10/17/17 3:31 PM FALL VOLUME 2017, 110, NUMBER 1

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FALL 2017 34 ELEMENTAL VOLUME 110, NUMBER 1 The subject of controversy when it was commissioned, Nuclear Energy has become a constant in the UChicago landscape. By Erin Hogan, AM’91, PhD’99

36 AN ARCHIVE, CHICAGO BORN What is it like to sort through the papers of one of America’s most celebrated writers? By Susie Allen, AB’09

42 MAMMALS LIKE US Two newly discovered species bring humans closer to understanding our lineage. By Ingrid Gonçalves, AB’08 Plus: “Maroon Menagerie.”

48 FIRST PRINCIPLES Constitutional scholar Sonja R. West, JD’98, on press freedom and its future. By Carrie Golus, AB’91, AM’93

50 REFORMER REVISITED Remembering Martin Luther’s far-reaching legacy 500 years after the 95 Theses. By Martin E. Marty, PhD’56

53 SPECIAL SECTION: INQUIRY News from the Physical Sciences Division.

Departments 3 EDITOR’S NOTES Chain Reflections: Remembering Chicago Pile-1.By Laura Demanski, AM’94

4 LETTERS Readers celebrate the legacy of Philip Gossett; advocate wetland restoration; correct a grotesque error; don’t want nobody nobody sent; and more.

7 ON THE AGENDA Serious inquiry, engaged scholarship. By Laurie Zoloth

9 UCHICAGO JOURNAL Nuclear Thresholds, an Gaming Orientation Week; a mathematician takes up the fight against installation piece by gerrymandering; teaching debate to eight-year-olds; reading Tyehimba Jess’s Ogrydziak Prillinger (AB’91) contrapuntal poems; robots with opinions; and more. Architects, evokes the 69 PEER REVIEW complex legacy spiraling In the alumni essay, collector and self-proclaimed “Twainiac” Ivan Kane, out from the Chicago AB’78, JD’81, remembers Mark Twain’s friendship with University of Chicago Pile-1 experiment—see professor Elizabeth Wallace. Plus: Alumni News, Deaths, and Classifieds. “Core Stories,” page 22, and “Elemental,” page 96 LITE OF THE MIND 34. Photography by The best medicine: Pritzker student Shirlene Obuobi takes a comic approach Drone Media Chicago. to medical school. By Laura Demanski, AM’94

See the print issue of the University of Chicago Magazine, web-exclusive content, and links to our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts at mag.uchicago.edu.

the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017 1

TOC_Fall17_v4.indd 2 10/24/17 4:25 PM llinois governor Bruce Rauner and Chicago mayor illustration bywexford science and technology and science bywexford illustration Rahm Emanuel joined President Robert J. Zimmer I at the October 19 announcement of the University architectural lachat; jean by photography of Chicago’s partnership with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to develop and commercialize new technology addressing society’s greatest challenges, from fighting cancer to producing clean water. A new and expanded Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (see rendering above) will house the initiative, which will initially focus on advanced analytics and advanced materials. At left, John Flavin, UChicago associate vice president for entrepreneurship and innovation and head of the Polsky Center (left), with University of Illinois chancellor Robert J. Jones.

UCH_Wallpaper_v1.indd 2 10/24/17 2:30 PM EDITORˆS NOTES

Volume 110, Number 1, Fall 2017 editor Laura Demanski, AM’94 Chain reflections senior editor Mary Ruth Yoe associate editor Susie Allen, AB’09 BY LAURA DEMANSKI, AM’94 art director Guido Mendez senior copy editor Rhonda L. Smith student interns Kaitlyn Akin, ’19; Christopher Good, ’19 graphic designer Laura Lorenz lite of the mind & interactive content editor Joy Olivia Miller contributing editors John Easton, AM’77; Carrie Golus, AB’91, AM’93; Brooke E. O’Neill, AM’04; Amy Braverman Puma

Editorial Office The University of Chicago Magazine, 5235 South Harper Court, Suite hen the world trans- Richard Rhodes. Rhodes’s celebrated 500, Chicago, IL 60615. telephone 773.702.2163; fax 773.702.8836; formed 75 years ago book The Making of the Atomic Bomb email [email protected]. this December, only (Simon & Schuster, 1986) provided The Magazine is sent to all University of a few people knew my education—and many of yours, no Chicago alumni. The University of Chicago it. The pursuit of the doubt—in the thread of science and Alumni Association has its offices at 5235 South Harper Court, 7th Floor, Chicago, first self-sustaining, world history for which December IL 60615. telephone 773.702.2150; controlled nuclear 2, 1942, was a pivotal marker. We are fax 773.702.2166. address changes chain reaction had proud to publish a new essay by Rhodes 800.955.0065 or [email protected]. been a closely guard- here, on the uneasy relationship be- web mag.uchicago.edu ed secret on the tween the experiment’s two princi- The University of Chicago Magazine UChicago campus, pal architects, Enrico Fermi and Leo (ISSN-0041-9508) is published quarterly run under cover of the Metallurgical Szilard (“Clashing Colleagues,” page (Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer) by the Laboratory as Enrico Fermi and his 24). It illustrates how inseparable the University of Chicago in cooperation W with the Alumni Association, 5235 South colleagues raced against Hitler’s physi- thinking that pushes science forward is Harper Court, 7th Floor, Chicago, IL cists to unlock nuclear power. from the personalities—strengths and 60615. Published continuously since 1907. As pure science, their achievement frailties alike—of the thinkers. Periodicals postage paid at Chicago and additional mailing offices.postmaster was astonishing. As applied science, Fermi and Szilard were only two of Send address changes to The University of of course, it was and remains an am- hundreds whose curiosity, passion, Chicago Magazine, Alumni Records, 5235 bivalent milestone. and ingenuity created the chain reac - South Harper Court, Chicago, IL 60615. This fall the University of Chicago tion. In four short profiles we look at © 2017 University of Chicago. community is hosting and inviting how Szilard and a handful of others Advertising Contact uchicago-magazine public reflections on Chicago Pile-1 with UChicago ties came to join the @uchicago.edu. The Magazine is also and its complex legacy, and so is the Manhattan Project and where their a member of the Ivy League Magazine Magazine. The University’s commem- paths led. We then turn to four current Network, whose clients include other colleges and universities. These orative series of events, Nuclear Reac- faculty members who are grappling advertisements help the Magazine continue tions—1942: A Historic Breakthrough, with the experiment’s repercussions to deliver news of the University of Chicago an Uncertain Future (see mag.uchicago today, from life-saving medical tech- and its alumni to readers. Please contact the .edu/cp1-events), brings lectures and nology to life-threatening radiation editor with any questions. ivy league magazine network colloquia to campus as well as cul- exposure and risks of nuclear war Heather Wedlake, Director of Operations tural events, including the premiere (“Pioneers and Inheritors,” page 26). web ivymags.com of an original composition by Univer- The making of Henry Moore’s email [email protected] telephone 617.319.0995 sity Professor Augusta Read Thomas, sculpture Nuclear Energy is the subject “Plea for Peace,” during the culmi- of “Elemental” (page 34), marking nating program December 1 and 2 at the 50th anniversary of its dedication the Reynolds Club and the William on the site of the reaction. And in In- The University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual Eckhardt Research Center (see mag quiry, the publication of the Division orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic .uchicago.edu/reactions-event). This of the Physical Sciences and a special origin, age, status as an individual with a program and most of the other events section of this issue, the story “Man - disability, protected veteran status, genetic are free and open to the public. hattan’s Critical Moment” (page 56) information, or other protected classes under the law. For additional information, please see The December 1 opening keynote chronicles how the experiment pro-

photography by laura demanski, am’94 equalopportunity.uchicago.edu. address will be delivered by historian ceeded on that consequential day. ◆

the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017 3

Ed Notes_fall2017_v1.indd 3 10/24/17 2:49 PM Reversing some of that destruc- tion is possible. The Rice Native Gar- LETTERS dens of Chicago’s Field Museum are sustainable landscapes that replace the turf grass, annuals, perennials, and other nonnatives. By highlight- Remembering a giant ing plants native to Illinois, the same The Summer/17 issue brought shocking news of Philip Gossett’s passing species that grow wild in the state’s (Deaths). No doubt, those who loved this man for his scholarship and talent must prairies and woodlands, the museum be saddened by this loss. Remembering Humanities Day in 2010, where my eyes campus is a living exhibit and scien- lay for the first time on this giant, I was tific laboratory on conservation, ecol- utterly awestruck. ogy, and climate change, and a refuge No doubt, those A session presentation was to be for migratory birds and animals. The who loved this man made on the top-floor lecture hall in University of Washington Botanic Goodspeed, but we were all locked Gardens’s 80 acres of restored marsh for his scholarship out. Gossett ushered us into a regular and swamp wetland have become crit- and talent must be music classroom containing a grand ical habitat for hundreds of species of piano, where he staged an aria and birds in Seattle. Restoration required saddened by his loss. self-composed libretto of lecturing, destruction of UW’s married student singing, and playing the piano. housing, and closing and emptying out The last time I saw Gossett he was on stage with a nurse helping him. He gave the highway construction debris that us the latest news of his doings at Santa Fe, critical volumes of music published filled the city’s largest garbage dump. or to be published, Verdi and Rossini, and performances in the works. He was I suggest that the University re- sharing his enthusiasm and joy in the subject. member Simonds and replace its non- Oh, Philip, you will be missed. Thanks. Many, many, many thanks. native landscaping with plants native Roy D. Schickedanz to Illinois, and consider restoring por- glenwood, illinois tions of the lawn’s “often saturated and sterile soils” to the original swamp white oak and marsh wetland. These Binding books covered with several species of oaks, changes will enable wonderful things I was only on campus for one year, some 50 years old. The native oaks to happen. Students and faculty, in- and often feel more like a visitor were adapted to the sandy soil and lo- cluding researchers in the ecology and than an alumna when reading about cal climate, but the trees interrupted evolution department—alarmed about iconic UChicago people and places in the overall landscaping plan. A con- the existential threat posed by global the Magazine. “Book Smart” (Sum- servation-minded trustee, Judge Dan- climate change—will applaud, and per- mer/17) changed that. Those labyrin- iel Shorey, prevented the destruction haps help with, restoration of wetland thine plywood stacks at the Co-op, of the black oaks, and some survive to that stores up to or in some cases even the books I discovered there that have this day. Praise for Shorey came from more than 40 percent soil carbon. A traveled with me ever since, these are professor Henry C. Cowles, PhD natural carbon sink will enhance the my UChicago icons. I applaud Jeff 1898, a nature lover often called the campus, and restored wetland provides Deutsch’s vision and look forward to father of American ecology. reproduction opportunities to many supporting the Co-op’s mission for Cowles was supportive of the first of Illinois’s 100 butterfly species, and years to come. University landscaper, O. C. Simonds, stopover sites for migrating birds to Mary Branick Ujda, AM’94 whose innovative use of native plants rest, eat, and breed. Vulnerable butter- atlanta and winding paths got him fired. flies that specialize in, or heavily use, Cowles’s groundbreaking studies of wetlands will find places to lay eggs. Back to the (eco)garden Indiana’s marshes and dunes had pro- Their caterpillars will benefit the The article and pictures celebrating the vided the University’s botany depart- caterpillar-eating offspring of mil - 20th year of the University’s status as ment with immense prestige. But, lions of local and migrating birds a botanic garden (“Evergreen,” Sum- despite calling them “distinctive,” the whose spring and fall routes from and mer/17) are a beautiful description of University disdained its own marshes to Central and South America pass di- how a 1961 landscaping project morphed and dunes. University websites de- rectly though Chicago. Hundreds of into a 217-acre designated botanic gar- scribe the original lakefront marsh eco- wetland plant species provide benefits den (hereafter “garden”). There is an system as “large tracts of swampland,” to dwindling Lepidoptera (butterfly even more interesting backstory when “characterized by infertile soil,” and as and moth) populations. These include one looks further back, reexamines the a “somewhat troublesome marshland.” swamp milkweed, host to the at-risk landscaping choices, and considers more These negative views explain the ca- monarch butterfly, whose migra- immediate environmental concerns. sual destruction of what today is rec- tion route to Mexico passes directly In 1891 the grounds of the Univer- ognized as an ecologically significant though Chicago, and marsh violet, a sity of Chicago varied from low areas and biologically productive lakefront host for many fritillary butterfly spe- with standing water to flat, dry areas marsh ecosystem. cies, including the Illinois endangered

4 the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017

Layout_Letters_Fall17_v05.indd 4 10/24/17 1:09 PM regal fritillary. Restored wetland ben- with an erroneous understanding. any empty seats—thus implying that efits at-risk plants, like the threatened Cooper’s hawks, unlike peregrine the radical U of C was becoming “nor- queen of the prairie, whose colorful falcons, do not routinely continue malized.” Little did they know. flowers reward bees and other at-risk to use the same nest year after year. Norman Lewak, SB’57 pollinators with abundant pollen. The fact that a nest near Harper Me - berkeley, california The 20th anniversary is the right time morial Library was used this year by for the University and its botanic gar- no means permits the conclusion that Themistocles, Thucydides ... den to undertake living up to their it will be a continuing “home on the I read with interest Hanna Holborn 21st-century environmental potential. UChicago campus.” Gray’s “Self Portrait” (the Core, Sum- Charlotte Adelman, AB’59, JD’62 We were honored to have Cooper’s mer 2017). Although she was not presi- wilmette, illinois hawks nest in a pine tree in our yard dent when I was a student, I did have in Philadelphia in 2016. They were a one interesting contact with her dur - Grotesquely mistaken delight, especially as they taught the ing her term. How distressing to have the green fledglings to fly and hunt. We saw President Gray mentions her inter- man on Stuart Hall called a “gro - nothing in 2017. In contrast, there is a view with the New York Times in which tesque” (cover, Summer/17). It is, in- nest in city hall across the street from she notes that she did not know the deed, a classical copy of a Green Man, my husband’s office that has been used University football coach had left until a very significant pagan character by the same pair of peregrine falcons her Christmas card was returned with carved on many English and European for over five years. the notation “Moved: Left no forward- churches. (Does anyone at UChicago It would be interesting to hear if the ing address.” This was an apparent ex- know where the Stuart Hall design Cooper’s hawks return to Harper. emplar of her attitude toward sports was found originally?) Elise Singer, AB’75 in the College, an attitude that sports Congratulations to the artist, Jeff philadelphia were play as opposed to students’ Nishinaka, for the excellently empa- more serious work. As a graduate of thetic paper rendering of the design. Covering the coverage the College and the father of a student Crow Swimsaway, AB’54, AM’58 The football scrimmage with its very in the College (AB’90) who threw the new marshfield, ohio small crowd of about 200 that you discus for the University track team, I showed (Alumni News, Summer/17) wrote President Gray to suggest that We erred in calling the carving a gro - was the lead story of the Maroon on students who were members of var- tesque, usually a fanciful and often a October 26, 1956. As the managing sity athletic teams, like my son, did so hybrid creature. We should have simply editor, I received a bound volume, in because they felt a real pride in repre- called it a figure. According to the AIA which I was able to look it up. I want senting the University as athletes and Guide to Chicago (University of Illinois to call attention to a paragraph in our truly enjoyed what they were doing. Press, 2014), Stuart Hall, which original- story, which also pictured a sparse Certainly my son wore his varsity let- ly housed the Law School, “is carved with crowd: “Tribune and Sun-Times pho- ter jacket with pride during his time on figures of kings and magistrates (predemo- tographers, present for the game, campus. But he did wonder whether cratic dispensers of justice).” We regret the bunched the students together in the participating in sports was worthwhile error.—Ed. stands to take pictures of them. One if the University president didn’t Tribune photographer even led the stu- know when a varsity coach had left Nesting habits dents in Chicago cheers.” his position. While I loved the Summer 2017 I don’t remember how our liberal Students in the College partici- Core cover, the photo of the juvenile friends at the Sun-Times pictured us, pate in a variety of activities that give hawk inside the magazine and Helen but our enemies at the very reactionary meaning and richness to their educa- Gregg’s (AB’09) story (“Birds and Fibune (as we called them) showed the tional experience. I spent three years Prey”) might have left your readers bunched-up students without showing doing theater work in the Blackfriars,

BLAST FROM THE PAST Your ad compositions, although attractive, are hardly intellectual, to-wit: Your ad which appears on the inside front cover. [The two campus scenes which we agree to deliver “to your door for an even $13.00.” We forgot to add “each.”] Will you please advise me what sort of an intellectual yardstick or slide rule one needs to read the ad and then come up with the answer as to whether the mentioned photographs are $13.00 for a pair or apiece? At any rate they happen to capture two of the moods (not nudes), memories of which I have always relished. I am, therefore, enclosing my check and I would appreciate it if you would fill in the appropriate amount to cover both photographs in sepia. —Paul R. Kitch, JD’35, Dec/50 P.S. If your ad had been coherent I would have paid no attention to it. P. R. K.

the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017 5

Layout_Letters_Fall17_v04.indd 5 10/23/17 9:12 AM University Theater, and Court The- LETTERS atre without receiving any academic credit for my activities, just as my son spent three years as a varsity athlete without receiving any academic credit for his efforts. But we both look back at our extracurricular activities with pride, because for us “fun” in the Col- lege had not died but taken a nonaca- demic form. Jim Best, AB’60 A kent, ohio No urban legend “How to Run for Office” (the Core, Summer 2017) quotes Christian Mitch- ell, AB’08: “There’s a common saying in sucker Chicago: ‘We don’t want nobody who nobody sent.’” This is followed by your footnote, “According to legend, a ward committeeman said this to a young Ab- ner Mikva, JD’51, when he tried to sign for up as a campaign volunteer.” In a compilation of oral history in- terviews with Chicago politicians, political scientist Milton Rakove, AM’49, PhD’56, quotes Mikva: “The year I started law school, 1948, science. was the year that Paul H. Douglas and Adlai Stevenson were heading up the Democratic ticket in Illinois. I was all fired up from the Students for Douglas µChicago is a new mathematicians, and and Stevenson and passed this store- monthly newsletter that engineers, and see how front, the 8th Ward Regular Demo- cratic Organization. I came in and said brings UChicago science the University’s rich I wanted to help. Dead silence. ‘Who sent you?’ the committeeman said. to you. Be invited into history of inquiry unfolds I said, ‘Nobody.’ He said, ‘We don’t the fields and labs of to the present day. want nobody nobody sent.’” So this is not a legend, it is a direct UChicago scientists, quotation from the person involved— except that in your version the lan- guage is slightly prettified. By the way, the name of Rakove’s book of oral history interviews is We Don’t Want Nobody Nobody Sent (Indiana University Press, 1979). Bob Michaelson, SB’66 evanston, illinois

The University of Chicago Magazine welcomes letters about its contents or about the life of the University. Letters for publication must be signed and may be edited for space, clarity, and civility. To provide a range of views and voices, we encourage letter writ- Don’t miss out on discovery in the making. ers to limit themselves to 300 words or fewer. Write: Editor, The University of Chicago To sign up, go to alumni.uchicago.edu/sci. Magazine, 5235 South Harper Court, Suite 500, Chicago, IL 60615. Or email: uchicago [email protected].

6 the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017

Layout_Letters_Fall17_v04.indd 6 10/23/17 7:51 AM ON THE AGENDA

Serious inquiry, cable without understanding the argu- ments of faith. The ethical and moral engaged scholarship dilemmas that surround us as we cre - BY LAURIE ZOLOTH, DEAN OF THE DIVINITY SCHOOL ate the ideas that will shape the future, AND THE MARGARET E. BURTON PROFESSOR these too are opaque without the lan- guages of faith traditions. We live in a secular modernity. But we know that the promise of the future (genetics, robotics, genetic technology) and the hy study religion? serious threats to it (violence, injus- Let me make the tice, ecological instability) cannot be argument that there fully addressed without arguments in is perhaps no field the languages of religion. of global inquiry so The Divinity School teaches fluen- deeply important cy in these languages. As scholars of in our time, and no religion and theology, we know ideas public question that matter, we know that the words, sen- does not intersect tences, and arguments that emerged in with the question of and were preserved in these languages religion. Interested should be heard in the public square, in in climate change, immigration, free the face-to-face encounters that make Wspeech, or politics? Consider the nar- Laurie Zoloth became dean of the Di- being, and then civic life, possible. ratives of Hebrew Scripture, the Upa- vinity School July 1, 2017. We will continue to teach the next nishads, the New Testament, or the generation of complexly trained, Quran, where the serious challenges dedicated scholarly leaders. For the of human societies, the yearning for question. Consider a second-century University, in which we are a profes- freedom, the prophetic calls for justice debate, recorded in the Babylonian sional school and a central carrier of were among the first articulated. Talmud, in which the question is the ideas and values, pellucid and pow- The Divinity School at the Uni- raised—a scholar who wants to be re- erful, that are its drivers of excellence, versity of Chicago has long been the garded as a leader of scholars must be we will be an even greater partner, a place for the most serious scholarship able to answer questions from any text, site of truthful inquiry. We will do our on the issues of theology and religious even obscure ones, “to answer from part to answer the greatest questions studies. We are building on our distin- anywhere.” A scholar must be able to of the academy: What does it mean to guished history and reputation as the “build the world.” be human? What does it mean to be leading institution in our field to rigor- Who is a scholar and who is a leader? free? What must I do about the suf- ously and critically explore questions How are we in the world? How do we fering of the other? of central importance to every human build a world? For generations of Amer- For the good city in which we are being, in every field of study and in- ican scholars of religion, UChicago has privileged to live, amid a plurality quiry, at a moment when interdisci- been the place that can answer “from of communities and social locations plinary public discourse and engaged everywhere,” both from every obscure where religion is the site of meaning, scholarship are more vital than ever. canon and from every public location. we can listen, even more carefully, to This year we are turning outward, It is this excellence that calls us to the what faith might bring, and what ser- toward both our local neighborhood work before us. We live at an hour in vice justifies our work. For our coun- and our global society, with new ini- which that work is urgent. In our coun- try, for all the publics that surround tiatives and innovative research. The try, in our city, we are called to attention this university, we will insist that the rigor, the integrity, and the excellent in what many have argued is a newly world that is illuminated by intellectu- scholarship of this school and the se- critical time for democracy, civility, al inquiry can have a voice, can speak rious intentionality of the faculty’s and urbanity. What makes it a distinc- to our shared future. research have earned top rankings for tive time for scholars of religion is that Why study religion and what can decades. We are a place that pays at - our field—the texts we study, the prac- the thoughtful, serious, and engaged tention to the existential, moral, and tices we encounter, the scriptures, the study of religion do for us? It can an- practical claims of religion, rather literatures, and the images on which we swer from every text, it can answer than bracketing them. are focused—speaks in the languages of from every place. In this great uni - What it means to be a leader in our the current public discourse. versity, in this great city, it can “build

photography by seth joel field is a long-standing and enduring These languages are often inexpli- the world.” ◆

the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017 7

OntheAgenda_Winter 2017_v1.indd 2 10/18/17 2:47 PM Move Chicago forward Introducing the Harris Public Policy Evening Master’s Program

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UChicago Journal_v10.indd 8 10/23/17 5:02 PM FALL 2017 Harper’s Index, 11 ...... Original Source, 13 ...... Citations, 17 ...... Fig. 1, 19 ...... For the Record, 20

Students went hunting for 121 items hidden across Hyde Park as part of an O-Week alternate reality game.

CAMPUS LIFE don’t like to be called ‘red monks.’” sociate professor in sociology. Called Hyperlinks pointed to xeroxed tran - The ParaSite, the game spanned social Move Chicago forward scripts of conversations alluding to media, virtual reality, and real life and a secret society and an interdimen- helped students get to know their new Introducing the Harris Public Policy Evening Master’s Program Game time sional portal at the University. Hints school—and one another—through hidden in the documents guided stu- playing it. Public policy is the engine that drives progress. Starting in Chicago. Starting with you. Our new The ParaSite turned incoming dents toward yet more riddles and The game concluded on September students into sleuths. evening master’s program gives you the analytical toolkit you need to help transform your career, puzzles. Online, incoming students 17 with a massive multi site scaven- began working together to unfurl ger hunt, but for its players, the ef- organization, community, and city—no matter your background. With the Harris approach, When members of the Class of 2021 re- the mystery. fects have been lasting. “We were all you’ll ask hard questions, follow the evidence, and lead change to move our city and world forward. ceived their welcome letter in May, a Though the students didn’t know pushed outside our comfort zone from Earn your degree in just four quarters. Classes start this January in downtown Chicago. cryptic message at the bottom directed it yet, they were playing an alter - the beginning to talk with people we them to an equally puzzling page on the nate reality game designed by Heidi didn’t know online, but once we were Orientation Week website. “There is Coleman, director of undergraduate on campus, we really had to put our - only one question you need to ask,” the studies in theater and performance selves out there,” says first-year website read. “What is the parasite?” studies; Patrick Jagoda, associate Justine Shih. “My closest friends Over the next several months, more professor in English and cinema and have come from this.” harris.uchicago.edu/eveningMA photography by freddy tsao clues appeared. For instance: “They media studies; and Kristen Schilt, as- —Susie Allen, AB’09

the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017 9

UChicago Journal_v11.indd 9 10/24/17 1:16 PM GEOMETRY Although many people agree that fore,” says Duchin. “What’s new here partisan gerrymandering is, as Jus- is getting geometers together with com- tice Samuel Alito has described it, puter scientists, and working with law- “distasteful,” it’s also hard to prevent. yers to understand how the math fits Line items Federal rules governing redistricting with practical measures we can take.” are minimal, and many state-level reg- Gerrymandering has reemerged as A mathematician tackles ulations are murky. For instance, 37 a subject of public discussion and judi- gerrymandering. states require that districts be “com- cial scrutiny, thanks to a case current- pact,” but only two bother to specify ly before the US Supreme Court. Gill Gerrymandering—the hijacking of what that means. v. Whitford argues Wisconsin’s legis- the redistricting process by redrawing Tufts University professor Moon lative districts favor Republicans so a voting district’s lines to favor a spe- Duchin, PhD’05, thinks she can much that voters’ rights are violated. cific person, group, or agenda—takes help—both in providing a better defi- It’s one of several redistricting cases its name from Elbridge Gerry. As gov- nition of compactness, and in bringing to appear before the court since the ernor of Massachusetts in 1812, Gerry her fellow math - 1960s. In that time, approved a party-serving district plan ematicians into the THERE ARE YET NO AGREED the justices have in- that critics mocked as looking like legal conversation UPON SUBSTANTIVE tervened against ra- a salamander. about redistricting. cial gerrymandering The opportunity for gerrymander- Duchin founded the PRINCIPLES OF FAIRNESS but hesitated to take ing arises every 10 years, when dis- Metric Geometry IN DISTRICTING. a decisive stance on trict lines may need to be redrawn to and Gerrymander- partisan gerryman- reflect population shifts noted in each ing Group at Tufts. The Boston-based dering—in part because, as Justice An- census. The next US Census takes team is studying how geometry thony Kennedy wrote in 2004, “there place in 2020, so in 2021, we could see (Duchin’s specialty) and computing are yet no agreed upon substantive a fresh crop of districts resembling can be applied to redistricting, and principles of fairness in districting” salamanders, lobsters, or, as one fed- training scholars in quantitative fields and no “clear, manageable, and politi- eral judge described a Maryland dis - to serve as expert witnesses in court cally neutral standards” with which to trict, “a broken-winged pterodactyl, cases about gerrymandering. evaluate districts. lying prostrate across the center of “Mathematicians have definitely Duchin and her collaborators are the state.” thought about gerrymandering be- trying to meet Kennedy’s challenge photography by alonso nichols/tufts university nichols/tufts alonso by photography

“It just so happens, by what I feel is a truly lucky coincidence, that the kind of math that I do is ideally suited” to addressing gerrymandering, Duchin said at a lecture at Bowdoin College this fall.

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UChicago Journal_v10.indd 10 10/23/17 5:03 PM by proposing redistricting standards an unneeded, “extra” vote for a win- that are fair and rigorous enough for ning candidate. judges to adopt. Duchin’s group is partnering with WILLIAM Their first line of attack is to de- computer scientists who are develop- RAINEY velop a more sophisticated measure ing programs that can factor in any HARPER’S of compactness, because judges have combination of these parameters— INDEX made clear they care about it—even compactness, shared interest groups, if they don’t know how to measure it. the efficiency gap, and others—and CHICAGO Existing definitions, rooted in 19th- use them to produce a variety of rea- century mathematics, have typically sonable redistricting plans. If the maps STYLE ICONS focused on how far the shape of a dis- actually drawn by legislatures don’t re- Release date of The trict is spread out from its center, or semble any of the computer-generated Chicago Manual of Style how relatively smooth or jagged its options, that’s a red flag that gerryman- (CMOS), 17th edition: boundaries are. For example, a circle dering might be at work. The approach is more compact than a star. The more is relatively new, but Duchin believes tortured a district’s shape, the theo- it holds promise, if its theoretical un- ry goes, the more likely it is to have derpinnings can be explained well in been gerrymandered. court—hence her group’s focus on ex- 09.12.17 But there may be good reasons why pert witness training. a district looks strange. For instance, Duchin got interested in gerryman- Initial print run: if a natural feature such as a mountain dering while teaching a 2016 course range cuts across a district, its edges on the mathematics of social choice, could appear contorted. In some which examined the math underlying states, lawmakers are required to complex and shared decision making, 75,000 keep groups with shared interests to - such as voting. It took her just over a gether—racial and ethnic minorities, year to design a workshop she led this Years since the 16th edition people who share a school district, August, which brought together some was published: even beachfront property owners. So 500 experts in various quantitative rather than just looking at a district’s fields to think about the real-world shape to determine whether it has subtleties of redistricting—includ- been gerrymandered, Duchin wants ing Shmuel Weinberger, the Andrew to focus on “where the people are in MacLeish Distinguished Service Pro- 7 the shape and how the shape slices the fessor of Mathematics at UChicago. Page count of the 1906 population,” she explains. Weinberger sees gerrymandering first edition: That idea is one basis of the refined as “a mixture of a philosophical and definition of compactness she hopes political problem with mathematical to devise using contemporary geo- overtones. The challenge is to figure metrical techniques. By drawing a out which kinds of maneuverings are network of lines based on population genuinely illegitimate, and then to 202 density within a district and then dig- develop mathematical methods to itally “folding” along those lines like [prove] it.” Page count of the 17th origami, mathematicians can identify In search of those quantitative edition: a district’s curvature—essentially, methods, Duchin’s gerrymandering how “bendy” it is. And how districts group is hosting workshops this fall look and bend when they are turned and winter in four redistricting hot into origami, Duchin thinks, is a much spots: Wisconsin, North Carolina, 1,146 better and more mathematically sound Texas, and California. And they’re way to evaluate compactness. gearing up for the redistricting to Total copies of CMOS sold Compactness isn’t the only way to come in 2021. (in millions): evaluate whether a district is well or “I think we’re producing good map badly drawn, fair or unfair. Nicholas drawers—from teachers to coders, Stephanopoulos, assistant professor scholars, and professionals—but if of law at UChicago, has proposed an- that fails for reasons of political grid- other measure called the “efficiency lock and the like, my hope is we’re pro- 1.5 gap,” which uses the number of votes ducing good testifying witnesses for each political party “wastes” in an the court cases that will follow,” says Correct number of hyphens election to determine whether one Duchin. “It would be better to be on in email, per CMOS 17: has a systematic advantage over the the front end of drawing good maps, other. A vote is considered “wasted” but if we have to, we’ll be on the back if it doesn’t contribute to a victory— end keeping the bad maps in check.” such as a vote for a losing candidate or —Megan E. Doherty, AM’05, PhD’10 0

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UChicago Journal_v11.indd 11 10/24/17 1:16 PM MEDICINE The process began around 9:30 a.m. roid—many drugs, with many side Just after 10, the lymphocytes arrived effects. McIntyre made it smoothly in a metal cooler packed with liquid ni- through the first few cycles. Then he trogen. The cell processing lab techni- developed appendicitis, delaying his Cell power cian removed the small packet of frozen fourth round. After all of that, his re- cells and gently began to thaw them. mission lasted just two months. A new type of immunotherapy is The infusion itself took just 10 minutes. In 2014 Reid referred him to a trust- helping UChicago Medicine patients McIntyre had been waiting a long ed colleague, Sonali Smith, the El- battle cancer. time for this. He was diagnosed with wood V. Jensen Professor in Medicine diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, stage and director of UChicago Medicine’s “It was like seeing your first child be- III, in September 2013, after develop- lymphoma program. (Bishop joined ing born,” says Michael Bishop. On ing a swollen lymph node in his right the team a year later. ) May 28, 2016, Bishop and members of groin area. Another scan a month later At that time, CAR T-cell therapy his team watched several million mod- revealed a swollen node in his neck and was being investigated in a few select ified white blood cells surge through another under his centers. The short- an IV and into the waiting arm of arm. Thomas Reid, I BEAT THE ODDS. I MADE term goal for Mc- 53-year-old Scott McIntyre. an oncologist based IT OVER A YEAR. NOW WE’RE Intyre’s doctors was “To see them flow in is exciting, in South Bend, Indi- to control his cancer, even amazing,” says Bishop, director ana, confirmed the TALKING ABOUT A CURE. make him as healthy of the Hematopoietic Cellular Therapy lymphoma diagnosis I’LL TAKE IT. as possible, and keep Program at the University of Chicago in November 2013. him alive. In Feb- Medicine. “My first thought was: Is Today, almost 18 months after the ruary 2015, McIntyre had a stem cell that it? That’s all it takes, that little CAR T infusion, McIntyre is cancer- transplant. He was in remission but, amount of cells?” free, and the procedure that saved again, only for a few months. Two It was the first chimeric antigen him received approval from the Food more clinical trials and some precisely receptor T-cell (CAR T) infusion, a and Drug Administration in August. targeted radiation therapy bought a new form of immunotherapy, at the UChicago Medicine is one of the first little more time, but by late 2015 his University of Chicago Medicine, and sites in the Midwest certified to pro- lymphoma was gaining on him. McIntyre was patient 1. The cells he vide CAR T-cell therapy. Then three good things happened. received were his own, harvested The standard treatment for Mc- The first was watching his beloved three months earlier and modified Intyre’s cancer is a chemotherapy regi- Notre Dame football team play in the at a lab in Switzerland to help fight men including a monoclonal antibody, 2016 Fiesta Bowl. The Fighting Irish his cancer. three chemotherapy agents, and a ste- lost to Ohio, but at least McIntyre was at the game to see it. A few weeks later, the McIntyres’ oldest son wed his longtime fiancée. They had postponed the wedding for years, McIntyre says, “because I kept getting so sick.” This time he managed to stay well, take classes to become an ordained minister, and of- ficiate the wedding. Then, in early February, McIntyre’s medical team got the go-ahead for CAR T-cell treatment and began harvesting his T cells. They took out blood, ex- tracted the lymphocytes, and returned everything else. They put the collected cells on ice and awaited the next step: conversion at the Swiss pharmaceuti- cal company Novartis, one of only a few labs worldwide certified to convert a patient’s T cells into chimeric antigen receptor T cells, a potent anticancer

weapon. Because each batch is designed medicine uchicago for a different patient, they must be pro- duced one at a time. It takes about three weeks to prepare a patient’s cells. Four years after receiving his cancer diagnosis, and more than a year after These modified T cells search out receiving CAR T-cell therapy, Scott McIntyre is in remission. The procedure specific cells—in this case, those that that saved his life received FDA approval this summer. display a surface protein called CD19,

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UChicago Journal_v10.indd 12 10/23/17 5:07 PM found on cancerous white blood cells. When the modified T cells detect and connect with these dysfunctional can- ORIGINAL SOURCE cer cells, they annihilate them. The process has proved remarkably A LOST LETTER, FOUND effective. In 80 to 90 percent of cases, patients with acute lymphoblastic leu- kemia get a complete remission. About 40 to 50 percent of patients with Mc- Intyre’s disease, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, have complete lasting re- missions. CAR T-cell therapy has also been successful in treating pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a can- cer affecting blood and bone marrow. On April 12, 2016, Novartis at last asked the Chicago team to send them his cells. A few weeks later the modi- fied cells came back and the date for the infusion was set. “This is scary,” McIntyre said, days before his infusion, “but exciting.” By this time he had already surprised his care team several times. When can- cer comes back after a stem cell trans- plant, for example, life expectancy is about six months. “I beat the odds,” he says. “I made it over a year. Now we’re talking about a cure. I’ll take it.” The new therapy is not without risks. Once the T cells enter the body, each one multiplies rapidly, producing thou- In the late 1950s, hotelier Louis H. 22 days after the ratification of the sands of offspring. Then they launch a Silver, JD’28, made a donation to new Constitution, as Washington vigorous assault. This rapid destruc- the Law School of rare items about waited for the final results of the tion of a large volume of cancerous cells and belonging to early Supreme first presidential election. can cause severe flu-like symptoms: fe- Court justices. The letters, portraits, While scholars were aware from vers, swelling, low blood pressure. It and legal documents from figures other records of a March 26, 1789, sometimes causes neurologic effects including Oliver Wendell Holmes letter from Marshall to Washington, such as delirium. McIntyre experi- and John Jay were carefully tucked no one knew what had happened enced this briefly, but a short course away in the Law School’s rare books to it or what it said. Alison LaCroix, of steroids brought his immune system collection, where their existence the Robert Newton Reid Professor back in line. gradually faded from institutional of Law and a specialist in early Despite that episode, his course was memory—a not uncommon fate in legal history, was among the first “relatively uncomplicated,” Bishop the era before digital library records. to see the note after it resurfaced. says. “It fit our mantra: boring is good.” Almost 60 years later, Sheri Lewis, It’s a peek at Washington’s daily Patients who have a complete re- director of the D’Angelo Law Library, life as he was preparing “to sponse, meaning no evidence of disease rediscovered the Silver collection be the chief magistrate of this for three months or more, are unlikely after seeing it referenced in a 1958 unknown experiment,” she says. to have a recurrence. McIntyre is now article in the University of Chicago The letter’s loss and rediscovery well outside that window, back at Law School Record. She had a hunch are a reminder of how much our work, and once again attending college the collection was important, but historical knowledge is shaped by football games. what she found in it still surprised what evidence survived. “There’s “This is going to change how we her. Among the 75 letters was one always this question of what treat hematologic malignancies,” from John Marshall, later the chief has been preserved and why it’s Bishop says.“Right now, we use this justice of the Supreme Court, to been preserved,” LaCroix says. for the sickest patients, those with re- George Washington. Although its “Sometimes things that are ‘lost’ fractory disease. But it could become contents are relatively mundane— don’t stay lost, and when we find standard therapy, with significantly Marshall was representing them, we have new evidence. But improved prognosis. This is just the Washington in a dispute over a piece what’s interesting, and important, infancy of this approach.” of land on the Ohio River and wrote to remember is how much of it is

photograhpy by lloyd degrane —John Easton, AM’77 with an update—the letter was sent chance.”—Susie Allen, AB’09

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UChicago Journal_v11.indd 13 10/24/17 1:17 PM After a field trip to the Adler Planetarium, campers discussed whether humans should colonize space.

EDUCATION Debate it Forward is the rare pro- after lunch and some quick debate- gram where you’ll find eight-year-olds focused games, the third graders are weighing the merits of an adversarial divided into teams and prepare to face legal system and, moments later, shov- off in a 10-minute structured debate: Up for ing Playfoam into their own hair. A argument from Team Affirmative, ar- summer camp and semester-long after- gument from Team Negative, question school program founded by fourth- time, rebuttal. (“But what’s a buttal?” debate year Leah Shapiro and third-year Josh one camper asks.) Outside, the eighth Two undergraduates believe playful Aaronson last fall, Debate it Forward graders are preparing for a brief debate uses the skills of debate to foster criti- of their own. wars of words can teach kids cal thinking, empathy, and confidence At times the discussion resembles empathy and critical thinking. in elementary and middle schoolers. Kids Say the Darndest Things: Criminal “The more you get up there, you Justice Edition. One debater sagely

On a quiet summer afternoon, a group use your voice, your opinion, the points out that criminals shouldn’t get aaronson josh and shapiro leah courtesy photo of soon-to-be third graders is engaged more you’ll find that you have a voice lawyers because, as the person who in a spirited discussion: about when to give, and the more you’ll be able to committed the crime, “no one knows their promised snack of Goldfish take ownership of yourself and your more about the case than they do.” An- crackers will arrive, who took whose learning,” Aaronson says. other has more pragmatic concerns: “A pencil, and whether criminals should Each day of the weeklong camp lawyer wouldn’t want to defend some- have access to a lawyer. begins with a debate question such one who would kill them if something They’re sitting in the library of a as “Should people who have com - went wrong.” Hyde Park synagogue, around a table mitted serious crimes have access But through all the silliness, Aaron- strewn with lunch boxes, notebooks, to a lawyer?” and a related field trip. son and Shapiro are confident the kids and hand-decorated drawstring back- This morning, for instance, the are learning essential skills: how to packs. As they talk, the kids fiddle roughly 30 campers, a mix of rising listen, how to evaluate ideas, how to with handfuls of squishy Playfoam. third and eighth graders, visited the speak with conviction. And they be - “Lawyers are expensive,” one child Cook County courthouse, met with lieve their program can be especially points out. “It’s hard to find good Illinois circuit court judge Alison helpful for students who are typically ones,” another agrees. Conlon, and sat in on a real trial. Now, “overlooked by the traditional debate

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UChicago Journal_v10.indd 14 10/23/17 5:07 PM circuits,” Aaronson says—students room has become the Debate it For- tory Schools. “The total 180 in their with learning and developmental dif- ward headquarters, complete with entire self-confidence, their demeanor, ferences, ranging from autism to at- what Aaronson describes as “a fancy was incredible,” he says. tention deficit hyperactivity disorder. whiteboard, which we’re really excit- What Shapiro and Aaronson thought Shapiro was a successful high school ed about,” where they brainstorm new would be a college extracurricular is debater and debate coach, but the idea ideas for games. now their postgraduation ambition and of teaching debate skills to kids didn’t Their ambitions for the program a nonprofit with a 10-year plan. Their occur to her until a year and a half ago. have expanded as they’ve seen its ef- hope is to expand Debate it Forward She was in the car with her six-year-old fects. Shapiro remembers one student nationally and even internationally cousin when he began to throw “the with a diagnosed learning difference and reach as many students as they can. tantrum of all tantrums.” On the fly who started out reluctant but by the They’re also raising money for scholar- she devised a game end of the program ships that will allow them to waive the that resembled ex- I STARTED THINKING IF was “the first one to program’s fee for students and schools ercises she used as YOU COULD FIND A WAY raise his hand.” His in need. a coach: she would parents later told Today, however, they’ve got their make a statement, TO DEEMPHASIZE THE her it was the first hands more than full with 30 young and her cousin had COMPETITIVE NATURE time the boy had debaters. After a spirited back-and- 20 seconds to tell her OF DEBATE YOU COULD enjoyed an activity forth among the eight-year-olds (fea- why she was wrong. that called for verbal turing a long discussion of whether “What kid isn’t go- PROBABLY EXPAND IT TO skills. “It was a huge someone could commit a crime un- ing to take you up on A MUCH BROADER BASE breakthrough for knowingly while asleep) the coun- that?” Shapiro says. him,” she says. Aar- selors declare Team Negative the The game quickly OF KIDS. onson recalls how winner. They tell both teams how distracted the six-year-old out of his proud students at the UChicago Char- close a call it was and how much they tantrum—and gave Shapiro an idea. ter School Woodlawn Campus felt struggled with the decision. It was, “I started thinking if you could find when they performed well in a mock they emphasize, a real debate. a way to deemphasize the competitive trial with students from the Labora- —Susie Allen, AB’09 nature of debate you could probably expand it to a much broader base of kids,” she explains. Shapiro took the idea to her classmate Aaronson, who had spent a gap year after high school working in a Milwaukee public school through the City Year program. Together they developed a curricu- lum of debate-focused games and ex- ercises. Students especially love the “infomercial game,” in which they’re given a worthless item, like a snapped rubber band, and have to explain why it would make a great birthday pres- ent. “That’s mainly where we work on persuasive speaking,” Aaronson says. Today’s campers played a game where they had to justify absurd statements, such as “clocks do not tell time.” This year, with help from a staff of fellow UChicago students, they’re offering Debate it Forward at nine schools in the Hyde Park area. The program concludes with a mock trial or debate, but competition isn’t the main focus—these are intended as a “show- case of skills,” Aaronson says. Shapiro and Aaronson met at sum- mer camp when they were 13 and recon- nected when they found themselves living on the same floor in DelGiorno House. Now they’re both roommates Shapiro and Aaronson first met when they were 13. Now roommates and and business partners (“I can’t get rid business partners, they’re planning to expand Debate it Forward nationally

photo courtesy leah shapiro and josh aaronsonof him,” Shapiro jokes). Their living and even internationally after they graduate.

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UChicago Journal_v10.indd 15 10/23/17 5:08 PM CRIMINAL JUSTICE the state. He estimates that at least a Heartland Health Outreach, submit- third of the inmates in Cook County ted similar proposals. jail suffer from mental illness. The three groups ultimately teamed Rather than fighting this reality, up and suggested a simple but power- Rethinking Dart decided to embrace it. “If that’s ful intervention, the Supportive Re - what, as a society, lease Center (SRC), we’ve decided to do” PEOPLE EXPERIENCE THE which offers former release about mental illness, MAXIMUM PERSONAL inmates identified as high risk a safe place A new program helps inmates he thought, “Well, [Cook County jail] VULNERABILITY AT THE to sleep, have a meal, transition out of Cook County jail. is going to be the EXACT MOMENT THAT THEY wash clothes, and best mental health make phone calls Unlike state and federal prisons, provider.” He’s insti- ARE PASSING BETWEEN on the night of their where inmate releases might be tuted reforms includ- ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEMS, release. It also con- planned months or years in advance, ing a mental health nects people to the leaving Cook County jail is an uncer- transition center AND THEY—IF WE’RE NOT services they need emonious affair. that offers therapy CAREFUL—WILL SLIP to stay out of jail. Inmates are turned out of the and job training. He THROUGH OUR FINGERS. An on-site nurse sprawling eight-block complex at all appointed a clinical and caseworker can hours and with little warning. It’s not psychologist, Nneka Jones Tapia, as the order prescription refills, make fol- uncommon for the recently released jail’s warden. As a result of these mea- low-up appointments at community to walk several miles home from 26th sures, more inmates began getting some clinics, and provide referrals to ser- and California. of the treatment they needed. vice providers for housing assistance “People just wander out into the But too often the progress ended and mental health counseling. On its night,” says Harold Pollack, the Helen the minute inmates left the front gate. face, it’s nothing fancy—the facility is Ross Professor at the School of Social Dart wanted a better pathway out of housed in a repurposed mobile home Service Administration, who studies jail, so in 2015 the sheriff’s office ap- just blocks from the jail—but it offers poverty and public health. plied for grant funding from the Uni - a softer landing to those who need Some, especially those who are versity of Chicago Urban Labs. Two it most. homeless and suffer from mental ill- other organizations, Treatment Al- The SRC ultimately received $1 ness, are rearrested soon after re - ternatives for Safe Communities and million in start-up funding from Ur- lease; others overdose, participate in violence, or become the victims of violence within the first few days and weeks of leaving jail. This state of affairs has long trou- bled Cook County sheriff Tom Dart. In fact, nearly every aspect of the modern criminal justice system trou- bles Dart (“my seven-year-old would come up with better ideas,” he says), but the problem of release has been particularly frustrating. “People come in on things that aren’t even crimes, they sit there for outrageously extended periods of time”—one woman spent more than 200 days in the jail awaiting trial for shoplifting—“and the way it was oper- ating was, we just dump them all into communities and then act puzzled why (a) they’re coming back and (b) why they are causing more harm in that community,” he says. uchicago news office news uchicago In his 11 years as sheriff, Dart has come to view jails as “dumping grounds for all the problems of our society that people don’t want to deal with”: sub- stance abuse, poverty, mental illness. Jails, he often points out, have become Following the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Supportive Release Center, the largest mental health providers in Harold Pollack planted flowers in the center’s garden.

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UChicago Journal_v11.indd 16 10/24/17 1:18 PM ban Labs and the Pritzker Founda- experience the maximum personal In its first four months, 150 people tion. That grant supports a study vulnerability at the exact moment used the SRC’s services. Three-quar- led by professor of medicine David that they are passing between ad - ters of them stayed overnight—a tell- Meltzer, LAB’82, AM’87, PhD’92, ministrative systems, and they—if ing statistic, in Dart’s mind. “That sort MD’93, and Pollack. The two are we’re not careful—will slip through of screams out to you, what would have codirectors of the UChicago Health our fingers.” happened but for this?” he says. Lab, which helps governments and Not everyone needs every service Pollack has a social scientist’s cir- community organizations identify the SRC provides—some only need cumspection about declaring the programs and policies that improve to make a quick phone call, or to rest program a success before his study is health outcomes. Together they’re for a few hours. But for others, a night complete, but Dart is not so reserved. running a randomized study of the off the streets, something to eat, and “It’s so logical,” he says. “I’m beyond center, tracking factors such as access to medication may prevent a optimistic. I’m convinced this will rearrest, homelessness, and hospital- tragic outcome or another trip to jail. succeed, and I’m convinced as we go izations among people who were in- “We want to just make sure that they along our biggest issue will be expan- vited to use the center’s services and make a healthy and safe transition to sion—it won’t be, do we continue this a control group of those who were not. whatever comes next,” Pollack says. or not? It will be, how do we ramp this Release is “such a critical moment in And if it works, he hopes other cities up even further?” people’s lives,” says Pollack. “People will adopt a similar model. —Susie Allen, AB’09

CITATIONS

Professor of International social-emotional training. Business and Economics, and The program did not affect HEIGHT OF Brenda Samaniego de la participants’ academic 12 HYDROGEN Parra, AM’12, PhD’17. Although performance, but it led to a 33 ATOMS it takes an average of 45 days percent reduction in violent STACKED to fill a position, their research crime arrests for participants in showed the majority of the the two to three years following hiring process is devoted to the program. Among younger screening and interviewing school-going participants, the initial batch of candidates, One Summer Chicago Plus rather than continuing to look increased formal employment through incoming applications. rates by 40 percent. To conduct the study, the researchers drew on raw data SKIN CARE from a group that operates The latest breakthrough in online job-posting platforms gene therapy is only skin deep. Better, cheaper, tinier: UChicago scientists developed a for computer-related industries new technique for making super-small semiconductors. In the August 3 Cell Stem Cell, a and created a database team led by assistant professor that matched 66 million Xiaoyang Wu used genetically applications to around eight engineered cells to treat LITTLE BUT FIERCE then stuck them together like million online job postings obesity and type 2 diabetes in To make electronics such Post-It notes. This technique, using second-by-second data. as cell phones smaller and which works with a variety mice. They focused on a gene that produces glucagon-like faster, scientists need to of materials, protected the WORK WORKS peptide 1 (GLP1), a hormone make semiconductors smaller pristine surfaces between each A program that connects too. A team led by Jiwoong semiconductor layer better Chicago youth with summer that triggers the pancreas to Park, professor in chemistry, than the existing method. jobs led to a decrease in violent release insulin and can reduce the Institute for Molecular The researchers believe crime arrests, new research appetite. The GLP1 gene was Engineering, and the James semiconductors created with from UChicago’s Urban Labs modified—to increase the Franck Institute, has developed this technique could be used in has found. Jonathan Davis, hormone’s half-life and to a new and cost-efficient way to computer chips. AB’09, PhD’16, a doctoral fellow attach a tool that allowed the make stacks of semiconductors at the Crime Lab and Education gene to be turned on and off— that are just a few atoms thick. EARLY BIRDS GET THE JOB Lab, and the University of then inserted into skin cells and The research was published If you’re hunting for a new Michigan’s Sara Heller, PhD’13, grafted onto mice. Mice with September 20 in Nature. job, don’t wait to submit your coauthored the National the modified GLP1 hormones Rather than the common résumé: employers in the Bureau of Economic Research gained less weight and had technique of growing stacks technology sector accept working paper, published in lower blood glucose levels and of film-like semiconductors, applications for an average May. Davis and Heller followed higher insulin levels than the one on top of the other, Park of just nine days after posting participants in One Summer control group. Administering and his collaborators, including a job online, according to a Chicago Plus, which provides gene therapy by skin may offer postdoctoral scholar Kibum March 7 working paper from teens and young adults “a long-term safe option for the Kang, grew individual films, Steven J. Davis, the William H. with six-week minimum- treatment of many diseases,”

graphic by uchicago creative put them into a vacuum, Abbott Distinguished Service wage jobs, mentoring, and Wu says.—Kaitlyn Akin, ’19

the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017 17

UChicago Journal_v10.indd 17 10/23/17 5:08 PM POETRY (1888–1949), known as Leadbelly or Lead Belly. The collection is ex- perimental yet accessible, encompassing such forms Side by as contrapuntal poems, prose poems, and erasure poetry (created by erasing side words from a found text). “I Tyehimba Jess’s contrapuntal poems. would like people to under- stand what is going on in the In 1985 Tyehimba Jess, an undergrad first reading,” Jess says, “and from Detroit, wanted to be a jazz DJ on then to come back and enjoy WHPK. “All the cool cats knew what and discover new things in the poem.” jazz was,” he says. “The guys who Jess employs the contrapuntal knew about jazz were the hippest peo- form—two columns of text, printed ple.” But he wasn’t one of those guys. next to each other, that can be read ei - And to get a slot, you had to submit a ther down or across—to tell the story of sample playlist. Leadbelly’s fractious relationship with So Jess, AB’91, went to Spin-It, a now- folklorist John Lomax. Lomax met and defunct record store on 57th Street, recorded Leadbelly when he was in An- and flipped through the jazz section. gola Prison; later they signed a contract In high school Tyehimba Jess worked “Who’s this guy? Charles Mingus, OK. giving Lomax two-thirds of the profits at a parking lot overlooking the Pick something off the back. The funny from Leadbelly’s performances. In Detroit River. One of his poems about thing about jazz records, you really can “lomax v. leadbelly in new york: let- the city won second prize in an judge them by the covers.” He turned in ters to home, 1934,” for example, Jess NAACP contest. his playlist and was immediately given juxtaposes an excerpt from one of Lo- a slot. “They said it was one of the best max’s actual letters (he comes off rather jazz playlists they’d ever seen.” badly) with an imagined version of the given for black lynchings, including Jess had a radio show for 10 years: story from Leadbelly’s perspective. “Acting suspiciously,” “Quarreling,” “One of the best things I ever did,” he Jess’s next poetry collection, Olio, “Living with white woman,” “Voting says. He worked his way through the took eight years to complete. The for wrong party,” and “Unpopularity.” station’s 7,000-record jazz collection; book reaches even earlier into Afri- There’s a broad range of literary later he added blues to his show, as well can American musical history, to the forms in Olio—prose, found text, as interviews with political prisoners era before recorded music. Jess writes and what Jess calls “syncopated son- and activists. He took almost as long, about such forgotten figures as “Blind” nets”—but he returns again and again seven years, to graduate. He changed Tom Wiggins (1849–1908), an autistic to contrapuntal poetry. “The idea was his major from English to public policy, piano player who remained in slave-like to stretch contrapuntal to the absolute dropped in and out, and spent hours “in conditions, “managed” by his former limits that I knew how to stretch it,” Regenstein in the E185s, black history, masters, throughout his life, and Mil- he told Lit Hub. At the end of the book just reading all kinds of stuff—old Jets, lie and Christine McKoy (1851–1912), he gives instructions for how to tear W. E. B. DuBois letters.” conjoined twins who sang duets. Run- certain poems out of the book and fold Jess’s deep knowledge of African ning throughout the book is a series them, roll them, or twist them into a

American music, history, and culture of invented interviews with acquain‑ Möbius strip: “One’s words flow into books wave courtesy cover midgley; john by photography defines his two collections of poetry, tances of ragtime composer Scott Jop- the other’s and back again, and on and Leadbelly (Verse Press, 2005) and Olio lin, whose syncopated rhythms provid- on like an ever-bending act, a joke that (Wave Books, 2016). A winner of the ed inspiration for Jess’s poems. never (ever?) never ends.” 2004 National Poetry Series, Lead- Described on Literary Hub as a Jess, a former slam poet, writes his belly was named one of the best poetry “magnum opus,” the 235-page collec- poems by hand. Starting this semester, books of 2005 by Library Journal. Olio tion begins with a definition of olio: a he plans to require his students—who won, among other awards, the 2017 hodgepodge; a miscellaneous literary often write poems on their phones—to Pulitzer Prize for poetry. (The final- or musical collection; the second part of do the same. “There’s a value in it, about ists were Collected Poems: 1950–2012 a minstrel show, which featured a vari- feeling the poem organically come out by the late Adrienne Rich and XX by ety of acts and evolved into vaudeville. of your body in that way,” he says. Campbell McGrath, AB’84.) He’s As in Leadbelly, Jess includes heart- He hasn’t started a new project yet: also an associate professor of English breaking examples of found text from “I have some ideas. I’m in the explor- at City University of New York’s Col- his exhaustive historical research: The atory phase.” It’s not easy to begin. lege of Staten Island. names of African American church- Sometimes writing poetry feels like Jess’s first book, which he worked es and the dates they were burned. “throwing myself down a flight of con- on while doing an MFA at New York Pages of titles of “coon songs”—ragtime crete stairs,” he says, “getting up and University, focuses on legendary blues songs that mocked “coons,” a slur for being unbruised.” musician Huddie William Ledbetter African Americans. A table of reasons —Carrie Golus, AB’91, AM’93

18 the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017

UChicago Journal_v10.indd 18 10/23/17 5:08 PM FIG. 1 EVERYONE’S A CRITIC

INITIAL REVIEW CUSTOMIZED REVIEW

I love this place. I love their sushi . The I love this place. I love their asparagus. salmon and ramen are also delicious. The scallops and pasta are also delicious. I will continue to come here anytime I am I will continue to come here anytime I am in town. in town.

Review 1: Easily my favorite Italian restaurant. I love the taster menu, everything is amazing on it. I suggest the carpaccio and the asparagus . Sadly it has become more widely known and becoming difficult to get a reservation for prime times.

Review 2: I come here every year during Christmas and I absolutely love the pasta ! Well worth the price!

Review 3: Excellent pizza, lasagna, and some of the best scallops I’ve had. The dessert was also extensive and fantastic.

REVIEWS FROM THE REFERENCE DATA SET

The robots are here, and they’ve and a diet of real Yelp reviews, cheese bagel as much as the next got strong opinions about food. the team—graduate students guy, this type of software poses a In a paper to be presented at Yuanshun Yao and Jenna Cryan serious threat to companies that the Association for Computing and Neubauer Professors Haitao rely on online reviews to attract Machinery Conference on Computer (Heather) Zheng and Ben Y. Zhao— and retain their customers— and Communications Security on “trained” a computer program to and wouldn’t take much time November 1, UChicago computer generate convincing fakes and swap or expertise for a savvy cyber scientists showed that artificial in the appropriate menu items for attacker to develop. “I want people intelligence can be used to generate each restaurant. For instance: “The to pay attention to this type of fake Yelp reviews so convincing food here is freaking amazing, the attack vector as [a] very real and that users found them to be portions are giant. The cheese bagel immediate threat,” coauthor Zhao indistinguishable from, and just as was cooked to perfection and well told Business Insider. Fortunately, useful as, human-written reviews. prepared, fresh & delicious! The the team discovered a telltale Even plagiarism detection software service was fast. Our favorite spot statistical sign of reviews created usually couldn’t spot the difference. for sure! We will be back!” using Recurrent Neural Networks Using Recurrent Neural Networks While it’s nice to know that and developed an algorithm to

graphic by laura lorenz (data from yao, et al., 2017)(a machine learning technique) artificial intelligence enjoys a detect it.—Susie Allen, AB’09

the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017 19

UChicago Journal_v11.indd 19 10/24/17 1:19 PM FOR THE RECORD

who have already achieved particles underground from CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE this distinction. Illinois to South Dakota to The US Department of State unlock new insights into the selected UChicago and the PRESS ON origins of the universe. School of the Art Institute of Garrett P. Kiely began his Chicago (SAIC) to serve as third term as director of the PARTNERS IN RESEARCH cocommissioners of the United University of Chicago Press— UChicago and the University of States Pavilion at the 2018 the nation’s largest academic Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Venice Architecture Biennale. press—on September 1. The launched a partnership on Niall Atkinson, associate press publishes 73 journals October 19 dedicated to professor of architectural and more than 350 new books research and technology history at the University a year, including the Chicago development for some of of Chicago, will cocurate Manual of Style, whose 17th society’s most pressing Dimensions of Citizenship, NEWEST NOBELIST edition was released September challenges. The partnership a showcase of works by Richard H. Thaler received 12. Under Kiely’s leadership, will bring about 100 faculty, architects, designers, thinkers, the 2017 Sveriges Riksbank the press has begun releasing researchers, and students and artists exploring the Prize in Economic Sciences all new titles simultaneously from Urbana-Champaign to concept of citizenship. in Memory of Alfred Nobel in print and e-book editions, collaborate with UChicago on October 9. The Royal and has expanded its print-on- colleagues, entrepreneurs, DEATH BEFORE DECAF Swedish Academy of Sciences demand program. and industry leaders, and will UChicago students are the art courtesy photo gyure; dado courtesy photo news; uchicago booth; chicago left: top from clockwise honored Thaler, the Charles be based at the Polsky Center nation’s most caffeinated, R. Walgreen Distinguished for Entrepreneurship and according to data released Service Professor of Behavioral Innovation complex in Hyde by the food delivery service Science and Economics at the Park. The primary goal of the GrubHub. Analyzing orders University of Chicago Booth partnership will be developing placed during fall 2016 and School of Business, for his and commercializing spring 2017 by users with “.edu” contributions to behavioral groundbreaking technology. email accounts, they found economics. Thaler is widely UChicago students ordered considered one of the founders SOUND INVESTMENT caffeinated drinks 138 percent of that field, which unites The UChicago Startup more than the national average. economics and psychology. Investment Program has made MIT finished a jittery second; its first investment, designating 16th-place Northwestern was $500,000 for ExplORer only mildly buzzed. Surgical, a start-up founded A NEW DEVELOPMENT by Chicago Booth students Sharon Marine was named and surgeons at UChicago vice president for alumni Medicine. The company’s relations and development interactive software offers at UChicago. Most recently tools to improve teamwork and Marine served as vice president coordination for surgical teams. for development of Cornell Launched in December with Tech. During her tenure, Cornell $25 million from the University Tech raised $460 million. endowment, the UChicago At UChicago, Marine will Startup Investment Program help set the overall strategy, coinvests alongside established GIVING BACK TO BOOTH direction, and organization for venture funds in start-ups University of Chicago Booth development, alumni relations, led by UChicago faculty, staff, School of Business alumna Amy and campaign planning. Her students, and alumni. ARTIST ON THE RISE Wallman, MBA’75, and alumnus appointment took effect Theater director, performer, Richard Wallman, MBA’74, October 15. HONORING A PIONEER and visual artist Dado Gyure, have made a $75 million gift to A lecture hall in the Kersten MFA’14, is this year’s recipient the University, building upon LAB LEADERSHIP Physics Teaching Center has of the Claire Rosen and Samuel their legacy of philanthropic Nigel Lockyer has been been named in honor of the late Edes Foundation Prize for support of students and reappointed as the director of Maria Goeppert-Mayer, whose Emerging Artists, for her faculty. In recognition of the the US Department of Energy’s research on the structure of multimedia project based on gift, Chicago Booth will name Fermi National Accelerator atoms earned her the 1963 the Hans Christian Andersen its academic high honors Laboratory, the University Nobel Prize in Physics. A story “The Little Match Girl.”

distinction after the Wallmans. announced September 27. permanent exhibition about The Edes Prize provides a and This group of top students Lockyer’s second five-year Goeppert-Mayer now sits one-year $30,000 award to alex photography photography alex will be known as the Amy and term, which begins September outside the lecture hall. “This select students and recent Richard F. Wallman Scholars at 3, 2018, comes as Fermilab, will acknowledge not only her alumni from four universities, Chicago Booth. The designation which is comanaged by the work but will also celebrate and including UChicago, to help will be permanently bestowed University through the Fermi inspire women in the sciences,” advance their artistic practice. upon graduating MBA students Research Alliance, begins said Edward “Rocky” Kolb, Gyure said the project will who earn high honors at building its flagship project dean of the Division of the “examine the shifting terrain of Booth, as well as all alumni that will send neutrino Physical Sciences. American empathy.”

20 the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017

UChicago Journal_v10.indd 20 10/23/17 5:09 PM MUSEUMS not driven by the door—meaning you don’t have to do a huge blockbuster exhibition every summer. You can be a little risky. And that’s a lot of what Art for all we’re doing this fall. What if we shake up the way we install our permanent Alison Gass wants you to feel collection? We’re not installing it welcome at the Smart Museum. chronologically at all. We’re install- ing it thematically, which is definitely In her 12-year career as a museum cu- a different approach. rator, Alison Gass has crisscrossed the country, with stops at the Jewish Mu- What are some of your plans? seum in New York, the San Francisco My biggest goal is to make the Museum of Modern Art, the Eli and Smart feel welcoming. One of Edythe Broad Museum at Michigan the things I’m focusing on in State University, and, most recently, this first year is the visitor ex- Stanford’s Cantor Arts Center. Gass perience. How does every vis- was “swearing up and down to every- itor, no matter where they’re one I would never leave California” from, whether they’re on the when she heard the Smart Museum faculty, or they’re a student, was seeking a new director. After vis- or they’re from the local com- iting, “I was totally enamored of the munity, or they’re a kid who’s really deep intellectual curiosity that never even been to a museum— I found everywhere I turned.” The how do we make sure we meet them 43-year-old museum felt like the right exactly where they are and let them home for the politically engaged and know that art is for everyone and re- The other thing that happens in mu- risk-taking work Gass champions. lates to their life? So we’re doing things seums is that you see objects in prox - Even before she officially started like rethinking the signage that helps imity to one another and you can begin at the Smart in May, Gass set to work you find your way into the museum to forge some connections. I think planning Welcome Blanket, a project by and moving walls in galleries to make people start to unpack what they’re artist and Pussyhat Project cofounder it a more open space that feels more seeing or notice things that are differ- Jayna Zweiman that invites partici- comfortable for thinking and learning ent. It’s also important to have wall pants to send in handmade blankets and socializing. texts that aren’t overly didactic but for newly arrived immigrants and We’re also focused on diversity and prompt you with a way in. refugees with notes of welcome. (The inclusion in the collection and our pro- blankets and notes are on view until grams. This is a museum on the South What was the first piece of art that December 17, 2017.) Gass, now the Side of Chicago, and we want every - made an impression on you? Smart’s Dana Feitler Director, spoke body who comes in to see art that re- Growing up I had a poster in my room to the Magazine about that project and flects their own experience of identity of a Mary Cassatt painting from the her ambitions for the museum. Her in the world. We will be looking at Museum of Fine Arts in Boston of a comments have been condensed and telling a more serious story about the little girl sort of smushed into a chair. edited.—Susie Allen, AB’09 history of African American art, get- I remember loving that painting be- ting more women into this collection, cause the little girl wasn’t all prim and What drew you to the and getting more Latin American art, proper. That’s where I got hooked. Smart Museum? so that the museum is reflective of the My curatorial career has been very place that it’s in. How did Welcome Blanket much bound up in thinking about art come together? as a lens onto social and political is- Has the role of museums Jayna Zweiman reached out to me be- sues and the way that artists help us changed in the 21st century? cause she knew about my interest in understand those stories or shift our We live in a world where images are social and political art practice. Nor- thinking. I really felt that the Univer- ubiquitous and can be shared imme- mally projects like this would take at sity of Chicago was the perfect place diately. You don’t have to go to a mu- least a year for a museum to pull off. for a museum committed to thinking seum to see an object, although I think But I am so grateful to this amazing about the world through the lens of ar- everyone who loves art objects would staff, who took on this challenge and tistic practice and telling stories in the argue that seeing something in person said, “Sure, we’ll figure out a way to museum through art, in a way that not is always totally different. There’s hang 3,000 blankets in the gallery.” all universities and not all university something very special about stand- I thought that Welcome Blanket was museums are. ing in front of a work of art and do - a wonderful, tangible example of The Smart feels so ready for a rein- ing some close looking, and thinking what it means to have a politically en- vention into its next phase of life. Uni- about the way things are made and the gaged museum. It felt like the perfect

photography by jean lachat versity museums are free, so they’re moment that they were made. starting project.

the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017 21

UChicago Journal_v10.indd 21 10/23/17 5:09 PM history ORE

STORIESThe story of the first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction is one of science, of war, and of people—those who made the experiment a success, those who strove to inform the public about the threats the breakthrough posed, and those tending its ambivalent legacies today. illustrations by john jay cabuay

22 the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017

UCH_CP-1_v6.indd 22 10/24/17 1:11 PM ORE

STORIES chicago pile-1 1942–2017

o mark the 75th anniversary of Chicago Pile-1 Profiles of Szilard and three more Manhattan Project this December 2, the Magazine offers glimpses scientists follow—none household names like Fermi, but of eight individuals and one critical relationship all notable contributors to the experiment or the steward- connected with the experiment. In an opening ship of its broad repercussions. That stewardship con- essay Richard Rhodes, author of the definitive tinues today, in part through the work of four UChicago history of the atomic bomb, describes the fric- faculty members in the physical sciences, social sciences, tion between Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard, the public policy, and the humanities. Together these scien- Texperiment’s main intellectual authors, and how their sci- tists and scholars’ experiences illuminate how the reaction ence survived it. was achieved, and how it remade our world.

the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017 23

UCH_CP-1_v6.indd 23 10/24/17 1:11 PM essay CLASHING COLLEAGUES Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard were comparable scientific visionaries but opposite personalities. by r ichard rhodes

wo physicists, one Italian, one Hungari- an, shared the US patent for the first man- made nuclear reactor. Enrico Fermi’s and Leo Szilard’s skills were complementary, but their personalities clashed. They col- laborated on their last joint experiment in May 1939, only five months after the dis- CP-1 scientists gathered at Eckhart Hall four years after covery of nuclear fission and more than the experiment. Fermi is in the front row, far left; Szilard three years before the start-up of Chicago is second from right in the middle row. Pile-1 on December 2, 1942. Fortunately for the world, the two men respected each other’s judgment, or that millennial outcome might so on, each releasing energy, an exponential process the have been dangerously delayed. physicists called a chain reaction. Should a uranium chain TFermi, winner of the 1938 Nobel Prize in Physics, had used reaction be possible, then energy for power would be pos- the occasion of the award ceremony in Sweden to escape Fas- sible as well—and so also might energy for bombs, each library chicago of university apf3-00232, archive, photographic uchicago cist Italy with his Jewish wife, Laura, and their two children, capable of destroying an entire city. In spring 1939 Nazi taking up an appointment as a professor of physics at Columbia Germany, where fission was discovered, was preparing for University in New York. Szilard, who had left Nazi Germany war. A Third Reich made invulnerable with atomic weap- in 1933 when Adolf Hitler came to power, was one of a group ons was a nightmare that had to be forestalled. of extraordinary Hungarian Jewish émigrés to the United The last experiment Fermi and Szilard conducted to- States that included John von Neumann, Eugene Wigner, and gether involved measuring the production of “secondary” Edward Teller. (Wigner, von Neumann, and Teller would neutrons. Fission was produced in the first place by bom- contribute to the invention of the first atomic bombs; Teller barding uranium atoms with neutrons, one of the three would coinvent the hydrogen bomb; von Neumann would basic nuclear particles (along with electrons and protons) devise the basic architecture of the digital computer.) discovered in the previous 40 years of intense and exciting Fermi and Szilard came together in the spring of 1939 to worldwide research. Neutrons induced fission in the ura- explore the unique properties of uranium. Two German nium nucleus; the fissioning nucleus then ejected neutrons radiochemists, Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann, working as well. The question Fermi and Szilard needed to answer at an institute in Berlin, had discovered nuclear fission just was how many such secondary neutrons, on average, were at Christmastime 1938. When they published a scientific released per fission, because it would be such neutrons, cas- report of their discovery, early in the new year, physicists cading from nucleus to nucleus, that would induce a chain everywhere spread the word of the energetic new reaction. reaction and multiply a microscopic energy release to one Nuclear fission embodied a long-sought dream of releas- capable of lighting cities or burning them down. ing the energy locked into the atomic nucleus, energy sev- The experiment the two physicists designed involved eral million times as intense, gram for gram, as the energy packing 500 pounds of greasy black uranium oxide pow- of merely chemical reactions. That release, however, de- der into 52 pipe-like metal cans each two inches in diam- pended on initiating a self-sustaining cascade of fissions, eter and two feet long, then submerging the sealed cans in one causing two, two causing four, four causing eight, and a large tank containing a 10 percent mixture of manganese

24 the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017 chicago pile-1 1942–2017

UCH_CP-1_v6.indd 24 10/24/17 1:11 PM dissolved in water. A neutron source set in the center of him. The man was “very competent,” Anderson remem- this lattice of cans would release a shower of neutrons; the bered. But Fermi was offended. He and Szilard never again water would slow them down; they would encounter the worked together staging an experiment. uranium oxide and cause fissions; and any secondary neu- How then did they win a joint patent? Fermi consulted trons the fissions produced would induce a characteristic with Szilard. Together they designed a reactor to be assem- three-hour radioactivity in the manganese. How much the bled of uranium metal slugs dropped into blind holes drilled manganese was activated would give Fermi and Szilard a into heavy graphite blocks the size of planter boxes. As they measure of secondary-neutron production. moved into what would become the Manhattan Project, Packing cans of greasy black uranium oxide and mixing Fermi worked at Columbia with burly members of the uni- manganese solutions was hard work. So was staying up half versity football team to assemble a series of partial “piles,” as the night taking readings of manganese radioactivity as the he called them, each a little larger than the last as the materi- experiment progressed. Fermi, the son of a railroad inspec- als came available, each giving better measurements of the tor, was a short man but sturdy and indefatigable. He enjoyed large volume of materials they would need to create a critical the physical work of experiment. Not so Szilard. The son of mass and a chain reaction using natural uranium. a prosperous civil engineer, he grew up with servants and Materials procurement became Szilard’s unique contribu- governesses and considered physical work a waste of time. tion to their joint work. To help Fermi without the friction the “Szilard made a mortal sin,” the two physicists’ mutual two generated when they worked side by side, Szilard applied friend Emilio Segrè told me. “He said, ‘Oh, I don’t want his special talent for enlightened cajolery to the problem of pro- to work and dirty my hands like a painter’s assistant.’” A curing supplies of purified uranium and graphite. The record is more charitable colleague, Herbert Anderson, said Szilard thick with his correspondence with American graphite manu- “thought he ought to spend his time thinking.” The Hun- facturers dismayed to discover that what they thought were garian physicist hired an assistant to do the dirty work for the purest of materials were in fact hopelessly contaminated, usually with traces of boron. “Szilard at that time,” Fermi wrote later, “took extremely decisive and strong steps to try to organize the early phases of production of pure materials. … FERMI, THE SON OF A He did a marvelous job which later on was taken over by a more powerful organization than was Szilard himself. Although to uchicago photographic archive, apf3-00232, university of chicago library chicago of university apf3-00232, archive, photographic uchicago RAILROAD INSPECTOR, match Szilard it takes a few able-bodied customers.” More deeply, Fermi and Szilard differed in their at- titudes toward scientific authority. Szilard believed that WAS A SHORT MAN scientists were responsible for the social consequences of their discoveries and therefore ought to participate in the BUT STURDY AND political decisions that followed from those discoveries. Fermi, more conservative, believed, as he wrote in 1952, INDEFATIGABLE. NOT SO that “the problems posed by this world situation are not for the scientist alone but for all people to resolve.” Fermi thought Szilard arrogant. Szilard thought Fermi SZILARD. THE SON OF cynical. They managed nevertheless to work together to create the first successful man-made nuclear chain reaction, A PROSPEROUS CIVIL in a machine that in the course of years would come to pro- duce 14 percent of the world’s electricity, with no release ENGINEER, HE GREW of carbon and with a record of safety unsurpassed by any UP WITH SERVANTS other form of primary energy. ◆ Richard Rhodes is the author of 25 books, including The Making of the Atomic Bomb (Simon & Schuster, 1986), AND CONSIDERED which won the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction, a National Book Award, and a National Book Critics Circle Award. On PHYSICAL WORK A December 1 he will speak on campus about the 75th anni- versary of CP-1. For more details, see mag.uchicago.edu WASTE OF TIME. /reactions-event.

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UCH_CP-1_v6.indd 25 10/24/17 4:03 PM profiles PIONEERS AND INHERITORS

LEO SZILARD known as the father of nuclear physics, The idea man considered such a thing “moonshine.” Szilard did not suffer from doubt or eo Szilard, the physicist who dwell on conventional wisdom. conceived the possibility of a Collaborating with Einstein, he nuclear chain reaction and the helped push the United States toward L humanist who fought to control a program to develop atomic power its destructive power, had eccentric, more than two years before the coun- sometimes contradictory, habits. Ar- try entered World War II. An August riving one night in Washington, DC, 2, 1939, letter to President Franklin he called fellow expat Hungarian Ed- D. Roosevelt that Szilard drafted with ward Teller to ask for a ride from the Einstein and sent with Einstein’s sig- train station. Teller’s wife, Mitzi, insisted he stay in their nature described the state of the art in nuclear physics and home. In their guest room Szilard bounced on the bed and warned that Germany might be pursuing an atomic bomb. said he remembered from a previous visit that the mattress That letter inspired what became the Manhattan Proj- was too hard, so he hied himself off to a hotel. ect, to which Szilard was a key contributor and, at times, a Another time, he invited himself for an overnight stay perceived antagonist. He believed scientists, not military with the British physicist Jim Tuck and his wife, Elsie. officers, should control the decision making. General Les- When the couple forgot to put a mattress on their guest’s lie Groves, the project’s military leader, took Szilard’s resis- bed, Szilard slept on the box spring and pronounced him- tance to his authority as disloyalty. Suspecting he might be self well rested in the morning. a spy, Groves put Szilard under government surveillance. “Leo was a man of surprises,” concluded Leona Woods Once an atomic bomb had been developed, the man Marshall Libby, SB’38, PhD’43, who recalled these stories who conceived its scientific feasibility lobbied against its in her memoir The Uranium People (Crane, Russak, and military use. On July 17, 1945, unaware of the successful Company, 1979). Trinity test the day before, Szilard wrote a petition to new Szilard lived much of his life out of hotel rooms or friends’ president Harry S. Truman urging him not to deploy the spare bedrooms, and the surprises he left behind included bomb against Japan. “A nation which sets the precedent of suitcases full of books and papers labeled with his name. using these newly liberated forces of nature for purposes “Like a cow bird, which lays its eggs in nests of other birds,” of destruction,” he wrote, “may have to bear the respon- Libby wrote, he would flit from place to place encumbered sibility of opening the door to an era of devastation on an with little more than his thoughts. unimaginable scale.” The petition, signed by about 70 sci- Few people in history have had thoughts so consequential. entists, never reached Truman. They came to him during long baths or leisurely walks around When the bomb fell on Hiroshima, Szilard wrote a note Berlin and London and, later, New York and Chicago. on Quad Club stationery to Gertrud Weiss, the physician After serving in the Austro-Hungarian army in World and professor of medicine he would marry in 1951, calling War I, Szilard left his native country for Germany in 1919. it “one of the greatest blunders of history.” At the University of Berlin he impressed professor Albert After the war he advocated for arms control and his itin- Einstein with a mathematical proof that solved a stubborn erant intellectual interests drifted toward biology. He be- problem in thermodynamics. Szilard’s paper on the subject came a professor of biophysics at UChicago and eventually was accepted as his PhD thesis after just one year of under- helped establish the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in graduate physics. La Jolla, California. The developer of the first polio vac- In 1933, walking in London, where he had fled after cine, Jonas Salk, called Szilard an “artist of science.” The Hitler’s ascent to power, he was struck with the idea for a men’s shared desire to create a place “for evolvers rather nuclear chain reaction—something he’d meditated on since than maintainers of the status quo,” as Salk put it, led to a hearing that no less an authority than Ernest Rutherford, deep scientific kinship.

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UCH_CP-1_v6.indd 26 10/24/17 1:12 PM Being an evolver—and so unconventional in his way of ahead of her time, the only woman scientist on Fermi’s team life that Robert Maynard Hutchins, learning of Szilard’s in a world where the highest compliment was to be regarded marriage, said his wife must have done it for the tax ben - worthy of a man’s work. Fermi’s wife, Laura, recalled her as efit—may have overshadowed Szilard’s scientific contribu- “a tall young girl built like an athlete, who could do a man’s tions. Aware as his contemporaries were of his quirks, they job and do it well.” Not that she was allowed to do all such also respected how he exercised his influential intellect. jobs. As Nobel Prize–winning biochemist Jacques Monod put Although physicist Walter Zinn refused to let her partici- it: “He knew that meaningful ideas are more important than pate in building the pile itself—arguing that the necessary any ego, and he lived according to these ethics.”—Jason Kelly dust masks would disguise her face and he might direct his salty epithets at a girl—Libby had plenty to occupy her: “Pre- paring the counters, learning the nuclear physics that had al- ready been developed, and trying to understand the steady LEONA WOODS MARSHALL LIBBY stream of theoretical papers issuing from Wigner’s group.” The pathbreaker She worked in Eckhart Hall on her own graphite pile, mea- suring the sensitivity of boron trifluoride to neutrons emerg- hey were changing out of lab coats blackened with ing from the pile at different temperatures to develop her graphite dust into heavy jackets for a subzero Chica- detectors. On December 2 they clicked more and more quickly go night when Eugene Wigner arrived with a bottle as the cadmium control rod was drawn out of the pile in stages, T of wine and paper cups. growing to a roar as the reaction approached criticality. The scientists of the Manhattan Project’s Metallurgical Afterward, Libby continued her measurements of boron Laboratory had just produced a triumph of pure science, but trifluoride’s neutron absorption and the effect of graphite’s one with tragic, even apocalyptic, potential. About 20 peo- thickness on neutron energy, working when the pile wasn’t ple remained in the abandoned squash courts under the west in use by other scientists, from 7 p.m. until early morning. stands of Stagg Field on the monumen- As a graduate student, she had keys to tal afternoon of December 2, 1942. One several campus physics and chemistry was Leona Woods Marshall Libby, labs, the better to scrounge equipment SB’38, PhD’43, a 23-year-old student in the dark emptiness of night. Vacu- of Enrico Fermi’s, one of the youngest um grease, pumps, stove wire, stop- scientists to work on the experiment. cocks. The recently established Met Whether theirs was the world’s first Lab had little of its own, forcing Libby chain reaction, the researchers did into a creative cobbling of components not know. If Germany had beaten the to make her measurements. United States to the breakthrough, as In 1943 Libby married fellow Met they feared, the Allies could be fatally Lab physicist John Marshall and soon far behind in the secret World War II became pregnant, a condition that her race to build an atomic bomb. baggy work overalls and equipment- So the celebration in the Met Lab filled pockets helped conceal. She told was not just muted but mute. Sipping only Fermi she was expecting. By then the drops rationed from the single the experiment, now known as CP-2, bottle of chianti, nobody mustered so much as a “cheers.” had moved to the forest preserve west of Chicago, far enough “There was a greater drama in the silence than if words away that Fermi asked his wife for instructions on delivering had been spoken,” Libby wrote in The Uranium People. “Ev- a baby, just in case. eryone was thinking—if we did it, haven’t the Germans al- “When he told me he was ready,” Libby writes, “it stiff- ready achieved the chain reaction?” Libby had completed ened my resolution that under no circumstances would he her course work toward her PhD only months before under get the chance to practice midwifery, which, in retrospect, Robert Mulliken, and her expertise in vacuum technology was no doubt a disappointment to him.” had made her a member of the team. She delivered son Peter at the University’s Lying-In Hos- Her knowledge was necessary to construct the boron tri- pital and was back to work near the thermal column atop fluoride detectors (“one of my better creations,” she called CP-2 within a week. To the Manhattan Project scientists, them) that measured neutrons in the reactor known as CP-1. little else in the world felt as important at that moment. Libby, who had earned an undergraduate degree at 18, was Libby had a brother and brother-in-law fighting in the

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UCH_CP-1_v6.indd 27 10/24/17 3:59 PM Pacific. She believed they wouldn’t have survived an Al - of atomic power, Franck drafted a memorandum, signed by lied invasion of Japan that the August 1945 dropping of the Szilard and five other scientists, that would come to bear atomic bombs precluded. Interviewed in 1986, the year she his name. The Franck Report, delivered to secretary of war died from a stroke at age 67, she expressed only pride, no Henry Stimson’s office in June 1945, argued that unleash - pangs of conscience for the consequences of the Manhattan ing such force without warning would have far-reaching Project’s achievement. She noted the misgivings of many negative implications even beyond its “indiscriminate who thought the second bomb, which fell on Nagasaki days destruction upon mankind.” The consequences would in- after the devastation visited upon Hiroshima, unnecessary. clude a reduced chance for an international agreement re- Those critics are “the guys who cry on shoulders,” Libby stricting the use of nuclear weapons, the report cautioned, said. “When you are in a war, to the death, I don’t think you and an arms race would ensue. stand around and ask, ‘Is it right?’”—Jason Kelly The signatories to the report called for the military to demonstrate the power of the bomb with a test in an unin- habited area. Choosing that course, they reasoned, would alert the Japanese people (perhaps warning enough to in - JAMES FRANCK spire surrender) or at least allow the United States to as- The conscience sess world opinion before causing such destruction. “In this way,” the report read, “other nations may assume a share of ames Franck didn’t have to leave Germany. Be - responsibility for such a fateful decision.” cause he had fought for the country in World War With victory in Europe secure, Franck considered the I, Franck was—for the time—exempt from civil bomb’s use unnecessary to defeat Japan, or even to signifi- J service laws enacted in 1933 that forced Jews from cantly shorten war in the Pacific. Arthur Compton, who government work. oversaw the Met Lab, disagreed, arguing in the cover let - A 1925 Nobel Prize recipient, he could have remained at ter to Stimson that accompanied The Franck Report that the the University of Göttingen, where he was a professor and report did not place enough importance on lives that would institute director, but his conscience be saved if the bomb hastened the end compelled him to resign. Years later of the war. Franck said the most persuasisve ar- The report, of course, did not per- gument in favor of his self-imposed suade President Truman and may exile came from Danish physicist never have reached him. There was no Niels Bohr. test, no warning, only sudden death “Bohr insisted that individuals re- and widespread destruction deliv- ally were responsible for the political ered from the sky over Hiroshima and, actions of their societies,” historian days later, Nagasaki in August 1945. Richard Rhodes writes in The Making Although the report did not pre- of the Atomic Bomb, and Franck refused vent use of the bomb, Franck’s efforts to show even tacit acquiescence to the made him a symbol of the ideal that anti-Semitic sentiment on the rise in scientific discoveries should be used Hitler’s government. only for constructive ends. His Nobel So in 1933 he left for Bohr’s Insti- Prize biography states that The Franck tute of Theoretical Physics at the Report, “although failing to attain its University of Copenhagen, then on main objective, still stands as a monu- to the United States, first at Johns Hopkins University be- ment to the rejection by scientists of the use of science in fore arriving in 1938 at the University of Chicago, where works of destruction.” the interdisciplinary James Franck Institute is named for For Franck, those principles extended beyond science. him. At UChicago, his political courage continued to shape He refused to return home after the war, turning down an his professional life. Franck became synonymous with the offer to become chair in experimental physics at Heidel- effort among scientists to convince the US government to berg because he could not work with those who “watched resist using a nuclear bomb in a surprise attack on the citi- the [Nazi] crimes with indifference.” At the same time, zens of Japan. he could not close his eyes to the country’s suffering citi - As chair of a panel of Metallurgical Laboratory scientists zens, and advocated for US aid to help his native country tasked with evaluating the social and political implications rebuild.—Jason Kelly

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UCH_CP-1_v6.indd 28 10/24/17 4:00 PM JOHN A. SIMPSON JR. Energy. This is what brought the young Simpson to Wash- The responsible scientist ington at the end of a long year in the lab. Simpson displayed the same effectiveness and political n December 1945, John Simpson stood before the US savvy in his work as a scientist. In addition to heading the Senate to testify on the need for civilian control of executive committee of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, nuclear energy. Formerly a scientific group leader on he did pioneering work on cosmic rays, cofounded the Uni- I the Manhattan Project, Simpson versity’s space research program, and was emerging as a moral leader in the sent his instruments on numerous effort to educate lawmakers and the missions throughout the solar system. public on the nuclear age that he had One noteworthy mission placed helped usher in. Simpson’s cosmic dust detectors on In the months since the United two Soviet spacecraft headed for Hal- States had dropped atomic bombs on ley’s Comet in 1986. Simpson deftly Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Simpson brokered a series of arrangements had been appointed the first chair of with NASA, the Reagan adminis- nuclear watchdog the Atomic Scien- tration, the University of Chicago, tists of Chicago, coauthored an article the Russians, and the German Max in Life that gave many Americans their Planck Institutes as an intermediary first sober assessment of the dawning to enable scientific collaboration be- nucleonic era, and stalled his budding tween two countries that could not scientific career to lobby Washington officially work together. The spec- for the peaceful use of the new technol- ter that had haunted Simpson since ogy. He was 29 years old. the Manhattan Project—nuclear Like his fellow scientists at the University of Chicago’s brinksmanship—did not defeat the spirit of camaraderie Metallurgical Laboratory, Simpson had spent 1944–45 that comes naturally to scientists working on a problem of racked by a profound twofold anxiety: first, about the need mutual interest. to outpace the Nazis in developing an atomic bomb and Simpson once spoke of the “necessary irresponsibil- second, about the possibility that the United States might ity” of the scientist: the freedom to investigate nature ob- actually use the bomb if their efforts proved successful. jectively, without regard to convention or politics. Such The surrender of Germany in the spring saw the first fear eclipsed by the second. Simpson was by this time helping organize a series of pri- vate seminars for Met Lab scientists to discuss the conse - THE “NECESSARY quences of their work—creatively disguised as innocuous office meetings after the idea met with Army disapproval. IRRESPONSIBILITY” He also joined 66 other scientists in signing Szilard’s peti- tion, which followed on the failure of The Franck Report and also urged President Truman to encourage Japan to surren- OF THE SCIENTIST: der by demonstrating the bomb in an unpopulated area. To use the bomb in an act of war, Simpson believed, would pre- THE FREEDOM TO cipitate an arms race with only one logical outcome. When the scientists’ strategy on Japan did not carry the INVESTIGATE NATURE day, Simpson led the Atomic Scientists of Chicago—as part of the emerging Federation of Atomic Scientists (later re- OBJECTIVELY, branded the Federation of American Scientists)—in an en- ergetic campaign to educate lawmakers and the public on their area of collective expertise. Their key victory, win- WITHOUT REGARD ning the civilian control of nuclear energy and weapons in 1946, owed in no small part to Simpson’s role as unofficial TO CONVENTION OR adviser to democratic senator Brien McMahon of Con- necticut, chair of the Senate Special Committee on Atomic POLITICS.

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UCH_CP-1_v6.indd 29 10/24/17 1:13 PM freedom complements rather than contradicts the respon- agnosticians see areas inside the body that are inaccessible sibility that Simpson believed scientists should take for the with standard X-rays. consequences of their work. For him, the scientist was by In the early 1980s, when Chen was waffling, second- turns neutral investigator and moral pathfinder. guessing his career path, he sought out Beck, who offered Until his death in 2000, Simpson projected this ethos of the young scholar a summer job and then a slot in UChi- responsible freedom like few others. In the words of Ed- cago’s medical physics program. “You can do some good ward W. “Rocky” Kolb, dean of the Division of the Physical to others and eventually do [some good] to yourself too,” Sciences, “He accomplished a great deal, and he never lost Chen remembers Beck telling him. “It connects physics his voice.”—Lucas McGranahan with life, basically.” Chen’s office today is nestled deep inside the University’s medical center. The setting is decidedly more busy hospital corridor than sterile science lab, which Chen relishes. A fac- CHIN-TU CHEN ulty member and researcher in radiology and medical physics The radiologist for over three decades, he’s published more than 300 scientific papers and secured six patents related to molecular imaging, rowing up in Taiwan, Chin-Tu Chen, PhD’86, wanted which noninvasively generates detailed pictures of the body to study nuclear physics. His heroes were the Chinese representing life and life processes at the molecular level. scientists Chen-Ning Yang, PhD’48, and Tsung-Dao Molecular imaging technology has grown far more so- G Lee, PhD’50, who both worked with Enrico Fermi phisticated since Chen started. In 1981, with Beck, he as students and who shared a Nobel Prize in 1957 for their helped build one of the Midwest’s first positron emission research on radioactive decay in sub- tomography (PET) scanners, which atomic particles. Theirs was technical, wouldn’t become standard in clinical disciplinary work. practices until around 2000, the same Chen followed suit, enrolling in a time that magnetic resonance imaging physics doctorate program at North- (MRI) was gaining currency. These western. He spent long days and nights days Chen and his colleagues develop at Argonne National Laboratory, and deploy radioisotopes for diagnos- cooped up near the accelerator machine, tic imaging—of neurological diseases bombarding targets, trying to make cal- or cancer, for instance—and for image- culations of the nucleus model. Repeti- guided radiation therapy to treat dis- tion and abstraction took their toll. eased organs or to shrink or eliminate “After a while, I started to think, tumors in a highly targeted way. The ‘this is really very remote from your group is also a leader in multimodality daily life,’” he remembers now. The imaging, combining the superior detail prospect of moving home to join the of MRI images, say, with the ability Taiwanese academy, which he’d con- of PET scans to reveal cellular-level sidered, lost its appeal. The wider his reach, the more satis- metabolic changes—how tissue or organs are functioning. fied he’d be. For the past year Chen’s department has begun to oper- Robert Beck, AB’54, SB’55, gave Chen the push he ate a state-of-the-art cyclotron, a particle accelerator that needed. Beck, a UChicago radiology professor and a pio- produces medically usable radioisotopes, an $8.4 million neer of modern nuclear medicine, had gotten his start at the investment that Chen had lobbied for since the University’s Argonne Cancer Research Hospital, which the US Atomic original particle accelerator was decommissioned in 1997. Energy Commission had established as part of its Atoms “You use probes to assess biology and biochemistry,” he for Peace program to identify socially beneficial uses for says. “Everybody is going in that direction.” ionizing radiation. Chen is constantly rewarded by the collaborative nature of In 1960 Beck authored a major theoretical study specu - his chosen profession. He can take a five-minute walk and sit lating that gamma rays, specifically those produced by the right beside the physicians reviewing the images his lab pro- radioisotope technetium 99m, could be used to scan the duces. His group tries to push their work into clinical practice brain for abnormalities. Today it’s used tens of millions as much as possible. “I really think this is the best work you of times a year worldwide. He’d go on to design scanning can do from the physics perspective,” he says. “You apply the devices for radionuclide imaging, helping doctors and di- fundamental science to saving lives.”—Adam Doster

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UCH_CP-1_v6.indd 30 10/24/17 1:13 PM NORMA FIELD plague Fukushima residents today. The activist The 2011 meltdown of Japan’s Fu- kushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant s a child in Tokyo, born in the has become a focusing event for Field. wake of World War II, Norma “I think it combined almost everything Field became aware of the nu- I was ever interested in.” It made her A clear threat early. The profes- want to capture in her writing “the sor emeritus of East Asian languages kinds of anguish a nuclear disaster and civilizations remembers feeling brings,” she says. “I want to share that, “the terrifying force of the images” I want people to read that and think from Hiroshima and Nagaskai, and be- twice about it.” She had already been ing particularly haunted by the iconic photo of a Hiroshima challenging the distinction between nuclear weapons as ex- man’s silhouette imprinted like a shadow on a granite stair by istentially dangerous and nuclear power as safe and clean, the heat of the blast. including in a UChicago course that she started teaching in Around the breakfast table, over the morning headlines, 2004, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Beyond. Field’s parents regularly debated the merits of atmospheric Field regularly asked students in the course to collabo- testing, her anticommunist American father arguing the rate on archival projects about the CP-1 scientists, work pro side against her pacifist Japanese mother. Her mother’s that highlighted for Field a decline in awareness of nuclear views “had so much more credibility for me” and, rein- risks in the ensuing decades, perhaps now mitigated by ten- forced by the photo, created a sense of urgency to do some- sions with North Korea. “There was a lot of mindfulness thing to help prevent another devastating war between the among the early atomic scientists here and around the coun- two countries. What she could think of, as a child, was to try about the immeasurable potential harm of this technol- teach about Japan in the United States. ogy, which has really faded,” she says. For much of the decade before she retired in 2012, Field Public education hasn’t moved past teaching that “there focused on Japanese proletarian literature, a prewar artis- was Pearl Harbor, then Hiroshima—or, it ended the war tic movement by and for the working class. That research earlier so it was a humanitarian act.” And few are aware interest resulted in her coedited book For Dignity, Justice, how US citizens themselves have been exposed to radia- and Revolution: An Anthology of Japanese Proletarian Litera- tion, whether by working in nuclear facilities, living near ture (University of Chicago Press, 2016). plants as “downwinders,” or as experimental subjects at And it brought a class consciousness to her lifelong con- research institutions. cerns about nuclear technology’s effects on human beings Following her retirement, Field has continued to slowly and human bodies—and not only through nuclear warfare. and comprehensively research the political issues sur- She began to think about the inequitable burdens of nucle- rounding Fukushima. She flies to Japan as often as she can ar experimentation and fallout. Those burdens can be not manage, interviewing people and getting a sense of how only biological but economic and social: “Who is able to do they cope with the possible consequences of exposure. what? Who is able to get away from disasters?” Survivors In Chicago she lectures, hosts symposia, and shares of Hirsohima and Nagasaki worried about being discrimi- information through Atomic Age (lucian.uchicago nated against in hiring and marriage, and the same concerns .edu/blogs/atomicage), a website she maintains with friends. This fall she’s finalizing a grant proposal for a book project on Fukushima’s aftermath. The author of three previous books in English, including the award-winning In the Realm of a Dy- THERE WAS A LOT OF ing Emperor: Japan at Century’s End (Pantheon, 1991), Field believes in the power of literature to create understanding. MINDFULNESS AMONG “Even if you don’t directly experience something yourself,” she says, “literature can prepare the ground for empathy.” Having spent most of her career teaching at UChicago, THE EARLY ATOMIC home to the CP-1 experiment, gives her an added sense of mission. It’s hard for Field to walk past Nuclear Energy, the SCIENTISTS, ... WHICH Henry Moore sculpture on Ellis Avenue, without feeling a twinge: “This is part of what began here on December 2, HAS REALLY FADED. 1942.”—Adam Doster

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UCH_CP-1_v6.indd 31 10/24/17 1:13 PM ROBERT ROSNER ratified test ban treaty. For the United The physicist States, the Soviet Union, and the oth- er declared and undeclared weapons Ask Robert Rosner to explain the states to stop testing, he says, “really building blocks of astrophysics, sharply reduced the ability” of coun- and he’ll spin stories of Galileo and tries that wanted to start nuclear Newton, of rainbow spectrums and weapons programs. Fraunhofer lines and subatomic parti- His work on Flash and as Argonne cles—how the insight that the physics lab director fueled an ongoing interest of our world also applies to the cosmos unspooled an entire in public policy, especially around nuclear nonproliferation field. The William E. Wrather Distinguished Service Pro- and renewable energy. Thus his ongoing service to the Bul- fessor in the Departments of Astronomy and Astrophysics letin of the Atomic Scientists, which the University convinced and Physics, Rosner develops high-performance computer to move its headquarters back to Hyde Park after three simulation tools that model astrophysical phenomena. “As- years in downtown Chicago. An independent entity, it now trophysics per se started because you could finally, without has its offices in the University of Chicago Harris School of ever traveling to the sun, figure out what the sun was made Public Policy. Rosner likens the Bulletin to a canary in the of,” he enthuses. “How cool is that?” mine, a forum for experts to debate whether a given conflict Rosner, who directed Argonne National Laboratory or development should give the wider world pause. (a descendent of the Met Lab) from 2005 to 2009 and co- For someone who so intimately understands the dangers chairs the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists board that sets the that nuclear weapons pose, this is a tenuous political mo- Doomsday Clock, was a natural choice to deliver the Aims ment. It’s not so much the nuclear powers’ stockpiles that of Education lecture this anniversary year. He took as his keep Rosner up at night. Rather, it’s the possibility of sui- subject December 2, 1942, and all that rippled out from it. cidal nonstate actors getting their hands on those arsenals, From the Rockefeller Chapel pulpit Rosner spoke to the and the threat of tactical nuclear weapons—“the threshold Class of 2021 about the experiment’s scientific and broader for using them is potentially much lower,” he says. “And the legacies, both “the good and bad that flowed from the por- distinction between strategic and tactical, in countries like tentous moment” when Fermi declared the reaction had India and Pakistan, is almost vanishingly small.” achieved self-sustainment. One of the two founding directors of the Energy Policy For many of the physicists involved, Rosner noted, the Institute at the University of Chicago, Rosner also pon- sense of achievement was mingled with foreboding and fol- ders the potential for clean energy through nuclear tech - lowed by efforts to inform the public and government of the nology. He finds the science feasible but the problem of technology’s dangers. Signers of the “amazingly prescient” nuclear waste unresolved and, for understandable reasons, Franck Report volunteered their advice unsolicited, Rosner the political will lacking. “You may want to think that as emphasized. Scholars must speak truth to power, and be a scientist, whatever you do is really just a world unto its accountable for the consequences of their research. own,” he says. “But the fact of the matter is we live in an When Rosner arrived in Chicago 30 years ago, the Uni- environment where what we do and say matters and has versity’s nuclear heritage was not lost on him. “I think it’s consequences.”—Adam Doster fair to say that [CP-1] is the most important experiment that was ever done here, at the University, in the city of Chi- cago, in the state of Illinois, in the Midwest,” he says. “It’s singular in terms of its impact on human life on this earth.” JOSEPH MASCO Much of his work is inextricably linked to that experi- The anthropologist ment. Rosner established the Flash Center for Compu- tational Science, whose simulation codes for modeling As a graduate student in the early 1990s, UChicago anthro- supernovae mirror the challenges of the US Department pology professor Joseph Masco went to New Mexico to of Energy’s science- and simulation-based efforts to deter- study the legacy of CP-1 and the Manhattan Project at the mine the reliability of the nation’s nuclear weapons stock- end of the Cold War. The effort to create a nuclear bomb, pile without randomly testing weapons: Much like their he discovered, can be found in technological, scientific, and ground-based colleagues from the Department of Energy, industrial infrastructures; in traces of radiation found in astrophysicists cannot blow up their objects of study. human bodies; and in individual psyches and the very idea The work persuaded Rosner of the usefulness of the un- of the nation.

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UCH_CP-1_v6.indd 32 10/25/17 10:01 AM The lurking fear of nuclear Armageddon that arose after WE’RE AT AN World War II, Masco says, helped usher in an era of con- stant imagined threats to the nation and its people—threats UNUSUALLY DANGEROUS from which only the government could offer protection. At the same time, the Manhattan Project introduced MOMENT HISTORICALLY, new levels of secrecy into military protocol. While there have always been military secrets, Masco says, the idea of maintaining a population of nearly five million people PRECISELY BECAUSE with security clearances and generating a significant por- tion of knowledge that is never shared widely and has NUCLEAR POLITICS vast consequences beyond the military, was a develop - ment of the nuclear age. This compartmentalized secrecy ARE PLAYING OUT “creates the image of a state that always knows more than it’s telling.” In the current environment, government officials, them- WITHOUT MUCH PUBLIC selves shrouded in secrecy, act on “threat-based reasoning.” Instead of responding to risk—an evaluation of known and ATTENTION. quantifiable factors—Masco argues, the government says that it and its citizens must be vigilant against a terrorist “Nuclear politics,” Masco says, “involves not just the threat that’s “purely in the imaginary,” often focused on technologies, but also the ideologies, imaginaries, and the worst-case-scenario game exercises. “The whole idea of the affects that support them.” Among these are American ex- worst-case scenario in a threat-based world,” Masco says, ceptionalism and emotions like fear, pride, and shame. The “is that the danger hasn’t happened yet.” idea of the bomb “distills across these areas, because it both Masco often encounters people who are inclined to put holds the promise of ultimate protection to the nation-state the politics of nuclear weapons in the past—threats from and is the ultimate danger.” and against North Korea notwithstanding. But as the Using the nuclear bomb as a lens through which to ex- United States spends billions of dollars on modernizing its amine US nation building and culture nuclear arsenal, Masco says, “we’re at since the mid-20th century, Masco an unusually dangerous moment his- looks at its broad effects on society and torically, precisely because nuclear its effects on government in particular. politics are playing out without much Those include the post–World War II public attention.” transformation of the Department of A more beneficial legacy of CP-1, War to the Department of Defense for him, is the foundational linkage and the formation, a decade later, of the between science, universities, and Defense Advanced Research Projects the state. These institutional rela- Agency, or DARPA, which Masco de- tions figure in his research on the scribes as a commitment to “unending closely linked science behind climate Manhattan Projects on behalf of the crisis and nuclear crisis: the modern United States.” notion of ecology, which grew out of “These are huge structural changes efforts in the 1950s to study nuclear in the concept of what security is,” fallout, also led to understandings of Masco says, “and at the center of all of complex systems and ultimately cli- these programs and desires and fears is the atomic bomb.” mate change. Today many geologists believe the mid-20th Masco’s books, The Nuclear Borderlands: The Manhattan century ushered in a new geological era—the Anthropo- Project in Post–Cold War New Mexico (Princeton University cene—and date it from the presence of plutonium in the Press, 2006) and especially The Theater of Operations: Na- atmosphere from nuclear testing. In other words, the CP-1 tional Security Affect from the Cold War to the War on Terror experiment was “the start of a transformation of science (Duke University Press, 2014), elucidate how Cold War and geopolitics but also led to an indelible mark in the ideologies, beginning with the bomb, were repurposed for earth system—the nuclear age has entered into geological the ongoing war on terror. time.”—Jeanie Chung ◆

chicago pile-1 1942–2017 the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017 33

UCH_CP-1_v6.indd 33 10/24/17 1:14 PM art history ELEMENTAL The subject of controversy when it was commissioned, Nuclear Energy has become a constant in the UChicago landscape. by er in hogan, am’91, phd’99 page 34: photography by drone media chicago; uchicago photographic archive, apf2-05339, university of chicago library

34 the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017 chicago pile-1 1942–2017

UCH_Moore_v1.indd 34 10/24/17 2:43 PM enry Moore’s sculpture Nuclear Energy, which turns 50 in December, marks the site of the world’s first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear reaction. Just as Enrico Fermi’s achievement can never be decisively celebrated nor indicted, ambiguities and paradoxes are embed- ded in the form, origins, title, and in- terpretations of the artwork made to commemorate it. An object that appears unitary but is actually composed of some 60 pieces of welded bronze, Nuclear Energy presents both mass and emptiness, solid and Hvoid. The sculpture is a monumental object that commemo- rates a microscopic reaction—invisibly small particles set in motion by a 400-ton pile of graphite bricks. And there remain contradictions in the origin story of the sculpture’s form. Was it based on a series Moore made a decade before the commission? On contemporaneous British anti-nuclear Opposite: Nuclear Thresholds, an architectual installa- posters that featured a mushroom cloud and a human skull? tion at the site of Moore’s sculpture, runs through Janu- On an elephant skull Moore had himself photographed ary 7. Above: The bronze pieces that comprise Nuclear with, working on the Nuclear Energy model, years after the Energy were cast and welded in West Berlin before being sculpture was completed? shipped to Chicago for the dedication. The idea for a landmark was born in 1963, as history pro- fessor William H. McNeill, LAB’34, AB’38, AM’39, on the way to his office, passed the weed-strewn lot on Ellis Avenue that once was the site of Stagg Field—and Chica- were made to soften its more fatalistic interpretations, in- go Pile-1. McNeill’s sense of the site as a lost opportunity cluding installing a carefully worded plaque with it and ask- echoed the sentiments, according to various accounts, of ing Moore in 1965 to change his title, Atom Piece, to Nuclear the University’s public relations office, president, and even Energy because McNeill felt the former sounded too much the Italian prime minister at the time, who felt that Fermi like “atom peace,” a potentially inflammatory pun. Moore and the University’s role in the Manhattan Project had not publicly agreed to the title change but continued to call the been adequately recognized. A committee, spearheaded work “Atom Piece,” even exhibiting it in Germany under by McNeill, was formed to investigate the possibility of that title before it arrived in Chicago to be unveiled on De- erecting a memorial in time for the 25th anniversary of the cember 2, 1967, the 25th anniversary of the reaction. nuclear reaction. At that unveiling, Harold Haydon, LAB’26, PhB’30, In November 1963 McNeill sent letters to two contem- AM’31—associate professor of art, art critic for the Chi- porary sculptors known for their public works, Jacques cago Sun-Times, and member of the monument commit- Lipchitz and Henry Moore. Moore, considered a “safe tee—spoke of Nuclear Energy in the future tense: “Nuclear modernist master” according to one social historian, de- energy, for which the sculpture is named, is a magnet for spite his own antinuclear stance, offered a tentative yes. In conflicting emotions, some of which inevitably will at- a year he had produced a four-foot-tall model, called Atom tach to the bronze form; it will harbor or repel emotions. Piece, of what would become Nuclear Energy: a cavern or, as … The test of any work of art will be its capacity to evoke McNeill liked to call it, a “cathedral” surrounded by an ar- a response and the quality of that response.” As Haydon ELEMENTAL mature of bronze. Others, particularly several scientists on well knew, Nuclear Energy had already passed that test. ◆ the monument committee, saw the work as a skull or mush- room cloud—“more appropriate … at Alamogordo or Hiro- Erin Hogan, AM’91, PhD’99, is the former director of shima,” in the words of Samuel Allison, SB’21, PhD’23, one public affairs and communications at the Art Institute of the Manhattan Project scientists on the committee—and of Chicago and the author of Spiral Jetta: A Road Trip objected strenuously to Moore’s model. through the Land Art of the American West (University

page 34: photography by drone media chicago; uchicago photographic archive, apf2-05339,The university of chicago library sculpture was ultimately approved, but concessions of Chicago Press, 2008).

chicago pile-1 1942–2017 the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017 35

UCH_Moore_v1.indd 35 10/23/17 3:08 PM courtesy special collections research center,of chicago libraryuniversity (top); copyright jill krementz/courtesyuniversity of chicago special collections research center The Adventures of Augie March as “a widening spiral that Bellow wrote to his editor in 1950 that he imagined begins in the parish, ghetto, slum, and spreads into the greaterworld.” Drafts of the 1954 National Book Award–winning novel are held in the newly opened Saul Bellow archive at the University of Chicago Library.

32 the university of chicago magazine | jan–feb 2014

UCH_Bellow_v4.indd 36 10/24/17 9:58 AM Bellow wrote to his editor in 1950 that he imagined The Adventures of Augie March as “a widening spiral that begins in the parish, ghetto, slum, and spreads into the greater world.” Drafts of the 1954 National Book Award–winning novel are held in the newly opened Saul Bellow archive at the University of Chicago Library. UCH_Bellow_v4.indd 37

What is it like to sort through the personal papers of one of America’s most celebrated writers?

literature the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017 37 2017 fall | magazine chicago of university the AN AR HIVE,

10/24/17 9:58 AM HI AGO BORN by susie allen, ab’09

------not ◆ was originally introduced as Thomas Personal papers arrive in Special Collections in After spending months with Bellow’s drafts, Gos Bellow often began his drafts in longhand, on a The reward comes when she sees researchers put For Gosselar, the feeling is different. When she contained 80th birthday wishes from John Updike: “Thewriting part seemsyou of immune totime.” cal,” Gosselar says—a mixture of tidy and, well, “ varyingstates disarray. of Bellow’s were “pretty typi so tidy.” His copious drafts were trickiest to organize: “Fragments of drafts had become jumbled and scat andtered. findpiece ofbox one would one openupI So a novel draft, and several boxes later find the nextfew pages.”Piecing themtogetherback likegiantlooked“a game of Memory,” with stacks of paper spread across table.long a selarunderstandcametoworked. clearwas“It he how he story the of sense early an have to seemed he that wanted to tell. But what he revised over and again over was the way in which he was telling it.” tive from third to first person and back, and tinker with characters’ names (Bellow connoisseurssignificancethebate fact the of that Charlie Citrine can in de GiftHumboldt’s trail paper the Gosselar For instance). for Orlansky, suggestedBellow’s genius wasn’tthe result“direct of dictationfrom the muse. This was labor sure.” for ting the archives to use. For the Bellow collection, that gratification was almost instant. “As soonthe guideas went online and before we had even had a chance to publicize that, we hadroom peopleusing it and inrequesting the readingboxes,” Gosselar says. A sizeable audience of Bellow scholars and fans, it seems, had been waiting hungrily. writing, work habits, daily concerns—lives on for newgenerations Bellowof scholars and readers. notepador in a notebook,before anassistant turning to type. In subsequent versions wouldhe them over to tweak sentences again and again, shift the perspec finisheswork on the personal papers of someone like Bellow who’s no longer alive, shesad that is I “alwayswill never meet them a littlebecause I feel that bit I know them so well.” Still, the intimacy that emerges between archivist and subject—knowing their hand - - - - - Philip Philip , AM’55,, about critics: “They that have of none One of Gosselar’s most painstaking tasks was de In one letter, Bellow commiserated with ingenuous,possiblychildish literature of love and you I have. They take a sort of Roman engineering view of things: grind everything into rubble and build cul tural monuments on this foundation jotted AM’71, fromVonnegut, which Kurt to flag.” bullshit the fly appreciation of MatternoteBellow’s a offor essay “A poet the of photo a featuring postcard a on Soul” the Robert Lowell (“It is so resonant for me, a former Chicagoan, born in Indianapolis to cultivated par ents whose tastes were European”). Another note broadorganizational plan. Thenprocessthelongcomes writing and folders and sorting materials boxes of into a detailed inventory. In the case of Bellow’s papers, this last stage was especially thorough and took over a year from start to finish. It wasn’t quite all Saul, all the time—Gosselar had a few other projects on the side— large“a portiontimebut my was spentwithof Bellow.” comprehensivevelopinga Bellow’slist of hundreds of correspondents. It’s a time-intensive step archivists don’t always take, but it madecommunity sense of friends given and admirers, the which writer’s included writers (Don DeLillo, Annie Dillard) ciansand (senators politiJacob Javits and Edward Kennedy, President John Kennedy)—evenF. Pope John Paul II.Along with thedrafts Bellow’sof work,his letters Gosselarwhatmake up calls “thethescholarly of meat collection,” offering “a wonderful window into both his personal life and relationships as well as an excel lentpicture hisof intellectual network.” Roth I THINK MY LOVE LOVE MY I THINK OF STORY FED MY INTEREST IN ARCHIVES, BECAUSE THEY DO. WHAT THAT’S , ------The , a pro

(Viking Press, Carolyn NelsonCarolyn Janis Freedman- Janis Ashley Gosselar Ashley , AM’64, and Humboldt’s Gift brevity. Perhaps his most famous

The archive of his personal pa work, the modern picaresque Adventures of Augie March (Viking Press, 1953), clocks in at 536 pag es; aul Bellow, EX’39, wasn’t known for 1975), about a rivalrous friendship between two writers, is a hulking 487. Even many of Bellow’s short stories are on the hefty side. Robert Nelson , AM’90, PhD’92, for the next several years only Bellow began donating his papers to the University At the request of Bellow’s widow, a was Nobelist 1976 the of papers the on Working Faced with a fresh set of papers to catalog, Gosselar a few scholars who’d received permission from the Bel Bellow pers at the University of Chicago Library’s Special Collections Research Center, which opened to re searchersMarch,in equallyis voluminous—254 boxes inall. Stacked topanother,onone of they would reach fourtimes the heightthe of Mansueto Library’s dome. in bits and pieces during the 31 years he taught on the faculty.In 2006, yeara after his death, UChicago ac quired his remaining professional papers. It was the right match, Bellow’s biographer Zachary Leader believes,“since ishe the great novelist Chicago.”of low estate were allowed to look at them. Eventually, those restrictions expired, and cessingarchivist Specialin Collections, go-aheadthegot organizeto collection’sthe drafts, letters, photos,teach ing materials, and ephemera for researchers to use. A gift from AM’64, PhD’67, underwrote the cataloging process. treat for Gosselar, an English major before she went to library school. “The English lit nerd in me is waysthrilled al tothegeton to work personal papers of a writer and archives, deal in interest my with fed story of literary love my think “I manuscripts,” she says.because that’s what they do.body’s They life.” tell Gosselar a story read of some Bellow’s novelsously andpublished previ letters as well as several biographies himof in preparation the for project. roughdoesassessmenta thematerialsof anddevelops a S

38 the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017

UCH_Bellow_v4.indd 38 10/24/17 2:22 PM photography by kevin horan/the lifeimages getty images collection/ Bellow, shown here browsing in Powell’s Books, had an extensive network of friends and acquaintances that included many of the most celebrated writers of the 20th century. The archive contains correspondence with Beckett. Samuel and Wiesel, Elie Albee, Edward as such figures

the university of chicago magazine | mar–apr 2015 57

UCH_Bellow_v4.indd 39 10/24/17 9:58 AM courtesy special collections research center, archive, photographic library; apf1-00504, uchicago chicago university of special collections research center, universitylibrary (inset) of chicago . The archive reveals Bellow’s exhaustive revision process. “It was kind Humboldt’s Gift Above: An edited draft of of like listening to a jazz musician improvise,” Gosselar says. “He wrote variation after variation of a sentence until it was the melody he wanted.” Below: A letter to Bellow from Ralph Ellison, one of thousands in the archive. The two legendary novelists briefly shared a houseYork’s in HudsonNew Valley in the 1950s. In 1962, Bellow joined the faculty of the John U. Nef Committee on Social Thought, where he taught until 1993 (inset).

58 the university of chicago magazine | mar–apr 2015

UCH_Bellow_v4.indd 40 10/24/17 2:22 PM the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017 41

UCH_Bellow_v4.indd 41 10/24/17 9:59 AM photograph by josh larios 10/24/17 3:02 PM ’08 ab , gonçalves

ingr id

the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017 42 Two newly discovered specieshumansbringdiscovered closer Twonewly understandinglineage. our to by evolution

LIKE US MAMMALS UCH_MaroonManagerie_v3.indd 42 10/24/17 3:03 PM UCH_MaroonManagerie_v3.indd 43

photograph by josh larios MAMMALS LIKE US o one bothered to clone mammals for Ju- researchers from UChicago, the Beijing Museum of Natural rassic Park. Dinosaurs were the stars of the History, and China’s Hebei Geo University. These studies Mesozoic era, ruling uncontested until add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that mammals their mysterious, dramatic end. But two evolved not in the wake of dinosaurs but alongside them. 160-million-year-old fossils unearthed in Maiopatagium and Vilevolodon lived in the trees, above China reveal exciting action behind the the jaws and claws of their reptilian contemporaries. Glid- scenes—suggesting that mammals hit ing also helped them reach seeds, fruits, and other elevated their evolutionary stride much earlier than food sources likely suited to their dental anatomy. Wings scientists previously realized. like theirs are one of many biological innovations that en- The fossils, Maiopatagium furcu- abled mammalian species to thrive around the globe. liferum (see pages 42–43) andVilevolodon After the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction—the one diplomylos, are now the oldest winged mammals known to that took out most of the dinosaurs—mammals proliferated, science, part of an extinct lineage called the haramiyidans. resulting in one of the most extensive fossil records avail- NMaiopatagium—nine inches long, slightly larger than able. The Maiopatagium and Vilevolodon fossils were excep- mouse-sized Vilevolodon—translates to “mother with skin tionally well preserved for their age, still showing outlines of membrane.” These prehistoric critters resembled modern- skin, hair, and other soft tissue. But the process of studying day flying squirrels, with their furry coats, long fingers, ancient fossils remains delicate and time consuming. and fleshy parachute-like membranes. But they took flight Luo’s team used PaleoCT to build 3-D skeletal render- long before the ancestors of any living relatives, which fol- ings of each glider fossil. Those renderings informed the lowed different branches of the family tree and developed illustrations and animations for Maiopatagium and Vilevolo- wings independently around 100 million years later. don created by scientific illustrator and lab manager April adapted from an illustration by april i. neander; pages 42–43: photo courtesy zhe-xi luo zhe-xi courtesy photo 42–43: pages neander; i. april by illustration an from adapted “It’s amazing that the aerial adaptations occurred so early Neander. “After CT scanning it takes thousands of hours in the history of mammals,” says David Grossnickle, a grad- to get a detailed morphology right,” Luo says. uate student in the Committee on Evolutionary Biology and To fill in details not preserved in the fossil record, re- a member of professor Zhe-Xi Luo’s lab. “Not only did these searchers drew from available information and parallels fossils show exquisite fossilization of gliding membranes, to living relatives. Primitive mammals had less developed their limb, hand, and foot proportion also suggests a new hearing than their descendants. “As a reflection of that, I gliding locomotion and behavior.” didn’t make the external ear very big,” says Neander. Mammals are far from the most biologically diverse Scholarly interest in fossils is on the rise, driven in part class. They comprise an estimated 5,400 species, com- by the need for physical evidence to corroborate research pared to 10,000 birds, 27,000 fish, and millions of insects. conducted at the molecular level. Fifteen other labs on cam- But mammals are rich in ecological diversity. From bats to pus use the Luo Lab’s equipment for their own research, manatees to giraffes, they have adapted to a much broader from neurosurgeons to geophysicists. range of environments than other vertebrates. In some ways human interest in other mammals is self- “Our two new gliders are just a demonstration that this centered. (The fact that they’re cute doesn’t hurt. “You fundamental mammalian ecological diversity is actually a find fossils where they’re snuggled up with each other,” Ne- very interesting biological signature of our entire group, ander says.) The origins of our distant-but-not-too-distant going from the very beginning of our entire history,” says relatives may harbor clues about our own ancestry. Luo, professor in the Department of Organismal Biology “Mammals are us,” Luo says. “Many of the biological and Anatomy at the University of Chicago. The Luo Lab traits that we came to associate with ourselves, like paren- focuses on the evolution of early mammals, with the help tal care, nursing of babies, our hair, the way we talk, the of a custom-made X-ray computed tomography scanner way we hear, the way we feed … can be mapped in the evo- affectionately known as PaleoCT (unlike similar medi- lutionary record—that’s fossils—to give us an understand- cal equipment, these X-rays are powerful enough to see ing of it.” through rock). Despite the differences in our anatomies and our expe- Luo, who has studied mammals since he was an un- riences, mammals share one thing in common: the hustle. dergraduate at China’s Nanjing University, coauthored Even our earliest ancestors displayed a relentless drive to two papers, both published in Nature this past August, on adapt—to our environments, our neighbors, and our evolv-

Maiopatagium and Vilevolodon with an international team of ing circumstances. On this level at least, we can all relate. ◆ from left: adapted from illustration by kalliopi monoyios; adapted from 3-d model by tyler keillor

44 the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017

UCH_MaroonManagerie_v3.indd 44 10/24/17 3:03 PM MAROON MENAGERIE Meet some of the fantastic beasts UChicago faculty helped introduce to the scientific record and the popular imagination. by kaitlyn akin, ’19; christopher good, ’19; and susie allen, ab’09 adapted from an illustration by april i. neander; pages 42–43: photo courtesy zhe-xi luo zhe-xi courtesy photo 42–43: pages neander; i. april by illustration an from adapted

Tiktaalik roseae Eodromaeus murphi

Tiktaalik roseae probably looked something like a flattened Eodromaeus murphi, a 3.9-foot-long carnivorous dinosaur crocodile. However, the 375-million-year-old fossil, un- weighing in at a meager 15 pounds, looks tame enough. earthed in 2004, is the key to understanding the evolutionary But despite its small stature—“pint-sized,” in Sereno’s link between aquatic and land-dwelling animals. Although words—the “dawn runner” has had an outsized im- Tiktaalik had fins and lived mostly in shallow streams, scien- pact on our understanding of dinosaur evolution. The tists believe it spent short amounts of time on land—its skel- 230-million-year-old species dates so far back that ar- eton reveals limb structures present in later land-dwelling chaeologists have dubbed it a basal dinosaur: they believe mammals, including humans. This concrete connection be- it forms the base of an entire family tree. Its upright gait, tween humans and prehistoric fish was the subject of a best- sharp teeth, and sharp claws suggest that it was an ances- selling book and a PBS series, both titledYour Inner Fish. tor to T. Rex.

SITE: Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada SITE: Northwestern Argentina AGE OF SPECIMEN: 375 million years (Devonian) AGE OF SPECIMEN: 230 million years (Triassic) DISCOVERED: 2004 DISCOVERED: 1996 UCHICAGO RESEARCHER: Neil Shubin, Robert R. UCHICAGO RESEARCHER: Paul Sereno, professor in

from left: adapted from illustration by kalliopiBensley monoyios; adapted from 3-d model by tyler keillor Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy organismal biology and anatomy

the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017 45

UCH_MaroonManagerie_v3.indd 45 10/24/17 4:18 PM Pegomastax africanus Agilodocodon scansorius

Rock fans, check your Dinosaur Jr. jokes at the door. Yes, Shrew-like Agilodocodon scansorius dashed up tree trunks Pegomastax africanus was tiny. The bizarre bipedal herbi- and skittered over branches, high above the ground 165 vore, whose name translates to “thick jaw from Africa,” million years ago. The earliest known tree-dwelling brandished a beak with a pair of vicious-looking canines mammal, Agilodocodon likely fed on sap, a first for mam- and rows of self-sharpening teeth. But it was the bristly mals. Its front teeth were shaped like spades, allowing hide—found preserved under lake sediment and ash—that Agilodocodon to chomp through bark, though its sharp- led Sereno to liken Pegomastax to a “nimble, two-legged edged molars suggest it may have been omnivorous. porcupine.” The Pegomastax fossil was discovered in a Agilodocodon had sturdy, flexible wrists, elbows, and slab of rock in the early 1960s and tucked away in a Har- ankles for climbing—structures present in modern climb- vard University lab drawer, its significance not yet appar- ing mammals. ent. Sereno encountered it years later and, he told the New York Times, “my eyes popped, as it was clear this was a SITE: Inner Mongolia, China distinct species.” AGE OF SPECIMEN: 165 million years ( Jurassic) DISCOVERED: 2011 SITE: South Africa UCHICAGO RESEARCHER: Zhe-Xi Luo, professor of AGE OF SPECIMEN: 200 million years ( Jurassic) organismal biology and anatomy DISCOVERED: 1960s UCHICAGO RESEARCHER: Paul Sereno adapted from illustration by april i. neander; adapted from illustration by by illustration from adapted neander; i. april by illustration from adapted Docofossor brachydactylus clockwise from top left: adapted from illustration by todd marshall; marshall; todd by illustration from adapted left: top from clockwise

Megaconus mammaliaformis While Agilodocodon scansorius took to the branches,

Docofossor brachydactylus was the first mammal to live neander i. april by illustration from adapted neander; i. april To be classified as mammals, animals must nurse their underground. Similar to African golden moles, these offspring. Another typically mammalian characteristic? mouse-sized mammals evolved shovel-like paws with Fur. But one fuzzy critter from 165 million years ago sug- short, wide fingers, perfect for digging—suggesting gests that mammals may not always have had a monopoly that the gene patterning in modern mammals that causes on hair. Squirrel-like Megaconus mammaliaformis had variation in skeletal development also operated in their mammalian fur and teeth—but also a spine, ankle bones, long-ago ancestors. Scientists believe that Docofossor fa- and ear structures that closely resembled other mammal- vored lakeside dwellings, where it snacked on worms and like reptiles. The discovery of the not-quite mammal, insects in the soil. not-quite reptile Megaconus proves that many of the traits we associate with mammals today first emerged in other SITE: Hebei Province, China classes of creatures. Today’s mammals are the “accidental AGE OF SPECIMEN: 160 million years ( Jurassic) survivors,” Luo explains, of many mammaliaform lin- DISCOVERED: 2012 eages that weren’t so lucky. UCHICAGO RESEARCHER: Zhe-Xi Luo

SITE: Inner Mongolia, China AGE OF SPECIMEN: 165 million years ( Jurassic) FIRST DESCRIBED: 2013 UCHICAGO RESEARCHER: Zhe-Xi Luo clockwise from top left: adapted from illustrationoscar sinisidro; by dorothea adapted krantz from illustration and illustration by todd marshall; by davide adapted bonadonna; from adapted from illustration by todd marshall

46 the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017

UCH_MaroonManagerie_v3.indd 46 10/24/17 4:35 PM Spinolestes xenarthrosus Eocarcharia dinops

Spinolestes xenarthrosus scurried on wetland floors around Eocarcharia dinops—the “fierce-eyed dawn shark”—lived 125 million years ago. The “Cretaceous furball,” as Luo up to its name: standing 25 feet tall, it boasted a maw full describes it, was just under 10 inches long, about the size of bladelike teeth and a swollen bony brow that wasn’t of a modern-day mouse or rat. (Researcher Thomas Mar- just for looks: Sereno and Brusatte theorize that the crea- tin of the University of Bonn dispensed with scientific ture used its head as a battering ram in fights over mates. objectivity and admitted to the BBC he found Spinolestes Eocarcharia and its relatives were forerunners of Carchar- “very cute.”) Despite the fossil’s age, features including odontosaurus iguidensis, a massive meat eater that dwarfed compound hair follicles, hedgehog-like spines, and soft T. Rex in size. tissue were preserved. Because of Spinolestes, researchers now know that these fundamental qualities of modern SITE: Saharan Desert, Niger mammals had already emerged during the early Creta- AGE OF SPECIMEN: 110 million years (Cretaceous) ceous period, some 60 million years earlier than previ- DISCOVERED: 2000 ously thought. UCHICAGO RESEARCHERS: Paul Sereno and Stephen L. Brusatte, SB’06 SITE: Las Hoyas Quarry, Spain AGE OF SPECIMEN: 125 million years (Cretaceous) DISCOVERED: 2012 UCHICAGO RESEARCHER: Zhe-Xi Luo

Spinosaurus aegyptiacus adapted from illustration by april i. neander; adapted from illustration by by illustration from adapted neander; i. april by illustration from adapted As Cretaceous carnivores go, Spinosaurus aegyptiacus clockwise from top left: adapted from illustration by todd marshall; marshall; todd by illustration from adapted left: top from clockwise is practically a household name. To archaeologists, it’s Kryptops palaios a semiaquatic predator, with nostrils placed to help it

april i. neander; adapted from illustration by april i. neander i. april by illustration from adapted neander; i. april breathe in water, dense bones for buoyancy control, and a Kryptops palaios—literally, “old hidden face”—owes its dorsal spine that turned its back into a sail. To the rest of name to the spiny shell that enveloped its skull. In prac- us, Spinosaurus’s claim to fame is its size—nine feet longer tice, Kryptops wasn’t one for hiding: with small, sharp than its nearest T. Rex competitor, it’s the largest known teeth and a taste for carcasses, the 25-foot carnivore was fossil of a carnivorous dinosaur. That distinction earned compared to a two-legged hyena by its discoverers. Like Spinosaurus a starring role in Jurassic Park III. Even the Eocarcharia dinops, another fossil discovered on the same story of its discovery has a whiff of Hollywood about it. dig in the Saharan Desert, Kryptops was indigenous to the The firstSpinosaurus fossil was unearthed by a German ancient supercontinent Gondwana, from which present- paleontologist in 1915, only to be destroyed in World War day South America, Africa, Arabia, Madagascar, India, II. Nearly a century later, a new specimen was dug from Australia, and Antarctica were formed. the ground by a Moroccan fossil hunter and eventually made its way to Italy, where researchers worked to con- SITE: Saharan Desert, Niger firm its origin and authenticity. AGE OF SPECIMEN: 110 million years (Cretaceous) DISCOVERED: 2000 SITE: Kem Kem Beds, Morocco UCHICAGO RESEARCHERS: Paul Sereno and Stephen L. AGE OF SPECIMEN: 95 million years (Cretaceous) Brusatte, SB’06 DISCOVERED: 1915, 2013 UCHICAGO RESEARCHERS: Paul Sereno and former postdoctoral scholar Nizar Ibrahim clockwise from top left: adapted from illustrationoscar sinisidro; by dorothea adapted krantz from illustration and illustration by todd marshall; by davide adapted bonadonna; from adapted from illustration by todd marshall

the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017 47

UCH_MaroonManagerie_v3.indd 47 10/24/17 3:04 PM glimpses FIRST

PRINCIPLES by carrie golus, ab’91, am’93

efore law school, Sonja R. West, JD’98, spent a few years as a reporter in Illinois, Iowa, and Washington, DC. “I got to see some legal issues come up at newspapers where I worked, and I was always really fascinated by them,” she says. “The idea formed in my head that rather than do - ing the reporting, I might like defending the reporters.” West is now the Otis Brumby Distin - guished Professor in First Amendment and they apply to everyone. What the court has been re - Law at the University of Georgia, where she specializes in luctant to do, and has not done, is recognize unique press constitutional law, media law, and the US Supreme Court. rights or protections as constitutional rights. My overall BIn her academic work, she has argued for better protection argument is that our press clause is not being given the for high school journalists and autobiographical writers, power that I believe it should have, that the framers of the and for greater transparency at the Supreme Court. In ad- Constitution meant. dition to her publications in law journals, West writes regu- larly for Slate and the Huffington Post. Student journalists v. principals West spoke to the Magazine about the First Amendment In “Student Press Exceptionalism” [Education Law & Pol- and how it’s being interpreted today. Her comments have icy Review, 2015] my argument is that when students are been condensed and edited. engaging in journalism—when they are exercising press rights, acting as the press, and fulfilling press functions— Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier another layer of protection comes in. I was a high school journalist at an interesting time. The Su- Student journalism fills a hole that mainstream tradition- preme Court decided a key student press case, Hazelwood al media are not necessarily able to fill. They cover unique v. Kuhlmeier, in 1988. I became editor in chief of my high issues about their school, issues that affect students in par- school newspaper in 1989. ticular. It’s important work. We should recognize them In Hazelwood the court said that school administrators or not just as students exercising speech rights, but as student officials could censor student speech—and in particular that journalists exercising press rights. case was focused on a student newspaper—for what were very broadly described pedagogical reasons. I had to start Dicta v. law having regular meetings with our administrators, where I In the ’60s, ’70s, and even into the ’80s, there was a peri - told them what was going to be in the newspaper. What it od when the Supreme Court loved the press. The justices meant to suddenly have to answer to a government official had a big impact on me. It put a tiny seed in my head of what the law could mean for journalists and why it was important. OUR PRESS CLAUSE IS Speech rights v. press rights In my work I have tried to make one central point: the NOT BEING GIVEN THE First Amendment of the Constitution not only protects our freedom of speech but also our freedom of the press. POWER THAT I BELIEVE What we’ve had from the Supreme Court is all this fo -

cus on speech. We have wonderfully robust speech rights IT SHOULD HAVE. photography by ian mcfarlane/courtesy university of georgia school of law

48 the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017

Glimpses_v2.indd 48 10/23/17 1:58 PM A journalist earlier in her career, West (second from right) went to law school because she wanted to be an advocate for the media. She then practiced media law before becoming a professor.

I got to clerk there [for Justice John Paul Stevens, LAB’37, AB’41, from 1999 to 2000] and it’s an amazing institution. The more the public could see of it, the better.

Hard v. soft law We are living in very interesting times. Much of our consti- tutional democracy is not based on what we call hard law. Often there is not a black-and-white written-down law or constitutional provision that is exactly on point. The government functions through a great deal of soft law: norms and customs that have supported our constitutional structure and have been followed by presidents and the ad- ministration in general. What we are seeing from the Trump administration is the setting aside of customs and norms. He has not as yet used any hard law to go after journalists. Obviously lots of other presidents have disliked the press—Nixon is a great example. But there was still this basic understanding that reporters were there to do a job. would speak frequently about how important the press was We’ve never had a president of the United States openly —they’re the watchdogs of government, they inform the declare, in his words, a war on the media, or call them “the people, they fulfill this vital role in our democracy. enemy of the American people.” Those are very strong But they would say these things in what lawyers call dic- words. And these constant refrains of “fake news” are an ta, statements that have nothing to do with the holding of attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the press as a whole. the case. They don’t have any real precedential value; they As these norms and traditions are falling away, we’re see- don’t have any value as law. ing more of a need for the Constitution to step in.

Reporting v. legal writing Freedom of speech v. confusion I miss having a daily deadline. It’s a great relief to file a My focus is on free speech and free press. But the First story and go home. In academic work there’s no deadline. Amendment also protects our freedom of religion, freedom to It’s done when you decide it’s done. Then you submit to the assemble and petition our government, and a number of other journals, and even then it’s not really done, because you things. There is a lot of confusion about what exactly these keep changing it in the edits. rights entail. People think we have more rights than we do. I absolutely resist the idea that legal writing has to be bor- First of all, only the government can violate our free speech ing and dry. If there is a colorful way to make a point, or an rights or our free press rights. They have to do something that analogy I can make, I have no problem making that at all. regulates and censors us. If a private person tries to do this to When I’m working with students when they’re trying to you, even if you feel very cornered, it’s not a free speech issue. write a paper, often one of the first things I’ll say to them You have a right to speak in a lot of situations, but you is, “What’s your lead?” You need to catch the reader’s at - don’t have a right for there not to be consequences for that tention, give us the pithy explanation of where this paper speech. When a business gets boycotted, that’s not a free- is going. That’s just good writing. dom of speech issue. That is us having a debate.

Supreme Court v. cameras Garrett v. Obama They don’t have cameras in the Supreme Court, and you never I really loved the University of Chicago Law School. I was a get to see oral arguments. That’s obviously an important is- big, big fan of professor Beth Garrett [later the first woman sue, and they have shown absolutely no inclination to change. president of Cornell University; she died in 2016 at age 52]. The transparency issues go deeper than that. They only I had her for civil procedure as a 1L, and I thought she was release the audio weekly. They do release transcripts daily, so fantastic that I took every class that I could take with but audio is weekly. They don’t release transcripts of bench her. I think I took tax from her. I mean, I’m not a tax person. statements [statements given from the bench when handing Obama was there—he was a state legislator—and I didn’t down an opinion], and the audio for those is released at the take his class. It’s one of my biggest regrets ever. I don’t

photography by ian mcfarlane/courtesybeginning university of georgia school of law of the next term, usually months later. know what I took instead. What was I thinking? ◆

the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017 49

Glimpses_v2.indd 49 10/23/17 1:58 PM history REFORMER REVISITED Remembering Martin Luther’s far-reaching legacy 500 years after the 95 Theses.

by martin e. marty, phd’56 image courtesy cranach digital archive (lucascranach.org)

50 the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017

UCH_Luther_v2.indd 50 10/20/17 4:03 PM riar Martin Luther was naturally at home in Katherine von Bora, a very gifted and loving manager of the monasteries, churches, and courts. Luther-Haus, which was always open to guests, especially Surprisingly, this religious figure was, students. Kate gave birth to six children, kept the books, and is, almost equally at home in universi - tended to her husband in the turmoil of radical changes in ties. His movement was born 500 years ago church and university, hosted their live-in guests, served in an upstart German university at Wit- meals, brewed the beer, and came to be revered by women, tenberg and is being commemorated and who were becoming prominent in Protestantism. reappraised in higher academic institutions The Lutheran version was by no means the first reform worldwide. Scores of colleges and universi- movement to unsettle late-medieval Catholicism. A century ties are named after him, not only in north- before Luther, the Bohemian Jan Hus and other leaders had ern Europe, where the movement that came been articulate enough, in challenging Roman Catholic au- to be called the Reformation was born, but also in global thorities, popes, and emperors, that they risked all, and Hus outposts, such as the young Martin Luther Christian Uni- was burned at the stake as a heretic. In England, leaders in the Fversity in Meghalaya, India. Up to 100 million Lutherans restless wing of the Catholic Church made the Bible available can be found around the globe, first in Germany and Swe- in new translations and questioned many traditions, even as den, then in Ethiopia and Tanzania, which come in third they began to move away spiritually from Rome. Through and fourth in Lutheran population surveys. central Europe, early nationalist movements blended the Universities are home to libraries, where writings of Lu- Christian language of the cross, rooted in the church, and the ther abound in 120 large German-volume editions, while his language of the sword, symbolizing dealings with the state. bounty of books and pamphlets testify to the part the print- Some scholars like to describe a collection of many ter- ing press, a recent invention, played in the Reform move - ritories of the Holy Roman Empire as a tinderbox, ready ments. Catalogers locate his writings, their analogues, and to explode into fire, and they see Luther and other univer- the writings of his colleagues on shelves in sections marked sity teachers and preachers as strikers of the matches to history, arts, sciences, and all the humanities, including, of ignite them. Of reform, Luther once said that while he and course, theology. Psychologists probe records of Luther’s his friends in Wittenberg drank beer, God moved in and often-tortured and revealing inner life. Economists talk brought freedom and grace to the masses. about “the Protestant ethic,” in many forms influenced by The most direct subject of the turmoil for a troubled and Luther. creative theologian had to be God. For Luther and his spiri- Among the visual arts, Luther favored many, including tual kin, “God” meant the God of Christian faith. An old paintings by German artists and woodcuts by Lucas Cran- book on my shelves since student days, Philip S. Watson’s ach, a witness at the ex-friar’s wedding. It was through mu- Let God be God! An Interpretation of the Theology of Martin sic produced or inspired by Luther that the Reformation Luther (Muhlenberg Press, 1947), elaborates. Luther and took hold in parishes and homes. Luther and his colleagues those associated with him were surrounded by a God-based helped move church music and musicians from remote choir culture, imposed on all by church and state, which were until stalls to the crowded benches of ordinary church people. then ordinarily linked. The Reformers claimed that the of- His hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” came to be iden- ficial church did not let God be God. In their eyes, the church tified as “the Battle Hymn of the Reformation,” with the metaphors and reality of wars all too relatable to Luther and other Reformers. In quieter settings, he and his colleagues turned out IT WAS THROUGH MUSIC hymns that were sung in schools and during congregational worship. A whole pop culture emerged from this, and the PRODUCED OR INSPIRED grand cantatas and masses composed by Johann Sebastian Bach and his near peers are its legacies in serious concert programs. Rare is a university chorus that does not prize BY LUTHER THAT THE and perform this heritage. Luther, of course, was not solitary in his home life and REFORMATION TOOK work. Other monks and friars broke vows, affirmed mar- riage, and found mates. Luther helped “marry off” a group HOLD IN PARISHES of young nuns as they fled their convents and himself mar-

image courtesy cranach digital archive (lucascranach.org)ried one who was left over in that domestic lottery. She was AND HOMES.

the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017 51

UCH_Luther_v2.indd 51 10/20/17 4:04 PM Early printings of Luther’s hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” were few, and no first editions are known to survive. This rare sec- ond edition is in the Lutherhaus museum in Wittenberg, Germany.

faith in whom these Reformers shared, though often in con- flicting interpretations. Luther and company insisted that they were not rejecting the message of the Church after 15 centuries, but were listening to it without the clutter of law and superstition. They were “letting God be God.” That project gathered the energies of movements includ- ing the Reformed in Switzerland and the Netherlands, and the Anglicans and others in England and Scotland. Some of these were quite different from Luther’s version, many finding the Lutheran way too compromised, calculating, and cautious. There developed what is often thought of as “the left wing of the Reformation,” which preached radical sepa- ration from the Catholic way. In the patterns of that time, leaders remade God to match their own interests, needs, and people were compelled to go along religiously with their rul- private revelations. In practice, God was cut down to cul - ers, whether Catholic or Protestant, conservative or radical. tural size and not left free to rule or to save humans. All professed in their creeds that they believed the Church to To rule meant to govern personal and social life in terms be “one,” but the Lutheran and multiple other reform move- provided in the divine commandments, as received in the ments led to the appearance of many churches. Bible. They were usually propagated and administered In our ecumenical age, Luther is revered by Lutherans and through the church. Those who failed to keep God’s law, many other Protestants (and Catholics). He and his themes as interpreted by the church, would suffer in this world and are studied and often approved in ways little anticipated. His then eternally in a vividly imagined fiery scene to come. On heirs today do not disguise or hide his faults. In his later years the other side of the curtain of death there was promised he turned notoriously anti-Judaic—or, in today’s terms, a way of thriving with a gracious God in total fulfillment grossly anti-Semitic—when Jews, with whom Lutherans and happiness. Those Christians who kept the divine law shared the ancient covenant with God, did not accept Jesus would be rewarded with “salvation,” the promised vision Christ and the salvation Christians believed he brought. In and experience of God. Along the way there developed our time, the 100-plus Lutheran church bodies around the a kind of halfway house called purgatory, where the sin- world unanimously have united in repenting, which means ners—everyone, that is—were to be painfully prepared for affirming a change of heart with respect to Jews. They ac- the benign realm, usually called Heaven, by being purged knowledge that, for all their efforts, they have a long way of the account of sins and doubts that afflicted all. to go. But today very many observances unite Lutherans, It is easy to see how that domain of total and fateful Catholics, and others in prayer and common action. choice could be exploited, and it was. The condensed story In this 500th year, the calendar points to countless Lu - says that the pope, wanting to build colossal St. Peter’s theran and Protestant activities: conferences, publications, church in Rome, needed funds. These were more abundant festivals, hymn sings, and more. Many who participate in and less spoken for in German and neighboring lands. So, them, whether on university campuses, in classrooms, picking up on a few undeveloped clues in the tradition, en- summer camps, Bible studies, advanced seminars, or local terprisers in German lands peddled indulgences, as if they congregations, will find vast changes in the world separate were tickets redeemable to reduce the time spent in being them from much in Luther’s world. But in the whole range purged. Luther and his fellow preachers took on the indul- of these bodies’ participations and observations, one goal gence peddlers head-on, and things were never the same is nurtured broadly and deeply: to realize and affirm fresh mccain t. paul by by photography again. And the public rejoiced. ways of “letting God be God.” ◆ That telling oversimplifies a complex story, but other ver- sions reinforced its main theme that humans are condemned Martin E. Marty, PhD’56, is the Fairfax M. Cone Distin- and need redemption, which meant being brought back to guished Service Professor Emeritus at the University of God. And here was a dramatic, fresh pitch of Luther and Chicago, where he taught for 35 years. He is the name- the Reformers. Instead of winning eternal life by buying it, sake of the Divinity School’s Martin Marty Center, fo- making pilgrimages, or following other rites, people simply cused on religion in public life, and author of Martin had to hear and believe the word of God, channeled through Luther (2004), from the Penguin Lives series, and Octo- the Bible and the preached word. All words of divine grace, ber 31, 1517: Martin Luther and the Day that Changed the they taught, center in God’s loving action in Jesus Christ, World (Paraclete Press, 2016).

52 the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017

UCH_Luther_v2.indd 52 10/24/17 3:20 PM NEWS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PHYSICAL SCIENCES DIVISION

2017 INQUIRY

CT scan statistics 54 Chicago Pile-1 56 Science setbacks 58 Nancy Grace Roman 62 Solar eclipse 68

inquiry in the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017 53

PSD-17-1664 Inquiry Fall 2017 v12.indd 53 10/19/17 12:25 PM page 53 illustration by anthony freda; photography by jason smith , ------10/19/17 12:26 PM , SM’09, Emil SidkyEmil Rina Foygel Barber Foygel Rina

PhD’12, statistics is “one of the fantastic places that you can get a real intersection between theory and or assistant professor David David A CTscanA assemblestakenseries X-rays a of fromdiffer areworking “We with real dataand answering real ques Optimization theory in statistics involves finding the Because they avoid the trap of the local optimum, “al As they worked together on the MOCCA project, Sidky Barberattributes involvementproject—andtheinher to Take her research on image formation in computed to STATISTICS focus Sharpened A mixture of theory and practice helps statistician Rina Foygel Barber, SM’09, PhD’12,herresults. optimize F application—not just in the same PhD program but in the project.” same ogy at UChicago, and Taly Gilat-Schmidt, a biomedicalengineer at Marquette University, convex/concave Barber mirrored used the optimiza develop help to theory tion (MOCCA) algorithm, which helps CT scanners make bet ter, clearer three-dimensional CT images in less time. ent angles into one three-dimensionaltors with a more thorough picture of a patient image, than they’d providingsee in a two-dimensional doc image. An algorithm controls the processtakingof andassembling these images; efthemore ficient it is, the quicker patients’ the scanning reduces and money process. and time A shorter saves only CT not scan radiation to exposureare they but alsolikely improvesmore the thestill, scanlie to itself—thehave patients longer twitchfidget,or blurring the resulting image. tions,” says Barber, “but are at the that out same things figuring time and we’re theory learning optimization about much more general than just that specific problem.” trick hand. The at problem the answers best that equation op best the is which optimum, local a choosing avoid to is tion within small a possible solutions, neighborhood of in- steadglobala of optimum, which is the best option period. Regarding convex and nonconvex (concave and linear) algorithms, convex means that an optimal solutionanteed to be is the guar best global solution. most all of the main theory and really beautifulhas been theory” forconvex optimizations, which Barbernotes are also easier to work with. But CT scans and other medical imaginginvolve an element randomness,of as beamsX-ray can behave unpredictably. with This for randomness, accounted and Barber captured better and is found, team her equation.nonconvex a noted that experi unlike the to rest the leave then and many collaboration a to theorists,idea who contributementalists, one central Barber “listensimplementingthe issuesfor hadtalof I andsomepart on it of to all aspects of it:largea thescale. She has ideas experimen allon thoseof things.” SM’91, PhD’93, a research associate professor in radiol mography (CT) scans. In collaboration with ge. a tomic tomic

, built the first nuclear reac- nuclear , built the first . ag.uchicago.edu/cp1-events code-named the code-named was in what perating fterward, for safety reasons, the Met Lab moved moved the Met Lab reasons, safety for fterward, he University is commemorating the 75th anni- the 75th is commemorating he University rom the first nuclear weapons to nuclear energy weapons nuclear the first rom ermi’s experiment led to the formation of three three of the formation led to experiment ermi’s A F F T NOTE FROM THE DEAN n December 1942 a group of physicists led by En- led by physicists of 1942 a group n December hope you will consider joining us, will consider hope you Edward W. “Rocky” Kolb “Rocky” W. Edward Division Sciences the Physical Dean of (See “Manhattan’s Critical Moment,” page 56.) Critical Moment,” (See “Manhattan’s Hills, Illinois, and near Palos a spot to Chicago out of - for the surrounding after Argonne renamed was National as Argonne chartered formally It was est. “big signaling the beginning of in 1946, Laboratory sup- often research scientific science”—large-scale had entered Physics governments. federal by ported the public domain. - Stud Nuclear for Institute the UChicago: at institutes - the Insti Institute; Fermi ies, which became the Enrico Franck the James into Metals, which evolved for tute Radiobiol- of Institute and the discontinued Institute; - astro for famous EFI, now The ogy and Biophysics. and the JFI, research, and particle physics physics condensed science, materials of the intersection at mo- and atomic, chemistry, physical physics, matter the of cornerstones are physics, and optical lecular, Sciences. the Physical Division of has been the University therapy, cancer radiation to We’ve age breakthroughs. atomic of on the forefront that destruction of the warn to also been the first our to and threats us now, dangers with pass, came to UChicago scientists nuclear research. born of future after Scientists Atomic the of Bulletin the founded in Japan. It still detonated bombs were the atomic take and address, acknowledge, to today operates it’s used. and how nuclear science for responsibility and our our history considering by CP-1 of versary been held have Events in shaping the world. role in a and will culminate quarter the fall throughout 1 and 2. Physicists, on December symposium two-day leaders, and thepolicy public historians, chemists, inquiry and expression will join in free community what in understanding and will engage the world For come. to it led, and what’s where happened here, see m information, I Critical inquiry I o Fermi, rico Laboratory Metallurgical tor—Chicago Pile-1—underneath the old Stagg Field. the old Stagg Pile-1—underneath tor—Chicago - self-sustain controlled, the first achieved they There the a giving rise to ing nuclear reaction, PSD-17-1664 Inquiry Fall 2017 v12.indd 54 PSD-17-1664 Inquiry Fall 2017 v12.indd 55

images courtesy taly gilat-schmidt Barber’s work can be illustrated with these scans of a chicken wing. This image is the raw data collected by the CT sensors. sensors. CT by the collected raw data the is image This wing. of a chicken scans these with illustrated be can work Barber’s algorithmMOCCA create helped clearer scans (right) in less time. Barber’s read. to hard them making (left) rings created scan aCT during data by the created “noise” the Previously, and math side.” math and from the stat problems different completely “inspire but also imaging of types other with applications find only not can optimization. nonconvex to sensing compressed from and their work in CT image reconstruction quickly shifted Barber, met with department of members other the radiology and Sidky students, his from course the about Hearing scan. CT minimum a the example, for with produce, do to to required images having of number applications imaging medical with area statistical another sensing, compressed on course Barber’s took students ofSidky’s Some UChicago. at faculty hooked. was and fun for course statistics a took she mathematics, in program doctoral go’s UChica in year of her second beginning the At my in life.” math more bit a needed just “I says, she teaching, loved she Although Baltimore. in Af School Park at the math she taught happenstance. in 2005, from Brown degree her undergraduate ter earning statistics—to in career her extent, some Barber hopes that her work with Sidky and Gilat-Schmidt Gilat-Schmidt and her that hopes Sidky work with Barber the on year first her 2014, in came Sidky to introduction Her inquiry - - —Jeanie Chung faculty. as back come to draw significant a family—was her to proximity and climate research collaborative University’s she says. a been to place “It’s be great from the start,” science. and specifically, math in diversity gender of UChicago terms At in strides notices she peers. her among represented well be to women finds she younger,” skew to “tend Barber, says thus, and statistics of subfields new relatively are mization a traditional statistical sample. than size sample larger a much representing data to niques tech statistical classical apply which methods, timation set. data a in variables eliminate helps which , filter knockoff a call statisticians what on Candès, Emmanuel Stanford’s adviser, postdoctoral her with work her in contributions” Award for “groundbreaking New Researcher Tweedie tics March she received the Institute of Mathematical Statis In fact, Barber’s graduate experience—along with the the with experience—along graduate Barber’s fact, In opti large-scale and statistics high-dimensional Because es and inference high-dimensional on works also She She is already making her mark in other subfields. In In subfields. other in mark her making already is She in the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017 55 2017 fall | magazine chicago of university the in 10/19/17 12:26 PM - - - - PHYSICS

and uranium oxide, braced by a wooden frame—nearly Manhattan’s $39 million worth of materials in today’s dollars. Within the pile, these components were reacting in ways invisible to the naked eye. As the radioactive uranium naturally critical moment decayed, it released fast neutrons through spontaneous nuclear fission. The graphite served as a moderator, slow- laboratory national argonne courtesy image The University marks the 75th anniversary ing the released neutrons enough to be captured by other of Chicago Pile-1, the world’s first controlled, uranium nuclei, which normally would induce more fission self-sustaining nuclear reaction. in a chain reaction. But the physicists had prevented such a chain reaction by inserting cadmium rods into the side of the pile to absorb n December 2, 1942, in an abandoned squash court the slowed neutrons. The rods, arranged in three redun- underneath the former Stagg Field, where Mansueto dant safety systems, were stopping—and controlling—a O Library and Henry Moore’s Nuclear Energy sculpture nuclear chain reaction. The main system, which included now stand, a team of 49 scientists and workers gathered on 10 rods—any one of which would stop the reaction—was a balcony intended for spectators and stared at a 20-foot pile manually inserted and retracted. A second system included of bricks below. two electronically operated fail-safe rods, programmed to Chicago Pile-1, or CP-1 for short, weighed more than automatically deploy if neutron intensity rose above a set 400 tons and consisted of layers of solid graphite bricks safety point. And the last system was an emergency rod alternating with bricks embedded with uranium metal attached to a rope, to be cut in the event of a crisis. What

No photography was permitted at the top-secret experiment to achieve the first nuclear reaction. John Cadel’s paint- ing recreates the moment when Enrico Fermi (center) determined the reaction had become self-sustaining.

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PSD-17-1664 Inquiry Fall 2017 v12.indd 56 10/19/17 12:27 PM applause rippled through the audience. A COLLEAGUE ASKED The experiment succeeded: CP-1 became the first reactor to go critical, or maintain a controlled, self-sustaining nucle- ar reaction, producing half a watt of power. This “birth of FERMI WHAT HE WOULD the atomic age” formed the basis for decades of technological innovation that would change the course of human history. DO IF ANYTHING CP-1 has a complicated legacy. The experiment was a cor- nerstone of the Manhattan Project, the Allied effort to de- WENT WRONG. HE velop nuclear weapons during World War II. The Germans “were advancing everywhere, they were conquering ev- REPLIED, “I WILL WALK erywhere, and they were working on an atomic bomb,” said Roger Hildebrand, the Samuel K. Allison Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in Physics, in a 2012 interview. AWAY—LEISURELY.” “The consequence of losing a nuclear race was the preoc - cupation of everyone who knew that a nuclear bomb might would happen once the physicists removed the cadmium be possible.” rods? Would the reaction peter out, or never even start? Less than three years after CP-1 went critical, the United Would the pile explode? States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiro- Enrico Fermi, the Nobel Prize–winning physicist who led shima and Nagasaki, killing at least 129,000 people—mostly the experiment and would later join the UChicago faculty, civilians. The war, which had already claimed 50 million was confident in his calculations. He lives, was over within a month. assured fellow Nobelist Arthur Holly The development and use of nuclear weapons, as well Compton, the UChicago physicist who as the potential for both beneficial and destructive tech - directed the Metallurgical Laboratory, nologies based on CP-1’s success, were not taken lightly. In which conducted the experiment and June 1945, two months before Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a later became Argonne National Labo- group of Manhattan Project scientists, led by UChicago ratory, that the pile would produce no physical chemistry professor and Nobelist James Franck, more energy than could power a light- released The Franck Report, warning of an impending nu- bulb. Before the experiment, a col- clear armaments race and unsuccessfully advocating for a league asked Fermi what he would do demonstration of power by dropping an atomic bomb on an if anything went wrong. He replied, “I uninhabited area. will walk away—leisurely.” The same month the war ended, September 1945, an- On the morning of the experiment, other group of Manhattan Project scientists and UChi- Fermi ordered all rods removed, save cago professors, who “could not remain aloof to the for one of the manually operated rods. consequences of their work,” established the Bulletin of The emergency rod was hoisted on its the Atomic Scientists. Its early years, according to the rope, monitored by Norman Hilberry, Bulletin’s mission statement, chronicled the “dawn of the Compton’s right-hand man. On the nuclear age and the birth of the scientists’ movement, as squash court floor, physicist George told by the men and women who built the atomic bomb and Weil operated the remaining main then lobbied with both technical and humanist arguments rod that served as a starter, accelera- for its abolition.” tor, and brake. Weil slowly removed it Still active today, the Bulletin informs science lead- over several hours as Fermi monitored ers, policy makers, and the public about nuclear weapons the clicking neutron counter. and disarmament, the changing energy landscape, cli- At 11:35 a.m. there was a loud clap. mate change, and emerging technologies. The Bulletin of One of the automatic safety rods had Atomic Scientists is the organization behind the annually slammed into the pile; the safety point reevaluated Doomsday Clock, set in 2017 at 2.5 minutes had been set too low, triggering the to midnight—the apocalypse. The clock symbolizes the mechanism (and a lunch break). world’s vulnerability to nuclear technologies, measured At 2:30 p.m. the experiment re - by the scientists who develop them. sumed. Weil again pulled out the To mark the 75th anniversary of Chicago Pile-1 and to ad- remaining main rod in a series of mea- dress its far-reaching influence, UChicago will hold lectures, sured increments, and the neutron seminars, workshops, multimedia presentations, music per- intensity rose at a steadily increasing formances, and exhibitions throughout the fall quarter. The rate. Fermi ran calculations on his series of public events, titled Nuclear Reactions—1942: A slide rule before announcing, “The re- Historic Breakthrough, an Uncertain Future, began in Sep- action is self-sustaining. The curve is tember and will culminate in a two-day program on campus exponential.” The rods were replaced December 1 and 2. Visit mag.uchicago.edu/cp1-events. at 3:53 p.m. to end the reaction. Quiet —Ingrid Gonçalves, AB’08, and Maureen Searcy

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PSD-17-1664 Inquiry Fall 2017 v12b.indd 57 10/19/17 2:11 PM knowledge Uncharted From dark matter to gravitational waves to a balloon-born telescope, scientists discuss how they handle setbacks. by maur een sea rcy a nd sea n ca r r, a b’90 illustration by a nthon y fr eda

cientific progress follows a winding path, torical discoveries as well as his own team’s data—leads filled with detours and wrong turns—a nat - to more reliable methods, sensitive instruments, and ural result of exploring the unknown. Sci- credible results. And one story is a study in resilience in ence makes headway by challenging itself, the face of repeated misfortune, and in how catastrophe identifying mistakes, self-correcting, and can give rise to creativity and improvisation. persevering. That’s how alchemy becomes Science is not a “lockstep march toward progress,” Schemistry, astrology becomes astronomy, and belief in says Edward “Rocky” Kolb, dean of the Physical Sciences the four humors leads to medicine. Division. He compares the process to Brownian motion, UChicago scientists have seen their share of scientific with ideas bouncing around erratically but with a general wandering. One describes searching for something that direction toward deeper understanding and more correct no one is sure even exists, and how not finding it is in fact results. “How do we know what the right direction is? We a discovery. Another explains how skepticism—of his- bump into a wall and say, ‘Oops, that’s the wrong way.’”

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PSD-17-1664 Inquiry Fall 2017 v12.indd 58 10/19/17 12:27 PM HIGH HOPES HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT ANGELA OLINTO IMPROVISES WHEN HER EXPERIMENT CRASHES. THE RIGHT DIRECTION On April 25, astrophysicist Angela Olinto let go of her balloon. Launched from Wanaka, New Zealand, it rose more than 20 miles into the sky—a stadium-sized super pressure helium IS? WE BUMP INTO A balloon, carrying a one-ton UV telescope and Olinto’s hopes to discover the secrets of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. “I WALL AND SAY, ‘OOPS, find the most energetic particles exciting,” says Olinto, the Albert A. Michelson Distinguished Service Professor of THAT’S THE WRONG WAY. Astronomy and Astrophysics, “because they challenge our theories on how they became so energized.” The extremely rare charged particles strike Earth at a rate ect has faced. A version of EUSO was originally designed for of one particle per square kilometer per century. When they the International Space Station (ISS) in the early 2000s, but collide with the atmosphere, they produce a cascade of sec- after the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, NASA halted ondary particles, including neutrinos. If astrophysicists can space shuttle missions for more than two years pending the in- observe those particle showers, they can look backward and vestigation. The shuttle program was then phased out in 2011. search for their origin. In 2012, when the detector was reconfigured for the The balloon’s payload, an instrument called the Extreme Japanese Experiment Module of the ISS and became JEM- Universe Space Observatory (EUSO), was designed to EUSO, Olinto was invited to lead the US branch of the measure the UV light produced when nitrogen molecules 13-country collaboration. But several factors, compounded in the atmosphere are energized by the cascade and then re- by the 2011 Fukushima meltdown, made the future of that turn to ground state. The balloon was scheduled to carry the project uncertain. So JEM-EUSO was broken into several fluorescence detector for 10 0 days, testing the equipment but projects, one of which was EUSO-SPB, aboard the super “mostly collecting data,” says Olinto. pressure balloon, whose launch was then delayed a month Three days into the flight, the balloon sprang a leak. By by weather concerns. day 12, it was at the bottom of the South Pacific Ocean. “I have been in many situations where it looked like the NASA planned for this possibility and sank the balloon, us- whole effort was about to dissolve into dust,” says Olinto. Yet ing a remote termination command to prevent a dangerous she finds those situations filled with creative energy, which she descent. NASA’s 30-year-old balloon program had conduct- funnels into formulating new approaches. “The goals in re- ed an environmental analysis of an open-ocean landing and search are flexible,” she says, “so the alternate path and the final designed the payload to act as an anchor, pulling the entire destination are redefined when challenges are overwhelming.” balloon quickly to the ocean floor to protect marine life. Olinto’s new plan is to build another telescope and add a Olinto had no say over if or when the balloon should come neutrino detector. The project’s second generation, EUSO- down. “We are responsible for the payload,” she says. “The SPB2, received a NASA award in September. “No one has balloon and the flight—that’s all under NASA’s control.” De- seen ultra-high-energy neutrinos before,” she says. The sec- spite her disappointment, Olinto stays positive. “This was not ond flight will allow EUSO to collect more data and test the my worst nightmare. That would have been completing the neutrino instrument’s capabilities. “It will be easier to pre- 100-day flight and finding our equipment doesn’t work well.” dict and prepare for what can go wrong, learning from the The 13-country EUSO collaboration was able to collect first flight, where lots of things went wrong.” some data, in part because after the leak the researchers changed their strategy to optimize what time they had left. SECOND TIME’S THE CHARM. “We had to improvise,” says Olinto. AND THE FOURTH. AND THE FIFTH. Normally they would collect data on moonless nights, when the particle shower lights are best observed, and DANIEL HOLZ, SM’94, PHD’98, EXPLAINS FAKE download data when the moon is bright. When the leak was GRAVITATIONAL WAVES. confirmed, they downloaded no matter the moon’s state. On Monday, September 14, 2015, at 4:51 a.m. CDT, the twin Luckily their launch window opened during the new moon, Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory and they collected about 60 gigabytes of data. (LIGO) detectors—in Hanford, Washington, and Livings- The balloon’s leak is one of many setbacks the EUSO proj- ton, Louisiana—picked up the signal of gravitational waves.

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PSD-17-1664 Inquiry Fall 2017 v12.indd 59 10/19/17 12:28 PM Produced by the collision and merging of two massive black al waves search, and so the goal for LIGO was “to have our holes, it was the first observation of the ripples in space-time detection, especially our first detection, be so clear, so im- that Albert Einstein had predicted a century earlier. pressive, that no one could possibly doubt what we’ve done.” Five months after the detection—once scientists, in- After the false alarm of the blind injection, which came cluding UChicago associate professor of physics Daniel during the era of “initial” LIGO, improvements in the de- Holz, SM’94, PhD’98, had checked, rechecked, and triple- tectors made them far more sensitive. By September 2015 checked the data—they announced their results to the world. “advanced” LIGO was ready—or almost. In fact, at that This wasn’t the first time LIGO had been through this point the new equipment was not officially online. “We drill; it was just the first time that it turned outnot to be a drill. were still fiddling with the machine,” Holz says. “We were Five years earlier, before Holz joined the collabora - going to turn it on very soon.” tion, a less sensitive previous incarnation of LIGO had So when the detection came through, everyone assumed picked up what appeared to be gravitational waves. The it had to be an injection. That’s when they received word collaboration had gone through all the usual steps with the from the top: the blind injection system was not yet up and detected event: “It was studied, taken apart, everything, running. And if such a “perfect event” wasn’t an injection, hundreds and hundreds of people involved” over several it could be only one thing. months, says Holz. A paper was drafted; the decision was “We still ripped it apart,” says Holz. Without the blind made to submit it for publication. “We’re talking about injection system up and running, it was even more important people arguing about the title of the paper,” Holz says—it to make sure they weren’t fooling themselves. “It was five was that close to done. months of a thousand people doing their very best to figure There was just one problem: there had been no event. out how this might not be real.” But it was real. “We couldn’t The initial signal had been a “blind injection,” a test de - make the event go away.” signed by a sworn-to-secrecy team within LIGO to see if More gravitational waves have followed—confirmed de- the equipment—and most important, the scientists inter - tections in December 2015 and January 2017. Conservatism, preting the data—could distinguish between a false posi - however, still rules: an October 2015 detection is classified tive and an actual event. only as a “candidate” gravitational wave because it wasn’t “The answer,” Holz says, “was, ‘No, this isn’t real. We’re loud enough for the collaboration to be confident. not publishing this. We haven’t just detected gravitational To this day, however, LIGO has yet to switch on its blind waves, and no one’s getting a Nobel Prize.’” (Flash-forward injection system. “Because we’ve seen real events, we know to October 2017: LIGO leaders Barry Barish, Kip Thorne, it’s working,” Holz says. So the last thing they need is fake and Rainer Weiss get the nod from Stockholm.) signals to analyze. “At this point it’s becoming difficult to It might seem like “a complete waste of time,” Holz says keep up with the real events that keep showing up.” of the negated months of work, but it’s “actually useful. It makes you go through the whole process” and ask, what went wrong, what did they get right, and how could every- thing be improved? It keeps the scientists on their toes. IT MAKES YOU GO Such tests are standard in the field of gravitational waves research, and an understandable precaution when you’re working to confirm a key part of the general theory of rela- THROUGH THE WHOLE tivity. The abundance of caution is part of the legacy of the first scientist to claim to have detected gravitational waves, PROCESS AND ASK, Joe Weber of the University of Maryland—the “father of the field,” Holz says, and “an absolutely brilliant experimenter.” WHAT WENT WRONG, In 1969 Weber published a paper in Physical Review Letters that described what he had detected. WHAT DID THEY GET But the signal he had found was “at least five orders of mag- nitude too loud,” Holz explains. Others “could not think of any way from the theory side that there really could be waves RIGHT, AND HOW that were that loud.” No one else was able to reproduce We- ber’s results. Nonetheless, he remained convinced and con- COULD EVERYTHING tinued to make more “detections” throughout his life. Weber’s example “set a particular tone” to the gravitation- BE IMPROVED?

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PSD-17-1664 Inquiry Fall 2017 v12.indd 60 10/19/17 12:28 PM At Sanford Underground Research Facility, a mile beneath the Black Hills of South Dakota in a former gold mine, the Large Underground Xenon dark matter detector continues to search for WIMPs.

PROCESS OF ELIMINATION exist after the big bang, that number matches the amount of dark matter seen (or inferred) today. ROCKY KOLB SEARCHES FOR THE But so far no detectors or colliders have been able to shed MYSTERIOUS PARTICLE. light on WIMPs. So does Kolb still think they’re the answer? Astrophysicists theorize that about 85 percent of the uni - “I think we’ll be surprised, that the answer will come out verse’s mass is dark matter, which can be detected only of left field,” he says. through its gravitational effects. Galaxies and galaxy clus- What’s advantageous about the WIMP hypothesis says ters spin so quickly that they should have torn themselves Kolb, is that it’s falsifiable. British philosopher Karl Popper’s apart based on their observable matter. Something is hold- concept of falsifiability states that theories are scientific only ing them together, but no one knows what. if it is possible, in principle, to prove them false, and that em- Scientists know much about what dark matter is not: It pirical science is never confirmed, only incrementally cor- is not the visible stuff of stars and planets. It is not dark roborated through absence of disconfirming evidence. clouds of baryonic (ordinary atomic) matter, which can be Another dark matter candidate—ordinary matter in the observed absorbing radiation passing through them. And form of black holes, neutron stars, or brown dwarfs called it’s not antimatter, which would produce gamma rays when MAssive Compact Halo Objects, or MACHOs—was falsi- it annihilates with matter. So what is it? fied in 2004 through the discovery of a galaxy cluster that One hypothetical candidate is WIMPs—weakly in- doesn’t behave in accordance with the hypothesis. teracting massive particles that don’t interact much with “Maybe we’re on the verge of falsifying WIMPs,” says ordinary matter, proposed more than 30 years ago. As a Kolb, which would be a form of discovery. graduate student at the University of Texas, Austin, in He cites the famous failed experiment of Albert Mi- the 1970s, Rocky Kolb, now the Arthur Holly Compton chelson, founder of UChicago’s physics department, and Distinguished Service Professor of Astronomy and As- Edward Morley to establish the existence of “ether,” the trophysics at UChicago, helped lay the foundations for medium they believed filled space and was required to WIMPs by exploring the limits to weak interaction. transmit light. In the process of failing, they established WIMPs may be part of the concept of supersymmetry, the speed of light as a fundamental constant, and their work which fills gaps in astrophysicists’ understanding of known eventually led to the theory of relativity. particles and forces. The idea says that each fundamental So discovering that WIMPs aren’t the explanation for particle has an as-yet-undiscovered superpartner. When dark matter would point astrophysicists in other direc- scientists use the properties of the lightest supersymmetric tions. But scientists “should completely exhaust the pos-

photography by c. h. faham particles—WIMPs—and calculate how many would still sibilities,” Kolb says, before making that call. ◆

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PSD-17-1664 Inquiry Fall 2017 v12.indd 61 10/19/17 12:28 PM profile A wider scope Nancy Grace Roman, PhD’49, didn’t get tenure. She changed the course of astronomy instead. by maur een sea rcy

“I have no soft spot for the University of Chicago,” says Nancy they lived together before Georgia’s death in 1992, Roman Grace Roman, PhD’49. While her graduate work was edu - wondered aloud whether those outings inspired her enthu- cationally and scientifically fruitful, her faculty years after - siasm for space. “My mother was sort of shocked, because ward were marred by discrimination. The unfair treatment she had no science interest at all,” says Roman during an in- she received as a woman academic is a key element in Roman’s terview at her home in Chevy Chase, Maryland, in March. story, one that led her to a fledgling six-month-old NASA as its Georgia had been a music teacher. And—as she reminded first chief of astronomy, where she arguably changed the face Roman during that talk—had also shown her trees and flow- of space exploration. ers and birds. “Those didn’t stick,” says Roman. She credits her geophysicist father, Irwin, with early ex- posure to science at home. “He taught me mental arithmetic ow did you get interested in astronomy?” ask by playing games with me,” she says. He also introduced her countless interviewers, curious why she gravi- to scientific concepts and skills such as woodworking and tated to a field women were actively discour- household mechanics. “He said that I could not leave for col- aged from pursuing when she was growing up lege without knowing how to rewire a lamp.” in the 1930s and ’40s. Roman, age 92, responds During the Great Depression, Irwin worked where he that she has no idea. Born in Nashville, Ten- could—for an oil company, a university, and eventually the nessee,H her family moved frequently. One early memory civil service—requiring the family to move frequently. By photo courtesy nasa was of living in Nevada and organizing an astronomy club seventh grade Roman had relocated to Baltimore. After between fifth and sixth grades for her friends to study con- reading every astronomy book in the Baltimore library, stellations in Reno’s pitch-black night skies, implying a pre- she made up her mind to become an astronomer, knowing viously sparked interest. it would take another 12 years of school. She figured if she When Roman was a girl, her mother, Georgia, took her couldn’t “cut it,” she could teach math or physics. to see the Northern Lights and constellations. Later, when Roman attended Swarthmore for three reasons: it had

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PSD-17-1664 Inquiry Fall 2017 v12.indd 62 10/19/17 12:29 PM Nancy Grace Roman holds a model of the Orbiting Solar Observatory in 1962.

a good astronomy department, it was close to Baltimore, and it was coed. Goucher College was a women’s school at IT WAS THE BEGINNING the time, and Johns Hopkins admitted women only to their night classes. (Although she wanted a change, Roman’s at- OF AN ERA OF tendance at an all-female high school may have contributed to her later success. “Studies show that a statistically sig- nificant number of female leaders, regardless of arena, often UNDERSTANDING come from women’s schools,” says physics department chair Young-Kee Kim, “because they can exercise their leader- THE STRUCTURE ship skills.” See “Strength in Numbers,” page 66.) Many coed universities from the late 1800s through about OF THE MILKY WAY. 1960 had a dean of women, an administrator in charge of fe- male student affairs, who oversaw women students’ lives, from their academic choices to their social behavior. (Two age, the stars have different velocities, Roman explains. universities are commonly cited as the first to employ deans “They tend to expand. Like water evaporates into air, stars of women—Swarthmore and the University of Chicago.) evaporate into space.” So stars born of the same cluster can According to Roman, Swarthmore’s dean of women dur- be found all over the sky. Her project involved looking for ing her undergraduate years encouraged women to pursue stars that were born with the stars in the Big Dipper, using what she deemed female-appropriate fields. “If you insisted information in existing catalogs. on majoring in science or engineering, she wouldn’t have any- “I could tell how stars were moving now and could re - thing more to do with you,” says Roman. “So she sent me to verse that motion, taking them back to the Dipper at about [the head of the astronomy department] Peter van de Kamp.” the right time,” says Roman. She found more than 200 stars He too was less than encouraging, though Roman doesn’t that had been born in the Ursa Major cluster. know if the treatment was gender based, as few men were After earning her doctorate, Roman stayed on as a post- starting college during World War II. Van de Kamp, who doc, instructor, and then assistant professor—the first studied astrometry—the precise measurement of positions, woman on UChicago’s astronomy faculty. She taught for- motions, and magnitudes of stars—told Roman that he was mally and informally while conducting research. During using material collected by his predecessors 50 years ago this period she studied differences in stars bright enough and collecting material to be used by his successors 50 years to see with the naked eye. She discovered that the compo- in the future. “He was trying to discourage me, trying to sitions varied and that the variance correlated with dif- tell me this is a slow study, that you’re not going to see the ferences in the stars’ velocities, directions, and, to some results,” she says. But Roman didn’t realize his intent until extent, location in the galaxy. Roman is especially proud many years later, and so she persevered. of that work because it was the beginning of an era of un- derstanding the structure of the Milky Way. The problem, she says, was that she was making such oining the University of Chicago and Yerkes Obser- a low salary that her parents had to help her financially. vatory in 1946 for her doctorate, Roman finally felt When she left UChicago and joined the government, she J accepted and a part of the student body—treated like was hired as a freshly graduated PhD despite having six everybody else. She told a NASA historian in 2000 that years of experience and an international reputation. “My there were always at least two women students, one of salary was so low,” she says, “that they didn’t recognize it whom arrived almost the same day she did and with whom as professional experience.” she remained great friends. Roman estimates she was making no more than 60 percent She had difficulties with her thesis adviser, who would of what her male colleagues earned, based on salaries offered go six months without speaking to her, but it wasn’t because for comparable positions at peer institutions, invariably filled she was a woman, says Roman. “He was just moody.” She by men. The only woman faculty member in the Department found adviser-level support from visiting professors, who of Astronomy and Astrophysics at that time, Roman had no helped her research continue forward. other women’s salaries to compare with her own. Roman’s thesis project centered on the Ursa Major clus- When she brought her concerns to the department chair, ter—the central part of the Big Dipper, itself part of Ursa Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, the Indian-born astrophysi- Major, the great bear. Star clusters are formed in relatively cist who went on to win a Nobel Prize, he told her, “We don’t compact areas of dense gas and dust clouds, and as clusters discriminate against women. We can just get them for less.”

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PSD-17-1664 Inquiry Fall 2017 v12c.indd 63 10/24/17 12:07 PM tion of women on the tenure-track faculty.” IT WAS LIKE LEARNING Vandervoort, who met Roman at Yerkes when he was an undergraduate, can’t say whether she would have eventu- TO SWIM BY JUMPING ally received tenure. But he’s certain she should have, cit- ing an “impressive list of publications” and the respect she INTO DEEP WATER. earned in the international astronomy community. One of Roman’s publications from 1950 is a key paper “in building up the standard model of the dynamical and chemical evolu- “I would have thought he’d understand discrimination,” tion of the Milky Way,” says Vandervoort. says Roman. Her work, then and now, has been recognized as ground- Peter Vandervoort, AB’54, SB’55, SM’56, PhD’60, breaking—the beginning of what surely would have been astronomy and astrophysics professor emeritus, de facto an influential career in academia. But while she made piv- departmental historian, and Chandrasekhar mentee, con- otal discoveries at UChicago, Vandervoort says that she firms that Chandra, as many called him, did in fact experi- strikes him as not the type to wait around. She is, he says, ence his fair share of discrimination. “a person who can recognize opportunities.” After joining the Department of Astronomy and Astro- Sure enough, when an astronomer in the department— physics and Yerkes Observatory (where the department Gerard Kuiper, for whom the Kuiper belt is named—told resided) in 1937, Chandra was invited by University physi- Roman about a position at the Naval Research Laboratory cists to give a colloquium on campus. Physics department (NRL) in Washington, DC, she took it. “I believed that chair Henry Gale refused. “He did not want this black Kuiper’s suggestion was also confirmation that a tenure po- scientist from India to lecture in his department,” wrote sition at Yerkes was unlikely,” says Roman. The move meant Chandra’s wife, Lalitha, after his death. University presi- changing her specialization from optical astronomy to radio dent Robert Maynard Hutchins drafted a one-sentence re- astronomy, which at the time was a new field for the United sponse: “Mr. Chandrasekhar shall give his lectures.” States and has since blossomed into a major area of study. “Hutchins said his appointment was a move toward di - versity,” says Vandervoort. Yet gender diversity, when Roman arrived more than a decade later, was still lacking. adio telescopy, just like optical, measures electromag- In addition to the salary discrepancy, Roman felt certain netic radiation but focusing on different parts of the that she would never earn tenure at the University of Chi - R light spectrum. Radio waves are much longer than cago. She knew of no women in the Physical Sciences Divi- visible light waves and can travel through many obstacles sion with tenure. She was aware of Maria Goeppert-Mayer’s that block our vision. So radio telescopes allow astrono- work in the physics department, who had been subject to the mers to observe stars in the middle of dense clouds of gas University’s antinepotism rule, common among universities and dust where they’re forming, providing more informa- at the time, which precluded family members from working tion about star births than light-based telescopes can. in the same department. These rules often led to discrimina- Because the field was new and NRL’s group of engineers tion against married professional women, as the husband’s was small, Roman was expected to build her own equip - appointment was nearly always given priority. Goeppert- ment. “Radio astronomers today are shocked at that,” she Mayer’s husband had a tenured appointment, so the Univer- says, “because no one builds their own now.” In addition sity found creative ways to offer her other types of resources to gaining experience working in different wavelengths, and standing. She conducted her Nobel Prize–winning re- she also gained an engineer’s eye, with an understanding search at UChicago—as a volunteer. of instrumentation. Much has changed at the University since then. In 2015 Much of NASA’s science originated at NRL, so Roman an outside consultant was hired to analyze gender pay in- benefited from being in the right place at the right time. It equality for faculty, says dean of the Physical Sciences Di- was a quick and logical jump to NASA to set up and lead its vision Edward “Rocky” Kolb. He notes that in the analysis, astronomy program. “comparisons were difficult, but I was pleased that there “It was like learning to swim by jumping into deep water,” was no disparity” in the PSD, which now employs 13 per - Roman says of her switch to management. In a 1980 inter- cent tenured or tenure-track women faculty—a number he view with the American Institute of Physics, she describes thinks is still far too low. “I can’t solve society’s problems taking a couple of courses for women in management, which because society won’t listen to me,” jokes Kolb. “But one she found less than helpful. “The speakers were people who thing I can do is work as hard as I can to increase representa- were used to talking to men in management and, as far as I

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PSD-17-1664 Inquiry Fall 2017 v12.indd 64 10/19/17 12:30 PM The telescope wasn’t her idea, insists Roman. It was an idea shared by almost all astronomers, “certainly all observational astronomers.” She did, however, advo- cate for the project, writing congressio- nal testimony and selling the government Roman (bottom row, second from right) sits with fellow PhD students, UChi- on the notion that the $1.5 billion price cago astronomy and astrophysics faculty members, and visiting Soviet as- tag (not including ongoing operating tronomers at Yerkes Observatory in 1946. costs) was a worthwhile expenditure. Roman also gathered a group of astronomers from various specialties across the country and sat them down could tell, gave us essentially the same things, except they with NASA engineers to determine what was wanted ver- sort of ‘feminized’ it without understanding the real prob - sus what was feasible. At that time, all observatories were lems that women in management face,” she said. “They tried ground based. A telescope put into orbit would have a major to add things like ‘dress design.’” advantage, because even the most powerful Earth-bound Nevertheless, she has no regrets about trading research telescopes capture blurry and distorted images since star- for management. She encountered opposition at times, but light refracts through Earth’s atmosphere. it didn’t seem to be based on her gender. Rather, she be- The astronomers decided a three-meter telescope would lieves academics were wary of her federal affiliation, citing be ideal, but convincing Congress would be a challenge, so a mistrust of government entities. they reduced the scope and decreased mirror size to 2.4 me- ters. One main goal for the Hubble Telescope was to deter- mine the “Hubble constant,” Roman explained in a NASA oman, widely regarded as the “mother of Hubble,” oral history, measuring the ratio between the velocity of finds the moniker “slightly embarrassing,” but it grew a galaxy’s recession and its distance to determine the uni- R from good intentions. Physicist and astronomer Ly- verse’s expansion rate—and, in turn, the age of the universe. man Spitzer Jr. is considered the “father of Hubble,” but This measurement must come from far-off galaxies be- Roman—chief of astronomy and NASA’s first woman to cause nearby galaxies all belong to the same gravitation- hold an executive position—was equally responsible for ally interacting group. The closest group that could be bringing the Hubble Space Telescope to fruition. At a used was the Virgo cluster, and a mirror any smaller than meeting shortly after its April 1990 launch, Edward J. Wei- 2.4 meters wouldn’t be powerful enough. (The constant ler, a former student of Spitzer’s and Hubble chief scientist was published in 2001 by a team led by Wendy Freedman, at the time, bestowed the name on Roman. now the John and Marion Sullivan University Professor of Hubble, the world’s first large space-based optical tele - Astronomy and Astrophysics at UChicago, when she was scope, is named after Edwin P. Hubble, SB 1910, PhD 1917. at Carnegie Observatories—the first woman on its perma- At launch it carried five instruments, including cameras, nent staff and later the director.) spectrographs, and fine guidance sensors, and it has been Starting in the late 1960s through the early ’80s, the team visited five times for repairs and new instrument installa- designed the space telescope, sold the concept to Congress tions. (Five-time space shuttle astronaut John Grunsfeld, for funding, built the equipment, and readied for launch. The SM’84, PhD’88, conducted three of these repairs.) Challenger shuttle disaster waylaid the mission, but finally the Hubble has beamed back to Earth hundreds of thousands of Hubble Space Telescope launched aboard Discovery in 1990 — images, though the earliest ones were blurry. The telescope’s 44 years after its earliest conception by Spitzer in 1946. primary mirror had a flaw: the outer edge was ground down Roman thought Hubble would be phased out with the 2018 too flat by about 1/50 the thickness of a human hair. During the deployment of its successor, the James Webb Space Tele- first repair mission in December 1993, NASA installed the scope, whose major missions will be to study extrasolar plan- Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement (CO- ets and to learn more about the beginnings of the observable STAR). In other words, they fitted Hubble with eyeglasses. universe. But earlier this year, she heard that Hubble may Since then, Hubble has helped determine the age of the operate for many years to come. She planned to discuss its universe, the identity of quasars, and the existence of dark future with administrators at Goddard Flight Center. energy. It remains one of NASA’s most successful and en- Retiring in 1979, she’s not really in the know at NASA any-

uchicago photographic archive, apf6-00495,during university of chicago library missions. more. “I made a distinct effort not to get involved with head-

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PSD-17-1664 Inquiry Fall 2017 v12.indd 65 10/19/17 12:30 PM quarters,” says Roman, “because I didn’t think it was fair to my successor to meddle.” (She handpicked Weiler as her succes- sor, who called himself, inNASA at 50: Interviews with NASA’s Senior Leadership, NASA’s first male chief of astronomy.) While Roman is proud of the work she did to get Hubble off the ground, so to speak, it’s another space telescope that she has a real affection for, “one that nobody’s ever heard of,” she says: the International Ultraviolet Explorer. The 18-inch telescope took UV spectra, which was unusual when it launched in 1978. “There was opposition to it from the X-ray astronomy community, who felt it was usurping money from their projects.” The UV community wasn’t as politically power- ful as the X-ray astronomers, and Roman went to bat for it. The IUE was open to anyone who wanted to use it and was always available because of its synchronous orbit, meaning its orbit was equal to one Earth day. “Hubble also took UV spectra, but it was in high demand for faint sources and par- ticularly for imaging,” says Roman. With its UV exclusivity, the IUE was used by half the observational astronomers in the world, Roman was told. It was shut down after 18 years because of cost, far surpassing its three-year life expectancy. She believes that, unlike Hubble, the IUE truly would not have existed without her, but “mother of the International Ultraviolet Explorer” doesn’t have the same ring to it.

STRENGTH To increase gender parity, the PSD develops and imple - ments strategies to increase representation and advance- IN NUMBERS ment of women at all levels across the division. This effort Physics offers an example of how the includes strengthening a culture that honors diversity, devel- oping targeted mentoring, and expanding opportunities for division can support women in science. women to participate in division governance. Many professors, both men and women, work to incor- The challenges women scientists faced in Nancy Grace Ro- porate these ideals into their own departments and research

man’s (PhD’49) time arose in part from being the first or groups. Young-Kee Kim, the Louis Block Distinguished lachat jean by photography only woman in their sphere. Today low representation is Service Professor and physics department chair, is particu- still an obstacle for women scientists. larly active in this pursuit, tackling sexism at both personal Studies suggest “there’s a tipping point where women feel and institutional levels. their voices are heard,” says Physical Sciences Division dean In May 2017 Kim organized the dedication of a lecture room Edward “Rocky” Kolb. When a board, faculty, or classroom and an accompanying exhibit for Nobelist Maria Goeppert- reaches between 20 to 30 percent female, women cease be- Mayer, who conducted research as a volunteer at UChicago ing tokens and become community members. The division from 1946 to 1959—antinepotism rules precluded her from isn’t there yet, he says, but “we need to get there as soon as earning a salary where her husband was employed. (Univer- possible, first by hiring tenure-track women.” sities started phasing out such rules in the 1960s, when the

66 inquiry in the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017

PSD-17-1664 Inquiry Fall 2017 v12.indd 66 10/19/17 12:30 PM When MIT News deputy editor Maia Weinstock designed a Women of NASA Lego set, she included a minifigure of astronomer Nancy Grace Roman. “She typifies the type of person who has been underappreciated for her life’s work,” says Weinstock, “and surely deserves to be celebrated.”

after Roman retired early from NASA, she wasn’t ularly to tell the girls, by showing them my life, that they quite ready to stop working, she explains in a 2013 can be scientists and succeed,” she says. She gets emails A autobiographical essay. She needed to learn mod - from girls who, after learning about Roman’s life and work, ern computers and digital detectors if she was to return have decided to go into science. to research, so she audited a community college course To women already in STEM (science, technology, en- in the programming language FORTRAN. But by the gineering, and math) who are still experiencing sexism, end of the class, she decided that after 20 years in man - she says: “Persevere. Things are better than they used to agement, she couldn’t return to research, so she pursued be. Women now can and do get professorships; women are consultant work with government contractors. Even - heads of observatories and departments.” But the number tually, needing a new challenge, she joined Goddard’s of women in senior academic positions is not commensu- Astronomical Data Center in 1981—revisiting her early rate with the number of women in the field, she says, and astronomy catalog experience—and in 1995 became the advises they prepare for inevitable problems. center’s director. In 1997 she retired again, and again she continued to work. This time it was service and volunteer oriented, hen the 25th anniversary of Hubble rolled around in such as joining Reading for the Blind and Dyslexic (now 2015, astronomers and astrophiles alike celebrated, called Learning Ally) and Journey to the Universe, a pro - W and Twitter paid tribute to Nancy Grace Roman gram that sent scientists and engineers to schools in under- (who started using her middle name again not too long ago, served areas of the United States. Many of her activities returning to her Southern-born traditions). involved working with schoolchildren. Roman also gives One user wrote: “Nancy Roman took chief astronomer public talks in senior centers, universities, and churches. In job at NASA because *women couldn’t get tenure*, opted 2016 she gave 13 talks on topics such as the big bang, space to reshape history of astronomy instead #planB.” discoveries, and the night sky. Roman doesn’t have a Twitter account, but hear -

photography by maia weinstock maia by photography She hopes to be a good role model. “I like to talk to chil- ing it aloud and reflecting on her career, she chuckles. dren about the advantages of going into science and partic- “Appears so.” ◆

American Association of University sions, she ensures that unconscious bias is recognized and Women protested their unfairness.) discussed while ranking prospective students. When women The dedication accomplishes two and minority students receive offers, she sets up one-on-one goals: honoring Goeppert-Mayer for Skype sessions with them. Current women grad students and her groundbreaking work in nuclear faculty members play an active role during open houses. shell structure and counteracting The physics department currently has eight women faculty the social conditioning to imagine and 11 female graduate students who joined the program this all scientists as men. “Students see fall, a growing community that strengthens the support struc- that picture a thousand times,” says ture for current and prospective female physicists, says Kim. Kim. Perhaps they will internal- Fostering that community beyond UChicago, she chaired ize that women have had vital roles the 2014 Midwest Conference for Undergraduate Women in throughout scientific history. Kim Physics, which united more than 200 young scientists from wants students to learn that science across the country. She has also initiated a regional confer - can be done by anyone, irrespective ence for graduate student and postdoctoral minorities in of gender, race, or ethnicity. physics, “creating not only opportunities for empowerment Beyond passive exposure, Kim and network building,” she says, “but also actively changing actively works to recruit and retain the culture of physics today.” As Kim puts it, “It’s important women physicists. During admis- to have a strong cohort.” ◆

inquiry in the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017 67

PSD-17-1664 Inquiry Fall 2017 v12.indd 67 10/19/17 12:30 PM Eclipsed UChicago astro faculty members brought family and friends to the path

of totality to watch the solar eclipse ltd. productions jm by photography on August 21, 2017.

I didn’t think I’d be particularly moved by some chance alignment of the moon, earth, and sun. But it is incredibly spooky and profound to have the sun extinguished in the middle of the day. —Daniel Holz, SM’94, PhD’98

Left: Rocky Kolb and PSD Dean’s Council member Rick Black in Wyoming. Right: Daniel Holz and family in Missouri.

To learn more about the Physical Sciences Division’s academic and research priorities—and how you can help—contact the associate dean and director of development Bill Lynerd at 773.702.3751, [email protected], or William Eckhardt Research Center, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Suite 319, Chicago, IL 60637. Email Inquiry at: [email protected] Editor: Maureen Searcy Editorial Director: Amy Braverman Puma Design: Guido Mendez, Michael Vendiola

68 inquiry in the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017

PSD-17-1664 Inquiry Fall 2017 v12.indd 68 10/19/17 12:30 PM Notes and Releases, 74 ...... Alumni News, 76 ...... Advanced Degrees, 89 ...... Deaths, 92 ...... Classifieds, 95 peer review

President Hutchins may have disbanded the football team in 1939, but University of Chicago students still celebrated Homecoming. For the 1940 festivities, Margery Brooks, EX’42; Faith “Punky” Johnson, EX’43; and Marian McCarthy, SB’43, perform in a skit, “Victory Vanities.” uchicago photographic archive, apf4-01505, university of chicago library

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Peer Review_Fall17_homecoming.indd 69 10/25/17 10:02 AM ALUMNI ESSAY

Elizabeth Wallace, the King, and I BY IVAN P. KANE, AB’78, JD’81

ear the end of his life, the meals and on walks and carriage rides My undergraduate experience trig- old man was a bundle of about the island. He summoned her gered a lifelong passion for all things contradictions. He had to join the after-dinner card games in Mark Twain. I became a Twain-iac! I long craved attention, his room. He read to her his favorite collect Twain books, ephemera, and adopting a colorful pen Kipling poems and from his unpub- whatever else crosses my path, and I name and striking man- lished writings. read as much scholarship as time per- ner of dress. He still The relationship continued until mits. Lately scholars have been partic- loved to perform in Twain’s death two years later, with ularly interested in Twain’s last years, public and hold private regular correspondence, exchanges which produced Letters from the Earth court with his many of favorite books, and a Thanksgiving (Harper and Row, 1962) and other admirers, who affec- visit to Twain’s home. reflections on the state of man that tionately called him “the King.” But in I am a 1978 graduate of the College, were considered too controversial to Nlater years he was also intensely lonely where I majored in English. I wish I be published during his lifetime. Re- and subject to dark spells. His circle of could say that I discovered Elizabeth cent biographies that focus on this pe- friends was predominantly male, but Wallace during my studies at the Uni- riod mention Twain’s friendship with his household was made up exclusively versity, but I learned of her decades Wallace. My reaction was, “Why of women. His oldest daughter and later. However, the seeds of this dis- didn’t I know about this before?” wife had already passed away, and he covery were planted during my un- The relationship was not a secret. was soon to lose his remaining daugh- dergraduate studies. I had a wonderful Just a few years after Twain’s death, ters, one to a tragic accident and the exposure to Twain with James E. Wallace published a memoir of their other to marriage. Miller Jr., AM’47, PhD’49, and Robert friendship, Mark Twain and the Hap - In light of this, it was not surpris- Streeter, well-known American litera- py Island (McClurg, 1913). I wish I ing that the old man would seek out ture scholars. (In one class I wrote a pa- could give the book an unqualified a friendship with a younger woman per titled “The Unity and Coherence of recommendation, but it shows signs who was his peer in intellectual ac- Huckleberry Finn.” The title was a poke of the influence of Twain’s late-life complishments and who possessed at the Chicago school Aristotelians and travel companion and literary ex- great sympathy and discretion. She New Critics, but I was convinced that ecutor, Albert Bigelow Paine, who said of him: “I never knew him to say I had discovered a textual organizing closely guarded Twain’s reputation. a clever thing at the sacrifice of a kind principle that explained Twain’s inten- He suppressed the darker writings thing, nor a witty thing divorced from tions for the structure of Huckleberry and insisted that acquaintances por- truth. I don’t mean mere vulgar facts, Finn, which most critics believe falls tray Twain in a sunny light. Paine but truth, truth about human nature— apart with its burlesque ending.) requested many changes in Wallace’s he was always true to that.” manuscript and approved the final University of Chicago professor result. Wallace’s deep affection for Elizabeth Wallace (1865–1960) met I never knew him to Twain is evident in her writings, so teekay credit photo Mark Twain in 1908 while vacation- say a clever thing at she also may have wished to burnish ing in Bermuda. Betsy (as Twain his legacy. As a result, Happy Island is called her) and the King became fast the sacrifice of a kind a popular treatment in a breezy, occa- friends. They were intellectual soul thing, nor a witty thing sionally sentimental style. It portrays mates—not lovers. Twain regularly Twain as a fun and caring friend but photo credit teekay invited Betsy to join his party at divorced from truth. only hints at weightier matters. society historical minnesota courtesy photo

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UCH_Alumni Essay_Kane_v3.indd 70 10/23/17 3:01 PM photo credit teekay credit photo photo credit teekay photo courtesy minnesota historical society historical minnesota courtesy photo Twain and Wallace were photographed together in 1909, the year after they met and the year before his death.

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UCH_Alumni Essay_Kane_v3.indd 71 10/23/17 3:01 PM ALUMNI ESSAY

Twain’s correspondence with Wallace joined the 1892 entering class from travel for fellowships, she would Wallace tells a different story. He as a fellow in history. remain there for the rest of her aca- shares intimacies about his family Her choice to study Latin Ameri - demic career. She left her mark on the and personal situation. He rejoices can history puzzled the head of the University in many ways, including in his daughter Clara’s wedding but history department, German scholar as a dean in the College, head of one discloses that her betrothed broke Hermann von Holst. He responded (as of the first dormitories for women, off two prior engagements. He rages she described it): “I know notings von and a teacher of French and Spanish against his personal secretary and tose countries. For me tey do not ex- literature in the Department of Ro- her fiancé, who he believes are con- ist . ... You read and study all you vant mance Languages, where her class on spiring to defraud him. He shares about dem, den you come und tell me Molière was especially popular. his sorrow concerning the deaths of und I will gif you a degree.” In 1923 Wallace and two others his daughter Jean and his dear friend Harper was more enthusiastic, as became the first women to attain the Henry H. Rogers. And he shares (said Wallace) “he liked nothing bet- rank of full professor at the University details of his declining health, most ter than to find an unexplored field.” of Chicago. The next year she joined centering around whether his doctors He funded an appropriation for Latin with the other two female professors will or will not allow him to indulge American source books and asked to write a remarkable letter addressed his cigar habit. Wallace to give a course in Latin to the president and trustees. The let- The Twain-Wallace relationship American history and institutions ter detailed the many ways in which gave me a fascinating window on so that UChicago “should be the first women were then second-class citi- the mind and character of America’s institution in the country to initiate zens at the University: there were no greatest writer—and learning more such studies.” It is no exaggeration to women on the board of trustees and about Elizabeth Wallace gave me equal say that Wallace invented the field we very few on important faculty com- delight and satisfaction. She was a re - now call Latin American studies. mittees. Only four women spoke at markable woman whose accomplish- Early in her academic career, Wal- the first 134 convocations. Women ac- ments were felt on three continents. lace secured postgraduate fellowships counted for only 20 percent of gradu- Born in 1865 in Bogotá, Colombia, at l’École des Hautes Etudes in Paris ate fellowships despite comprising Wallace was a child of Presbyterian and at the International Institute in 40 percent of the graduate students. missionaries. She was speaking Eng- Madrid. During her first extended stay Women received instructorships lish and Spanish by age four. Among in France, in 1896, she formed friend- while men of similar achievement her childhood playmates was the fa- ships with that country’s best-known were awarded professorships. And mous South American poet José Asun- writers and thinkers, and kept the com- women had only restricted privileges ción Silva. When Wallace was 8 or 9, pany of French intellectuals for the rest at the Quadrangle Club. her mother and her siblings moved to of her life. When she visited the coun- The letter called on the University the United States for the children to try in 1949, at age 84, she told of meet- to furnish opportunities to both sexes continue their educations. She eventu- ing “vociferous existentialists, both on equal terms. It was reported that ally graduated from Wellesley College male and female, with disheveled hair, some trustees wanted to fire Wallace and acquired French, Italian, and Ger- fantastic beards and stockingless feet.” and her coauthors, but a special com- man fluency and considerable Latin The dame of French letters was also a mission found that all of the letter’s skills along the way. woman of action. In 1946 Wallace was claims were not only true but under- Wallace did graduate work under inducted into the French Legion of stated. In the next announcement of future UChicago president Henry Honor for her relief work for France in promotions, the ranks of female full Pratt Judson at the University of Min- both World Wars. professors were doubled. nesota. When William Rainey Harp- After her first sojourn in France, Upon Wallace’s retirement in 1927, er called on Judson to recruit him for Wallace returned to the University of Harold H. Swift, PhB 1907, chair- the not-yet-opened University, Jud- Chicago as a French instructor. Apart man of the trustees, wrote, “her name son summoned Wallace to his home stands in the knowledge of alumni to meet Harper and, after accepting with Harper, Judson, Burton, and Harper’s offer, encouraged her to ap - Her name stands in the others of our Hall of Fame.” The pro- teekay credit photo ply for a UChicago graduate fellow- knowledge of alumni nouncement was especially generous ship. She was surprised to learn that and gratifying coming from one of John D. Rockefeller’s gift establish- with Harper, Judson, the addressees of Wallace’s letter on ing the fellowships specifically gave Burton, and others of women’s issues. Today, though the women “equal privileges to men,” and memory of her has largely faded, she

even more surprised to be accepted. our Hall of Fame. is still present on campus as the name- photo credit teekay

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UCH_Alumni Essay_Kane_v3.indd 72 10/23/17 3:01 PM No, revelation—of a autobiography. So Mark Twain was happy—few are so happy—but I got none just one of many eminences to make of this happiness from “knowing more” of valuable sort—does not her a confidant. the unknowables than I knew before. come through sorrow For me the most striking parts of the Twain-Wallace correspondence are In a reply that is lost to us, Wallace, when one is old. Before certain reflections Twain shared with the daughter of missionaries, tried to 70 the whole satire and her in the face of death. These letters comfort Twain by speaking of “worlds show the intimacy of their relation- still unexplained.” The next letter swindle of life has ben ship, as well as Twain’s trust in Wal- brings Twain’s exasperated response: revealed. lace’s discretion. She never revealed “You ‘know there are worlds still un- the more controversial parts of the explained’? Do you? Very well then— letters, either in Happy Island or in her you don’t. Why do you want to talk like sake of Wallace House in the Max Pa- autobiography, The Unending Journey that and wither a person’s hopes? Isn’t levsky Residential Commons and as (University of Minnesota Press, 1952). this life enough for you? Do you wish the model for the figure “the City” in In the last six months of his life, to continue the foolishness somewhere the Masque of Youth mural on the third Twain’s letters to Wallace grew longer. else? Damnation, you depress me!” floor of Ida Noyes Hall. He tells Wallace he is writing Letters Perhaps not wanting to offend his After her University of Chicago ca- from the Earth—a blasphemous repudia- friend with his bitterness, Twain then reer ended, Wallace stayed active until tion of Christianity with frank passag- shifts the tone of the letter to chatty her death in 1960 —as a scholar, attend- es about human sexuality—and wishes news about acquaintances and the de- ing academic conferences all over the he could read it to her, while at the same lights of Bermuda. He closes by giving world, and as the Zelig-like figure she’d time admitting that perhaps he had bet- his friend an affirming portrait of his long been, crossing paths with a color- ter omit certain passages. “This book life on the island, where “the joy of it ful cast of writers and intellectuals. will never be published,” he tells her— never stales”: Among those she encountered (both “in fact it couldn’t be because it would during and after her UChicago career) be felony to soil the mails with it.” He There are no newspapers, no telegrams, no were Henri Bergson, Marc Chagall, adds that “Paine enjoys it, but Paine is mobiles, no trolleys, no trains, no tramps, Arthur Conan Doyle, Henry James, going to be damned one of these days no railways, no theatres, no noise, no lec- Émile Zola, Diego Rivera, Leon I suppose.” In fact Paine and, after his tures, no riots, no murders, no fires, no Trotsky, and Edith Wharton. death in 1937, Twain’s daughter Clara burglaries, no politics, no offences of any In one episode Wallace joined suppressed publication until 1962. kind, no follies but church and I don’t go UChicago hosts and a special guest as Twain’s next lengthy letter came there. I think I could live here always and a plus-one at the opera. The produc- shortly after the death of his daughter be contented. tion was not to the guest’s liking, so Jean. He wrote from Bermuda, where You go to heaven if you want to—I’d he and Wallace whiled away the time he had fled hoping that the better cli - druther stay here. composing risqué limericks on their mate would improve his declining As ever affectionately programs at the back of the box. Only health. He opened with both C.barrels,L. S. after the event did she learn her com- echoing the ideas about religion he panion was H. G. Wells. was writing for Letters from the Earth: Twain died April 21, 1910, not six Her closer friends included Ste - weeks after his last letter to his “Dear phen Vincent Benét, Archibald Mac- No, revelation—of a valuable sort— does Betsy.” Wallace followed him from Leish, Gaston Paris, Ida Tarbell, and not come through sorrow when one is old. this world 50 years later, on April Thornton Wilder. She was a trusted Before 70 the whole satire and swindle of 9, 1960, the same year that Twain’s adviser to University presidents in life has been revealed—to all except the daughter Clara finally authorized both school and personal matters. willfully or constitutionally dull. What publication of Letters from the Earth. ◆ Harper sought her help to “rescue” a silly invention human life is! And how a “striking blonde” student from an like a glove its silliest religion fits it! And Ivan P. Kane, AB’78, JD’81, recently re- photo credit teekay credit photo imprudent affair with an older man, how perfectly our principal God and His tired after 35 years of practicing law. and later Wallace gave Robert May- Family harmonise with the outfit! Do I He is recovering and settling into his nard Hutchins advice concerning “know more” than I knew before? Oh, next life, which includes service on how the University could help a na- hell no! There was nothing to learn (about the University of Chicago Humanities tion at war. Caltech president (and hereafters and other-such undesirables), Council and as a board member and former UChicago physicist) Robert there never has been anything to learn and chair of the Program Committee at

photo credit teekay A. Millikan sought her help with his know about these insulting mysteries. I am the American Writers Museum.

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SPIRITUAL LEADER Rev. Teresa Hord Owens, MDiv’03, became the first woman of color to lead a mainline Protestant denomination when she was elected general minister and president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada on July 9. She is the second woman and first African Amer- ican to head the Indianapolis-based denomination of 600,000. Until her election, Owens was dean of students ORCHESTRATING CHANGE at the University of Chicago Divinity Curtis Long, AB’85, who created a program that brought the Alabama School and pastor of First Christian Symphony Orchestra (ASO) to venues including a record store, brewery, Church of Downers Grove, Illinois. and art museum, is the new president and CEO of the Rochester Philhar- monic Orchestra. Long was selected to head the financially struggling SOCIOLOGY ON THE SMALL SCREEN orchestra after leading a turnaround of the ASO, where ticket revenues AMC will develop Sudhir Ven- rose by more than 70 percent in nine years. Long said it’s “not enough” for katesh’s (AM’92, PhD’97) 2008 orchestras to focus on traditional audiences in traditional venues: “Or- best seller, Gang Leader for a Day: A chestras everywhere need to be thinking outside the box.” Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets ( Penguin Books), into a TV series, the network announced in July. cago at 18 and received his JD after ogy, served as Pritzker’s program The book details Venkatesh’s years serving in the Navy during World director in obstetrics and gynecology studying—and at times participat- War II. He presided over a landmark from 2004 to 2017. ing in—gang life on Chicago’s South Chicago school desegregation case Side as research for his sociology and a lawsuit contesting overcrowd- SCIENTIFIC ADVANCEMENT dissertation, “American Project: An ing at Cook County Jail, among many Astrophysicist David John Ruffolo, Historical-Ethnography of Chicago’s other notable proceedings. PhD’91, was this year’s recipient Robert Taylor Homes.” Executive of Thailand’s outstanding scientist producers include Hand of God creator AN ACTIVIST’S IMPACT award, given by the king of Thailand’s Ben Watkins and actor and filmmaker Political organizer Heather Tobis Foundation for the Promotion of Ed Burns, who will also costar. Booth, AB’67, AM’70, is the subject Science and Technology. Ruffolo is of a documentary by filmmaker Lilly a professor at Mahidol University, JUDICIAL NOMINEES Rivlin, Heather Booth: Changing the where he studies cosmic rays and solar On June 7 President Donald J. Trump World, released in April. As a UChi- storms. A Thai national since 2012, nominated two alumni for federal cago student, Booth participated in the Ruffolo came to the country in 1991 to judgeships. Allison H. Eid, JD’91, is Freedom Summer in Mississippi and teach high school physics and decided a Colorado Supreme Court judge, formed Jane Underground, an organi- to remain with the ambition of pro- and Stephen S. Schwartz, JD’08, zation that helped women safely secure moting better science education.

is a partner at Schaerr Duncan LLP abortions before Roe v. Wade. She photo in Washington, DC. If confirmed, worked for Harold Washington’s suc- HONORS FOR EBERT

Eid will serve on the US Court of cessful mayoral campaign in 1983 and Roger Ebert, EX’70, was inducted courtesy Appeals for the 10th Circuit and helped Senator Elizabeth Warren to into the Chicago Literary Hall of Shwartz will serve on the US Court build public support for the Consumer Fame at the American Writers Muse-

of Federal Claims. Financial Protection Bureau. um in downtown Chicago on August rochester 19. The Pulitzer Prize–winning film JUDICIAL RETIREMENT DOC TO DEAN critic wrote for the Chicago Sun-Times

After 37 years on the federal bench, Anita Blanchard, MD’90, has been for 46 years and authored 17 books, philharmonic US district judge Milton Shadur, named associate dean for graduate including the 2011 memoir Life Itself. SB’43, JD’49, announced plans to medical education at the Pritzker Ebert taught film courses at the Gra- step down on September 1. Since School of Medicine. Her appoint- ham School for 37 years, sometimes

his nomination by President Jimmy ment takes effect January 1, 2018. bringing directors to class to discuss orchestra Carter in 1980, Shadur, now 93, has Blanchard, who joined the UChicago their work. Ebert’s widow, Chaz, ac- authored more than 11,000 court faculty in 1994 after completing her cepted the award on her late husband’s opinions. He graduated from UChi- residency in obstetrics and gynecol- behalf.—Susie Allen, AB’09

74 the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017

Notes_Layout_Fall17_v6.indd 74 10/20/17 2:52 PM book club. But a seemingly harm- for Smart People provides strategies RELEASES less plan takes a risky turn when she for nurturing your side projects and adds a secret—and illegal—ingredi- translating them into book deals, ent to the formula. museum exhibitions, and teaching opportunities. Michael Wing, a The Magazine lists a selection of general high school science teacher who’s interest books, films, and albums by alumni. done field work all over the world, For additional alumni releases, use the link explains how to apply for grants, get to the Magazine’s Goodreads bookshelf at published, partner with museums mag.uchicago.edu/alumni-books. and other institutions, and more.

ELECTRIC ARCHES By Eve L. Ewing, AB’08; Haymarket Books, 2017 In her debut collection of poetry, prose, and illustration, Eve Ewing celebrates and reimagines the lives of African American luminaries including LeBron James, Prince, and blues legend Koko Taylor. “The Arrival,” a poem riffing on PIOUS FASHION: HOW MUSLIM WOMEN DRESS Assata Shakur’s assertion that By Elizabeth Bucar, AM’01, PhD’06; “black revolutionaries do not drop Harvard University Press, 2017 from the moon,” describes the sud- How do Muslim women decide what den arrival of extraterrestrial libera- to wear? Religious ethicist Elizabeth tors bringing “the promised light, Bucar challenges the perception of descended to us at last.” Suffused head scarves and other traditional with magical realism, Electric Arches ERNST KANTOROWICZ: A LIFE dress as oppressive, arguing that explores race, life in Chicago, and By Robert E. Lerner, AB’60; Princeton many Muslim women find aesthetic the complex path from girlhood University Press, 2017 pleasure and opportunities for self- to womanhood. The German-Jewish historian Ernst expression in their clothing choices. Kantorowicz is best known for his Pious Fashion examines the experi- classic study of medieval political ences of women in Iran, Indonesia, theology, The King’s Two Bodies and Turkey, as well as the burgeon- (1957). His own life was shaped by ing global market for fashion aimed the tumult of history and politics: at hijabis. once an avowed German nationalist who fought in World War I, Kan- WHIPLASH: HOW TO SURVIVE OUR torowicz became a vocal critic of FASTER FUTURE the Nazis and fled Germany after By Joi Ito, EX’90, and Jeff Howe; Grand Kristallnacht. At the University of Central Publishing, 2016 California, Berkeley, Kantorowicz The future has arrived, and it’s mov- was fired when he refused to sign an ing faster than our ability to under- anticommunist loyalty oath; he spent stand it, write Joi Ito, director of the the rest of his career at the Institute MIT Media Lab, and Wired contrib- for Advanced Study in Princeton, uting editor Jeff Howe. In Whiplash New Jersey. In a new biography, they offer nine organizing principles Northwestern University medieval to help individuals and organizations TRY NEVER historian Robert E. Lerner chroni- navigate our digital world’s new “op- By Anthony Madrid, PhD’12; Canarium cles the life and thought of this sin- erating system,” such as embracing Books, 2017 gular scholar and historical figure. risk and maintaining a “culture of The 17 poems in Try Never are based creative disobedience.” on englyn, a rhyming Welsh poetic CRIMES AGAINST A BOOK CLUB form dating back to the 14th cen- By Kathy Cooperman, AB’93; Lake PASSION PROJECTS FOR SMART PEOPLE: tury. Full of humor and surprise, Union Publishing, 2017 TURN YOUR INTELLECTUAL PURSUITS INTO Anthony Madrid’s updated englyns In search of quick cash to support FUN, PROFIT, AND RECOGNITION offer riddle-like wisdom, as in “Cold their families, best friends Annie By Michael R. Wing, AB’85; Quill Driver Spring,” which concludes, “Redbud and Sarah cook up a devious plan to Books, 2017 puts out a violet petal. / What settles sell a “miracle” antiaging skin cream A guidebook for the overeducated disputes revives them.” to the wealthy women in Annie’s and underemployed, Passion Projects — Susie Allen, AB’09

the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017 75

Releases_Layout_Fall17_v5.indd 75 10/24/17 2:34 PM We’ve raised the bar The Phoenix Society has raised its membership goal from 1,800 to 1,900, which will add more than 1,000 new members from the start of the University of Chicago Campaign: Inquiry and Impact to its close in 2019.

GOAL 1,900 members

hen you plan a gift from your will W or living trust, or name UChicago as a beneficiary of your retirement plan or life insurance policy, you become a Phoenix Society member for life.

Help us reach our goal by simply notifying us that you’ve included a gift to the University in your estate plan.

Become a member today. Visit phoenixsociety.uchicago.edu/join Email [email protected] Call 866.241.9802

CURRENT PROGRESS 1,710 members AS OF SEPTEMBER 2017

AlumniNews_Fall17_v11.indd 91 10/23/17 4:44 PM

10/31/17 11:21 AM

preferred by majority by preferred millennials) (even attention focused more distraction less involvement sensory drives to which contributes on readers impact Montgomery Place – Susan Hamburger, AB, ’47 AB, Hamburger, – Susan 5550 South Shore Drive Chicago Drive Shore 5550 South 773-753-4100 MontgomeryPlace.org bit of common history, much become I’ve and a result.” as outgoing more “Most people who live on on who live people “Most Montgomery at floor my just C alums U of are Place we Though I am. like years, in different graduated experience shared nowthat I’ve together. us brings know to getting enjoyed that with new neighbors

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Chuck D, of Public Enemy, performing at Mandel Hall in 1989. uchicago photographic archive, apf7-04043, university of chicago library chicago of university apf7-04043, archive, photographic uchicago AlumniNews_Fall17_v12.indd 85

uchicago photographic archive, apf6-00529, university of chicago library served as president of the Illinois Work- and travel opportunities to young people DEATHS ers’ Compensation Lawyers Association in Kenova, and the Booth Leadership Ini- and chair of the Chicago Bar Association’s tiative, in support of theological education committee on workers’ compensation. for pastors in sub-Saharan Africa. He also Philanthropic support from Kane and his served as a trustee of the Huntington ( W V ) FACULTY AND STAFF wife, Esther, established the Law School’s Museum of Art. Booth is survived by his Arthur Kane Center for Clinical Legal wife, Katherine, and two stepdaughters. Elizabeth Serson Johnson of Chicago Education and endowed faculty positions Priscilla Utne, PhB’46, died March 26 in died July 19. She was 95. A onetime jour- in constitutional and administrative law. West Chester, PA. She was 92. A classroom nalist for the Ottawa Journal, Johnson was Kane’s wife, Esther, died on June 27, 2017. and special education teacher and adminis- an editor of Cambridge University Press’s He is survived by a daughter; son James Al- trator at a New Jersey public school for 24 Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes lan Steinback, MBA’70; four grandsons; years, Utne was committed to social jus- (1978). Her first husband, economist Harry and six great-grandchildren. tice, the environment, and education. Dur- Gordon Johnson, was on the UChicago fac- ing the summers she taught art at children’s ulty for more than two decades. After he 1940s camps. Utne is survived by a daughter; a suffered a stroke in 1973, Johnson devoted son; a granddaughter; a grandson; and a herself to his care until his death four years William Henry Grede, AB’42, of Palos great-grandson. later. She then worked at the University of Park, IL, died July 29. He was 96. Grede Emilie Elaine Cooper Boguchwal, AB’47, Chicago Press as an economics editor until was awarded a Purple Heart for his service died August 8 in Ridgecrest, CA. She was 1983, marrying UChicago physicist John as a bombardier and navigator in World 92. After the outbreak of World War II, A. Simpson in 1980. Simpson died in 2000. War II. He owned a floral delivery business she moved to Washington, DC, where she Johnson is survived by a daughter, a son, and before becoming a high school teacher and worked in the War Department. Boguch- two grandsons. then dean of instructional television at Chi- wal was a writer and editor at the Naval Elizabeth “Rose” Waltz, a nurse at the Uni- cago’s Public Broadcasting Service affiliate Ordinance Test Station in China Lake, versity of Chicago Medicine for more than WTTW, where he was a pioneer of offering CA, for nearly 50 years. In retirement she 30 years, died May 8 in Hyde Park. She was college accredited course broadcasts. Grede volunteered at the Ridgecrest City Informa- 80. In retirement Waltz volunteered as a served on the school board in Palos Park and tion Desk and the Ridgecrest Senior Center. nurse at the Interlochen Arts Camp. She is developed a scholarship for police cadets in- She is survived by two daughters, a son, and survived by three daughters, one son, and terested in studying criminal justice. He is three grandchildren. eight grandchildren. survived by a son, a granddaughter, and a Robert Thomas Hennemeyer, Ph B’47, great-granddaughter. AM’50, died August 21 in Washington, 1920s Minnie H. Steinberg, SB’44, PhD’50, died DC. He was 91. Hennemeyer received the June 13 in Evanston, IL. She was 97. As a French Legion of Honor for his military Florence Petzel, LAB’27, PhB’31, AM’34, graduate student in anatomy, Steinberg service during World War II. In 1952 he died August 16 in Anderson, SC. She was studied the effects of radiation exposure joined the US Department of State as a for- 106. Petzel became an assistant professor on lab animals. Impressed by her diligence, eign service officer. Over his 35-year career, of textiles at Ohio State University in 1938 one of her professors recommended her Hennemeyer served in England, Norway, and later held professorships at the Univer- for a Manhattan Project team conducting Tanzania, and Germany, where he was sity of Alabama, Oregon State University, related research. After World War II she twice consul general. From 1984 to 1986, the University of Texas, and Texas Tech worked alongside her physician husband he was the ambassador to Gambia. In retire- University. She was the author of Textiles assisting with minor surgeries and serving ment Hennemeyer worked to advance so- of Ancient Mesopotamia, Persia, and Egypt as his receptionist. Steinberg is survived cial justice through his efforts with the US (1967) and several scholarly articles on the by two sons, 13 grandchildren, and 38 Catholic Bishops Conference, the Wood- properties and history of fabrics. She is sur- great-grandchildren. stock Theological Center, and the Catholic vived by two nephews. Roslyne Sterne (née Gross), EX’44, died Diocese of Venice, Florida. He is survived June 23 in Palo Alto, CA. She was 91. Dur - by his wife, Joan; one daughter; two sons; a 1930s ing a long and varied career, she worked in sister; and four grandchildren. advertising and as a model and singer. Pub- John G. Morris, LAB’33, AB’37, died lisher of Dance Magazine from 1985 to 1997, 1950s July 28 in Paris. He was 100. A celebrated Stern was also a founding member of the photo editor, Morris oversaw the publica- political organization Emily’s List. She is Robert Ginsburg, SM’50, PhD’53, of Mi- tion of some of the 20th century’s most survived by her husband, Robert; a daugh- ami, died July 9. He was 92. During his 60- iconic images. During World War II he ed- ter; and one granddaughter. year career as a geologist—beginning and ited Robert Capa’s photos of D-Day for Life Nina Kreloff Kans, AB’46, died March 7 in ending at the University of Miami, with a magazine and later embedded himself with Rockville, MD. She was 89. Kans taught 16-year interlude at Shell Development and American troops in Normandy. At the New piano at the American Conservatory of Mu- then Johns Hopkins—he studied sea-floor York Times, he urged the publication of Nick sic in Chicago. Her husband, Nels F. Kans, deposits off the coast of Florida, identifying Ut’s photo of a girl running from a napalm EX’53, died in 20 06. She is survived by two a coral reef nearly three million years old and bombing during the Vietnam War; the pho- sons, Jonathan A. Kans, AB’79, SM’81, discovering a mile-deep underwater trench. to later won a Pulitzer Prize. He received PhD’86, and Joshua S. Kans, AB’85; a Ginsburg also started initiatives to collect the French Legion of Honor in 2009 and brother; and a grandson. better baseline data on coral reefs, allow- the International Center of Photography’s Alex Booth, PhB’46, died August 17 in Stu- ing more accurate measures of the oceans’ Infinity Award in 2010. Morris is survived art, FL. He was 93. He completed his UChi- health. He is survived by his partner, by his partner, Patricia Trocmé; four sons; cago degree in one year before returning Leonore Bernard. and four grandchildren. home to Kenova, WV, to run his family’s Leroy Ecklund, AB’51, died July 23 in Madi- Arthur O. Kane, AB’37, JD’39, died Octo- coal business. Within five years, the Booth son, WI. He was 87. A graduate of North - ber 6, 2016, in Chicago. He was 98. In 1965, Coal Company had become a multimillion- western Medical School, Ecklund served as after working at his father’s law practice dollar corporation. Alongside his work there a captain in the Air Force and a staff psychi- for more than a decade, Kane founded a and at the Wise County Coal Corporation, atrist at an Air Force hospital in Elmendorf, firm specializing in workers’ compensation he founded the Booth Scholars Program, AK. He later worked as the director of the and occupational disease issues. He later which provides scholarships, computers, Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madi-

92 the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017

Layout_Deaths_Fall17_v4.indd 92 10/23/17 9:58 AM son, where he created a program for deaf A US Army veteran who served in the Kore- president of Poland for his work promot- individuals with mental health issues. He is an War, Chase began his career as a scholar ing economic cooperation between Poland survived by his longtime partner, Gary Gill; of American political history at the Univer- and the United States. He is survived by his three daughters; one son; two granddaugh- sity of Texas at Austin. In 1968 he moved wife, a daughter, a son, a sister, two broth- ters; and two grandsons. to the University of Arkansas, where he ers, and five grandchildren. Keith Conners, AB’53, died July 5 in Dur- remained until his retirement more than Jonathan D. Lewis, AB’65, died June 5 in ham, NC. A Rhodes Scholar who then 30 years later. Chase wrote The Emergence Chicago. He was 73. A psychiatrist who trained as a clinical psychologist, in the of the Presidential Nominating Convention, specialized in post-traumatic stress disor- 1960s he developed a 39-item question- 1789–1832 (1973) and founded the Ozark der, Lewis treated hundreds of refugees naire, the Conners Rating Scale, that be- Historical Review. He is survived by his sis- from conflicts all over the world, including came the standard tool to diagnose what is ter and brother. many survivors of the Vietnam War and now called attention deficit hyperactivity Robert Zaas, MD’57, of Cleveland, died the Bosnian War. Later in life he published disorder (ADHD) in children. Later stud- August 5. He was 86. A former Naval doc - an edited volume of essays and a children’s ies by Conners prompted the widespread re- tor, Zaas served aboard the USS Yorktown book. Lewis is survived by his wife, Betty placement of tranquilizers with stimulants from 1958 to 1961. After returning to his de Visé; a stepson; and two grandchildren. such as Ritalin and Dexedrine as the stan - hometown of Cleveland, he established a Katharine Hull, AM’65, died June 25 in dard treatment for ADHD. He is survived private practice as an orthopedic surgeon. Calabasas, CA. She was 87. Hull studied by his wife, Carolyn; a sister; four daugh- An accomplished flutist and lover of classi- in the Graduate Library School and later ters; two sons; four grandchildren; and two cal music, he enjoyed attending concerts, worked in library services at Rye Country great-grandchildren. hiking, and rooting for Cleveland sports Day School and for the publisher Harcourt Jack Nadler, AM’54, of Montclair, NJ, teams. He is survived by his daughter and Brace Jovanovich. She enjoyed reading, died December 16, 2014. He was 85. Nadler three grandchildren. writing, volunteering, the arts, and travel. worked in military research at Bell Labs and Herma Hill Kay, JD’59, died June 10 in San Hull is survived by her sister, three sons, as a corporate researcher for AT&T before Francisco. She was 82. The second woman and nine grandchildren. becoming a stockbroker. He is survived by on the faculty and the first woman dean of Robert Halonen, MBA’66, died August 13 his wife, Rita K. Nadler, JD’55; a daughter; the law school at the University of Califor- in Cincinnati. He was 77. A onetime profes- two sons; and six grandchildren. nia, Berkeley, Kay was an expert on sex- sor of economics, finance, and health care Frank Wellington Lehn, EX’54, died July based discrimination and an advocate for administration at the University of Arizona 2 in Louisville, KY. He was 85. Lehn es- gender equality. She helped write Califor- and Virginia Commonwealth University, timated that he treated 780,000 patients nia’s no-fault divorce law in 1969 and the Halonen later worked in health care, man- during more than 40 years practicing in- Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act, a tem- aging the financial operations of Trihealth, ternal medicine with a focus on rheumatol- plate no-fault divorce law for states to adopt. the Bethesda Foundation, Georgetown ogy. Honored as a Kentucky Colonel—the Kay is survived by three sons; four grand - University Medical Center, and Charles- state’s highest title of honor—he enjoyed children; and two step-grandchildren. ton (WV) Area Medical Center. Halonen camping, skiing, foxhunting, and steeple- served on the boards of Lighthouse Youth chase racing. Lehn is survived by his wife, 1960s Services and Hospice of Cincinnati, among Valla; three daughters; two sons; a brother; other organizations. He is survived by his a stepdaughter; nine grandchildren; and 11 Charles F. Lanman Jr., AB’60, died May wife, Susan; one daughter; three sons; and great-grandchildren. 10 in Wauwatosa, WI. He was 78. Lan- three grandchildren. James Wesley Haritage, AM’56, died Au- man was a public information officer in Sigmund Dragastin, PhD’68, of Sunny gust 2 in Dakota Dunes, SD. He was 92. A the US Bureau of Mines for 25 years; af- Isles Beach, FL, died March 2. He was 84. veteran of World War II, Haritage served ter earning a computer science degree in Dragastin served as a Catholic priest before as the head of social services at the Mental 1990, he worked for a number of software completing his sociology doctorate. The Health Institute in Cherokee, IA, until his development firms, becoming a program - author of Adolescence in the Life Cycle (1975), retirement in 1992. He is survived by two mer for several tech companies supporting he spent 22 years as an administrator at the daughters, a granddaughter, and a grandson. national security and civil defense needs, National Institutes of Health. Romeyn Taylor, AM’56, PhD’60, of Min- and retired in 2007. Lanman is survived George R. Yates Jr., AB’69, SM’84, of neapolis, died June 4. He was 91. During by his wife, Nancy; a daughter; a son; and Chicago, died June 4. He was 73. An Air World War II he served in the American six grandchildren. Force veteran, Yates worked as a com - Field Service as an ambulance driver with Bernard Pomerance, AB’62, died August puter programmer and systems architect the British Army. Taylor was a professor of 26 in Galisteo, NM. He was 76. Pomerance for institutions including UChicago and Chinese history at the University of Minne- won the 1979 Tony Award for best play for Northwestern University. He returned to sota for 34 years. He was politically active The Elephant Man. Since its original two- the University midcareer to study mathe- and volunteered with homeless families year run on Broadway, the play has received matics and neurobiology. Yates is survived in Minneapolis. He is survived by three several revivals, most recently in 2014 with by his wife, Kathy Yates, AM’74, and one daughters; two sons; a sister; five grand- actor Bradley Cooper in the starring role. son, George Yates III, LAB’08. daughters; and three grandsons. Pomerance’s other plays include Quantrill in Philip Szanto, SB’57, AB’57, died May 26 in Lawrence (1981) and Melons (1985). He was a 1970s North Chicago, IL. He was 81. Szanto served cofounder of London’s Foco Novo Theatre as a US Army pathologist before practicing Company. He is survived by a daughter, a Donald Paton, MBA’71, died April 30 in at Munster (IN) Community Hospital from son, a brother, and two grandchildren. Warwick, RI. He was 75. Paton earned 1973 until 1981, when he became a professor Robert G. Faris, MBA’64, of Westfield, an engineering degree from Cambridge of pathology at Chicago Medical School of NJ, died August 21. He was 79. Faris’s University before emigrating to the United Rosalind Franklin University. Coauthor of a career in business included posts at In- States, where he worked for General Elec- widely used textbook, BRS Pathology (1993), land Steel, Standard Oil of Indiana, and tric. Following a long career in the planning, he retired in 2011. Szanto is survived by his McKinsey & Company. In 1971 he became purchasing, and management of power wife, Anna; a daughter, Judith Szanto Ku- president and senior partner of the venture plants, in retirement he enjoyed refurbish- tin, SM’01; a son, Michael Szanto, SM’01; a capital firm Alan Patricof Associates (now ing his antique car, playing golf, sailing, and brother; and three grandchildren. Apax Partners). Faris was a cofounder of traveling. He is survived by his wife,Steph - James S. Chase, LAB’47, AM’57, PhD’62, the Polish-American Freedom Foundation anie Paton, AM’71; a daughter; a son; and died July 31 in Fayetteville, AR. He was 85. and received two major honors from the two grandsons.

the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017 93

Layout_Deaths_Fall17_v4.indd 93 10/23/17 7:49 AM Richard Beinecke, AM’73, died of a heart court judge in his native Kansas from 1976 ard Posner before joining the Washington, attack June 19 in Boston. He was 68. A to 1980, Yoder was appointed director of DC, law firm Williams & Connolly. He be- manager for community health centers the Justice Department’s asset forfeiture came a partner in 1998, leaving in 2015 to who contributed to mental health legis- office by President Ronald Reagan. He was do pro bono work with an LGBTQ youth lation for the Department of Health and elected to West Virginia’s state senate in organization and to cofound a clothes Human Services, he later researched and 1992 and again in 20 04. In 20 08 he launched manufacturing company and retail store, taught on mental and public health at Suf- his successful campaign for a seat on the among other projects. He is survived by folk University’s Sawyer Business School 23rd Judicial Circuit, where he served until his partner, R. Scott Wallis; his mother; in Boston. An avid kayaker and fisherman, his death. He is survived by two sisters and and a brother. Beinecke wrote a guidebook to the Mystic two brothers. Benjamin Mark Portis, MFA’89, died July River. He is survived by his longtime part- Lala Rukh, MFA’76, died July 7 in Lahore, 20 in Toronto following a car accident. He ner, Carol Philipps; two daughters; two Pakistan. She was 69. An artist known for was 56. Portis worked as a curator for the sisters; and a brother. her minimalist drawings and installation Art Gallery of Ontario and the MacLaren Lloyd C. Engelbrecht, PhD’73, died De- pieces, Rukh also taught at Punjab Univer- Art Centre in Barrie, Ontario, and wrote cember 31, 2016, in Cincinnati. He was sity and the National College of Arts. Her about visual art and dance for numerous 89. An antiwar activist and World War II last exhibited work, the visual and sound Canadian publications. He is survived by veteran, Engelbrecht was proud he never installation piece Rupak, was shown at the his mother, a sister, and a brother. fired a shot during his military career. He art exhibition Documenta 14 in Athens this studied the history of culture at UChicago year. Rukh was a cofounder of the Wom- 1990s and became a professor of art history at the en’s Action Forum, a group advocating University of Cincinnati, publishing books for the rights of women in Pakistan, and Robert R. Walsh, AM’90, died Febru- on the Bauhaus movement and the architect remained active in the WAF throughout ary 8 in Richmond, VA. He was 73. Walsh Henry Trost. He is survived by two sisters; her life. studied at the Graduate Library School and two daughters; one granddaughter; and David Herrup, AB’77, died June 18 in worked on library accommodation planning three grandsons. Cambridge, MA. He was 62. Herrup was at Harvard University, Queens College in Eugene Gaer, EX’73, of New York City, a research physicist at Fermilab before New York, and the Library of Virginia. He died July 7 in New York. His 39 years as a working as a medical physicist in the radia- lectured widely on library space use and de- litigator were preceded by a stint teaching tion oncology department at Massachusetts velopment. He is survived by three sisters history at West Liberty University and General Hospital and a lecturer at Harvard and two brothers. Roosevelt University in the 1960s and ’70s. University. He is survived by his wife, Ni- He joined Rosenman Colin Freund Lewis & cole Jordan; a daughter, Rachel Ming Her- 2000s Cohen in 1978 after graduating from Colum- rup, AB’17; his mother; and two brothers, bia Law School. Gaer became general coun- Paul Max Herrup, AB’74, and Mark Her- Terrell “Terry” Iandiorio, JD’05, died Au- sel at FOJP Service Corporation in 1987 and rup, AB’80. gust 16 in Nantucket of accidental drown- opened his own practice in the 1990s. He is Ralph Hoffman, AB’78, died May 24 in ing. He was 46. Before enrolling at the Law survived by his brother. Chicago. He was 68. Hoffman was a se- School, Iandiaro taught at a school near Benjamin Gerald McArthur, AM’74, nior vice president and financial adviser Johannesburg, South Africa. An attorney PhD’79, of Collegedale, TN, died April 10. at Merrill Lynch for 38 years. An expert at the Boston-based firm Ropes & Gray, he He was 66. After earning his PhD, McAr - bridge player, he reached the rank of represented clients in the medical device, thur joined Southern Adventist University Gold Life Master and was twice named pharmaceutical, and defense industries. in Collegedale, teaching history there until Chicago Bridge Player of the Year. He is Iandiario received the Denis Maguire Pro 2017, save a stint from 2009 to 2012 as vice survived by his wife, Barbara Ames, and Bono Award from the Boston Bar Associa- president for academics at Southwest- two daughters. tion for his work with organizations includ- ern Adventist University in Keene, TX. ing DotHouse Health. He is survived by his McArthur is survived by his wife, Caro- 1980s wife, Ann Ward; his father; a daughter; a line; a daughter; a son, UChicago doctoral son; a sister; and two brothers. student Robert McArthur, AM’17; two sis- Wendy Lynne de Monchaux, MBA’86, Justin Thomas Anderson, AM’09, died ters; three brothers; and two grandchildren. died September 22 from complications June 27. He was 34. As a high school stu - Hollie Mottus Bendewald, AB’75, died following a seizure. She was 57. At Bear dent, Anderson was a finalist for the Mor- April 2, 2016, of cancer. She was 63. Bende- Stearns, de Monchaux rose through the ton Gould Young Composers Award and wald received an MBA from the University ranks to become a senior managing direc- went on to study Italian and vocal perfor - of Virginia Darden School of Business and tor in trading and derivatives and in 1996 mance at the University of Minnesota. He served as an executive at banks including became the only woman on the firm’s board worked at the Italian consulate in Chicago. Citi and Chemical. She also worked as a con- of directors. She left Bear Stearns in 2008 Outside of work, Anderson enjoyed gym- sultant at Ernst & Young. She is survived by to become a stay-at-home parent to her three nastics and played flute in a musical en- her sister and brother. children. She is survived by her husband, semble. He is survived by his parents and Gina Sosinsky, AB’76, died September 4, David MacWilliams; two daughters; one a brother. 2015, from complications related to a bone son; her mother; and a sister. marrow transplant. She was 60. Sosinsky Peter Chines, AB’89, of Silver Spring, 2010s received her PhD in biophysics from the MD, died July 10. He was 50. Chines worked University of California, Berkeley, and for two decades at the National Human Ge- Hannah Frank, PhD’16, died August 28 of joined the faculty of the University of Cali- nome Research Institute at the National In- suspected meningitis. She was 33. A profes- fornia, San Diego, in 1995. A scholar of mi- stitutes of Health, where his work designing sor of film studies at the University of North croscopic imaging, she served as assistant complex databases helped advance research Carolina, Wilmington, Frank studied spe- director of the National Center for Micros- on type 2 diabetes and other genetic disor- cial effects, the history of animation, and copy and Imaging Research at UC San Di - ders. He is survived by his wife, Sujata Roy; Russian and Soviet cinema. She also made ego and taught courses on light and electron his parents; a sister; and a brother. experimental animated films. At the time of microscopy. She is survived by her husband, Dennis Michael Black, JD’89, died July 1 her death, she was at work on a book about John Badger, and three sons. in Santa Fe, NM, after a brief illness. He American animated cartoons of the 20th John Yoder, MBA’76, of Harpers Ferry, was 53. Black clerked for US Court of Ap- century. She is survived by her husband, WV, died June 9. He was 66. A district peals judge and senior lecturer in law Rich- Jacob Blecher, AM’08.

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CONGRATULATIONS The best medicine TO THE 2 0 17 A L U M N I AWA R D In ShirlyWhirl, M.D., a comic drawn by fourth-year Pritzker student Shirlene Obuobi, an autobiographical RECIPIENTS doctor in training navigates the pressures of medical school, universal ones and those that especially affect ALUMNI MEDAL RECIPIENT ALUMNI SERVICE AWARD traditionally underrepresented The Alumni Medal honors alumni with exceptional students. “I was pretty intentional Vincenzo Barbetta, AB’99, MBA’05 about making the main character a career-long achievement in any field. Sean Singleton, MBA’08 woman and black,” Obuobi says. She hopes her work is “relatable if you’re from my background, but might open your eyes if you’re not.” The comics YOUNG ALUMNI SERVICE AWARD address serious issues with unflagging Joe Anzalone, AB’04 levity and have a following of medical students around the country. “The Jennifer Glickel, AB’08 most fun,” she says, is “when people tag their friends and say ‘that’s me.’” Read a Q&A with Obuobi at mag NORMAN MACLEAN FACULTY AWARD .uchicago.edu/shirly. Rochus “Robbie” Vogt, SM’57, PhD’61 —Laura Demanski, AM’94 Peter O. Vandervoort, AB’54, SB’55, SM’56, PhD’60 R. Stanton Avery Distinguished Service Professor See more comics and follow and Professor of Physics, Emeritus ShirlyWhirl on Instagram: California Institute of Technology PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD @shirlywhirlmd. Mikel Arriola, LLM’06 Herminio Blanco, AM’75, PhD’78 Do you know any fellow alumni or faculty Charis Eng, AB’82, PhD’86, MD’88 members who deserve recognition? Santa J. Ono, AB’84 Nominate them for the 2018 ALUMNI AWARDS! Visit alumniandfriends.uchicago.edu/awards EARLY CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD to view the criteria for each award. Megan Driscoll, AB’02

96 the university of chicago magazine | fall 2017

UCH_LoTM_v3.indd 96 10/23/17 2:02 PM CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2 0 17 A L U M N I AWA R D RECIPIENTS

ALUMNI MEDAL RECIPIENT ALUMNI SERVICE AWARD The Alumni Medal honors alumni with exceptional Vincenzo Barbetta, AB’99, MBA’05 career-long achievement in any field. Sean Singleton, MBA’08

YOUNG ALUMNI SERVICE AWARD Joe Anzalone, AB’04 Jennifer Glickel, AB’08

NORMAN MACLEAN FACULTY AWARD Rochus “Robbie” Vogt, SM’57, PhD’61 Peter O. Vandervoort, AB’54, SB’55, SM’56, PhD’60 R. Stanton Avery Distinguished Service Professor and Professor of Physics, Emeritus California Institute of Technology PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Mikel Arriola, LLM’06 Herminio Blanco, AM’75, PhD’78 Do you know any fellow alumni or faculty Charis Eng, AB’82, PhD’86, MD’88 members who deserve recognition? Santa J. Ono, AB’84 Nominate them for the 2018 ALUMNI AWARDS! Visit alumniandfriends.uchicago.edu/awards EARLY CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD to view the criteria for each award. Megan Driscoll, AB’02

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