry. In fact, I don’t find the article scan the titles, read some abstracts, read in until a year and a half later, after we’ve more detail a few pieces of a paper, put aside written ours on the subject, when a critical a handtld of articles to copy, hoping against commentator arguing with our interpreta- how that one of the five copying machines tion points to this Dutch article and I get has survived a day’s abuse. In one issue of the shock+ full impact, of not searching the Recueil des Travaux Chimiques des Pays literature, the shock, reverberating back Bas (I’ve heard boorish Americans call it the to childhood, of not having done my Records of the Traveling Chemists), there is homework. an article reporting calculations on a fasci- In that world there is no Current Contents. nating cyclopendadienyl thallium complex. There is no redundancy mechanism to pro- But that day something happens-I’m dis- vide me with another chance to make up for tracted, perhaps by the view across Cayuga my moment of distraction, a second scan Valley, or tired from too much country and through the riches of the chemicrd literature. western dancing, so I drift as I scan down Then there is this insubordinate graduate the pages. The contents don’t register. student in my group. She had her own way I miss the article. Which is too bad, be- of doing research, and resists my gentle at- cause it’s relevant, terribly selevant to work tempts to impose a paradigm. I tell her you Chris Janiak, a German postdoctortd associ- should really know the experimental litera- ate and I are doing on thallium and iridium ture of the field before you build an orbital

207 theory. She says “Ah, hell, let’s do a calcu- never appeared on lists of most cited papers; lation and see if the results are interesting, learn who taught Mister Rogers to fly; and then we’ll look if anyone has made the rele- fmd out that Gene, Josh, and I were all vant molecules.” I view this curious philos- Peglegs. ophy as a modem day perversion of the no- And what would I do if I could not look torious Dirac fallacy of following the forward to the fourth fifty most cited scien- beauty of the equations, experiment be tists in 1973-84? I mean, here the first one damned. I fight back showing her examples hundred and fitly have passed and I’m not from the literature that violate her orbital on the list! I have my asterisk, and yet I’m interaction diagrams, and in my real wortd I not on Iris list. Mind you there are scores of have a trick for finding these (and I will those perfervid molecular biologists, medi- share it with her soon), namely Ci~atiori cos, and their ilk, the same crew that’s Index. We’re working on explaining a mol- swamped Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. US-4 (1S1 ecule with a weird geometry, fiit seen a Accession Number DO 092) taking up most dozen years ago and still a puzzle today. It’s of the space on that list. I bet they’re all just so easy to trace all the papers that reference citing each other, a thing my chemist friends a key finding of an anomaly, that spot the would never dream of doing. They just cite same paper that she and I took off from. The themselves. But the ignominy of it aU— true value of tlis creation of Gene’s is that it Michael J. made the top }50, and I haven’t! is a bibliographic tool, not a servant of van- In that deprived world no one would call ity, nor a meterstick for promotion. In the me to pontificate as to why Soviet physics ISI-less world I have a harder time keeping papers are their most cited literature compo- ahead of my student. nent, or ask me to pronounce (by Federal It would be a dull world without Gene Express, please) ex cathedra of what this Garfield’s essays. Where else could I see highly cited chemistry paper is a harbinger. Joshua Lederberg and Of fashion, that’s what. Gene certainly has a looking toward the space separating them, way to a man’s heart. Even if my picture while discoursing on the postmature nature isn’t there as often as Josh’s, he’s helped me of the discovery of bacterial sex; get some make the middle-aged transition from wun- name-dropping mileage among my jazzy derkind to sage. friends out of Rudy Wiedoeft (one also I much prefer this world, where Eugene learns there is a World Saxophone Congress Garfield and his brainchildren entertain and every three years-I wonder if they have inform us. Welcome to his essays! parallel sessions and if their meeting rooms are sound-proofed better than those of the RoaM Hotin chemists); where else would I see such deft Cornell University side-stepping to explain why the work of Department of Chemistq Gertrude Elion and George Hitchings, who Baker Luboratoq shared the 1988 Nobel Prize in Medicine, Ithaca, NY 14853

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