LINDA HALL LIBRARY HEDGEHOG Number 57* Fall 2015
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LINDA HALL LIBRARY HEDGEHOG Number 57* Fall 2015 'Failure is Not an Option* Gene Kranz to Speak at Fall Lecture, Annual Dinner Donor Profile: A Personal Side What Would You Do With More Time? to Giving - Gary Lee McDonald Before the Seattle Mariners faced off against the Los Angeles Longtime Linda Hall Library supporter and President's Angels in July, 108-year-old Evelyn Jones became the Circle member Gary Lee McDonald recently extended 1 L Wk . I 1 M oldest person to throw out his philanthropy through a gracious contribution as the ceremonial first pitch at a a planned giving donor, becoming a member of the Major League Baseball game. A Herbert and Linda Hall Legacy Society. devoted fan, Jones never misses a televised Mariners game. An Independence, MO, native, McDonald graduated from Central High School and studied mathematics at Kansas If granted an extended life, what would you do with the additional years? How would you spend the time? City University, which later became the University of A colloquium presented by the Linda Hall Library Missouri-Kansas City. He took a job in sales for a number of Foundation on October 2 - 3 is devoted to the topic of years and eventually returned to finish his degree and work longevity, which has prompted me to think about how in computer science at UMKC. McDonald worked next door others use the gift of time. to the Library for nearly 20 years. He began making frequent visits, became a fan of the exhibitions and programs, is A recent study focusing on trends in aging found that 47% of American retirees have to or plan to work, while known as one of the Library's most frequent attendees, and 72% of pre-retirees anticipate they will keep working in has become one of its most committed donors. retirement. The results indicate that working retirees are not just looking for income; they are also looking for purpose, stimulation, and personal growth. Furthermore, the study implied that staying active in retirement is an important part of maintaining ones cognitive abilities. The benefits of meaningful activity were evident for Stephanie L. Kwolek, the inventor of Kevlar, who lived to be 90. Having invented a bulletproof fiber that saved thousands of lives, Dr. Kwolek spent her retired years tutoring high school students in chemistry, grooming young women for work in the sciences. Did Dr. Kwoleks retirement activities extend her life? They V.C' 'A surely enriched it as she helped others. Gary Lee McDonald Dr. Ruth Benerito was a USDA chemist who helped perfect wrinkle-free cotton, better known as permanent As a science enthusiast, McDonald frequently attends press, in the mid-1960s. In retirement Dr. Benerito lectures in the Library's Main Reading Room and is joined the University of New Orleans faculty and taught recognizable to other attendees by his blue fanny pack chemistry until she was 81. Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2008, Dr. Benerito died in 2013 and his habit of reading a thick book while waiting for at age 97. events to start. McDonald can recall Library events and special guests as if they took place yesterday and cites Drs. Kwolek and Benerito appear to support the findings Brian Greene's 2007 Paul D. Bartlett, Sr. lecture, "The about active retirements and cognitive health. The ways Theory of Everything" as one of his favorites. in which we remain active throughout life, along with the technological advancements on the horizon, hold out the promise of longer, more productive lives than previous The Linda Hall Library is grateful to Gary Lee McDonald generations could expect. Join us as we delve into the for his passion in supporting the continued exploration topic of longevity in October. of science and his generous philanthropic contributions to the public programs. NASA Legend Gene Kranz to Deliver Annual President's Circle Lecture On November 5, the Linda Hall Library will welcome Kranzs lecture is open to the public; however, tickets special guest Gene Kranz, retired NASA Flight Director, are required. Guests can register on the website at who will deliver the annual President s Circle lecture at 6:30 www.lindahall.org/event/failure-not-option. p.m. at Unity Temple on the Plaza, 707 West 47th Street, Kansas City, MO. Following the lecture, members of the President's Circle are invited to attend the annual groups dinner hosted by the Linda Hall Library Board of Trustees, President Lisa Browar, and Presidents Circle Chairs John and Daisy MacDonald. In addition to the annual dinner, this membership benefit includes shuttle transportation to and from Unity Temple, reserved seating for the lecture, and a signed copy of Kranzs book Failure is Not an Option. Dinner guests have the option to park at the Linda Hall Library and board a shuttle from the Library to Kranz, sporting one of his famous vests Unity Temple for the lecture. Following the lecture, the shuttles will return guests to the Library for the annual Kranz was the flight director for Apollo 13's failed mission dinner, beginning with a cocktail reception at 7:30 p.m. to land on the moon. More importantly, he led the effort to and dinner at 8:00 p.m. Kranz will make brief remarks bring that spacecrafts crew safely back to Earth. Kranz was following dinner. memorably portrayed in the film Apollo 13 by Ed Harris. The title of Kranz s talk is "Failure is Not an Option," a phrase For information about the Presidents Circle and its made famous during the scene in Apollo 13 in which Kranz member benefits, please contact Angela Tangen at announced to the NASA team that the crippled spaceship's [email protected] or call 816.926.8727. imperiled crew would return home alive. Apollo 13 Lunar Module pilot Fred Haise, Apollo 13 commander James Lovell,and Gene Kranz The Science of Longevity: Collection, a large library of science fiction, at the An Interview with Dr. Greg Benford University of California-Riverside. They had an annual conference on longevity and aging in science fiction. Dr. Gregory Benford is the co-founder of Genescient, We had a presentation on cryonics by the people from a biomedical company in Fountain Valley, CA, whose Alcor Corporation and I eventually wrote a novel about mission is to extend healthy human lifespan by using it called Chiller. At that time, a big health issue loomed advanced genomics to develop therapeutic substances larger because my wife was very ill and ultimately died that attack the diseases of aging. He is also a Professor of cancer. After that, I gained a fair amount of money Emeritus of Physics at the University of California- by selling our house we had in Laguna Beach, CA, and Irvine, and a noted science fiction author. Genescient is I started the biotech company. It's based on a rather the first company founded to exploit artificial selection different idea in the field. A co-investor and I bought of animal models for longevity. the longest-lived animal model in the world. Dr. Benford will speak at the Linda Hall Library EW: Those are the fruit flies known as the Methuselah Foundation's colloquium The Science of Longevity on Flies? October 2 and 3. Dr. Benford spoke with Eric Ward, Vice President for Public Programs, about aging research at GB: We still have them and we've increased the rate of Genescient. elasticity of selection for longevity in them. These are flies, when we purchased them, that had been bred through around 735 generations for longevity simply by waiting until half of each generation is dead and then take the eggs they lay and start the next generation. It's simple brute force. No one had done it before. It was achieved by Michael Rose, a good friend of mine who is still on the UC-lrvine faculty. We took those flies, did the genetics, and translated that information into genes that flies have in common with humans. This has given us a number of longevity genes that no one else knows and, more importantly, gene networks. Dr. Gregory Benford Go to lindahalllibraryfoundation.org Eric Ward: You taught physics for several years and to find out more and purchase tickets have published more than 30 science fiction novels. for the October 2 & 3 event. Why did you decide to leave academia to take up longevity research? EW: You looked at the flies that lived the longest? Greg Benford: I've actually never abandoned anything. I'm sort of an intellectual magpie. I still have GB: Remember, each generation lives longer than the an office at UC-lrvine in the physics department, and I previous. By the time we bought the flies, they lived still do research and publish papers. I just don't teach about four times longer than ordinary flies. We now anymore. I've always been interested in longevity have flies that live over five times longer because we've because that is the uniquely human problem. My increased the force of selection. So we continue to get first encounter with the issue came about, indirectly, more genetic information. The key idea is that flies are through science fiction. I was on the board of the Eaton like the beta testing for many of the systems we use. Additional Science of Longevity panelists (clockwise from top left) Evan Snyder, Stephen Badylak, Jonathan Weiner, Martha Montello, and Jay Olshansky Flies die primarily of cardiomyopathy and diabetes. The We are also contemplating doing a Parkinson's same is true of humans, although humans have cancer human trial soon, and we're continuing the arc of the and flies largely don't.