University of Minnesota Alumni Association I INNI~SOTA March 1981 Volume 80 No. 5 CONTENTS 4 At the au' 10 Oh, Those Designer Genes by Larry L. Elveru Plant and world food supplies may improve if a genetics professor and his colleagues succeed. 12 A University Blimp A flying classroom wi th faculty and students aboard? That·s incredible! 14 A City of Ideas by Marilynn J. Taylor To some it's "the place where tweed mingles with denim, where knapsacks breed like fruit flies and registration is a rite of passage .. , 20 Constituent Alumni Societies 22 Sports 24 Minnesota Alumni Association 26 Calendar 29 Class Notes 46 The Editor Cover: Someda your eed catalog may feature fruit and vegetable that were genetically altered by Univer ity of Minne ota re earcher . over b L. K. Han on, staff designer. Minneapolis Tribune. Inside Front Cover: C 1lI t Da Id arter. a enior in t mu ic. was given a 1.000 award b the Women' A sociation of the Minn ota Orche tra (WAMSO) and an opportunity to perform with the Orche tra, Henry Charle Smith conductin . David al 0 won a scholarship to the North arollna School of the Art summer ssion. Photo by Tom Fole . MARCH 19 1 IN E OTA 3 AT THE 'U' MINNESOTA Editor Ri ch ard D. Ha ines. 76 He's only the 56th person in 12 Associate Editor years to get an honorary degree Chuck Benda Design Director Christia Blomquist Minnesota Alumni Association Mass Spectrometer Executive Committee President Ro nald L . S imon . '54. '57 Inventor Honored First Vice President T he Hon . Dia na E. Murphy. '54. 74 Second Vice President LFRED O. C. NIER. regents' pro­ Nier. 69. was a pioneer in the J ohn W. Mooty. '43. '44 Secretary A fessor emeritus of physics. development of the mass spec­ Betty B. Cla pp. '63 whose expertise has long been trometer. a n instrument for Treasurer acclaimed in the SCientific com­ measuring the mass (weigh t) of Charl es M. Osborne. 75 munity. was awarded an honor­ molecules. Members D. Wayne Jimmerson . '42 ary doctor of science degree by the As a participant in th e Manhat­ Viola May Ka na tz. '44. 7 1 University of Minnesota at the re­ tan Project in th e early 19405. Dave Mona. '65 cent Graduate School commence­ Nier u sed th e mass spectrometer Pamela Linda Ni chols. '67 ment. to isolate a sam ple of uranium- Jim Shannon . '5 1 Penny Winton Past President T he Hon . Robert J . S heran. '39 Ex ecutive Director S tephen W. Roszell Minnesota. March 1981. Number 5. Is pub­ li shed monthly rrom September through June. except J anuary and February. by the Minnesota Alumni Associati on . 100 Morrill Ha ll . 100 Church S treet SE. Minneapolis . Minnesota 55455 (6 12-373-2466). Second­ class postage pa id at Minneapolis. Minne­ sota. and additional mail ing orfices. M in­ nesota is sent to dues paying members or the Minnesota Alumni Associa tion . Mem­ ber or the Council ro r Advancement and Support or Education . Postmaster: Send rorm 3579 to Minnesota. 100 Church S treet SE. Minneapolis . Minnesota 55455. © by Minnesota Alum n i Associati on . Min­ nesota Is a continuation or The Minnesota A iu mni Weekiy rounded In 1901. Aifred D. C. N ier helped launch the atomic age. helped build the atomic bomb. helped searchJor life on Mars. 4 MARCH 19S1IMINNESOTA 2 5, the isotope that lead to the acceptance of pottery as a way of c. velopment of the atom bomb. life or expression of an individual. Although he specialized in the Leach approached pottery in a evelopment and use of the mass much more total way. Your pots s ectrometer. the remarkable ver­ were an extension of you ... s tility of this device led Nier into After visiting museums and gal­ many fields , such as geology. leries and studying all kinds of chem istry. medicine. nuclear pots. MacKenzie and his late wife, physics and biology. For example. Alix, also a potter, realized that he used the mass spectrometer to utilitarian pottery appealed to measure the isotope composition Potter s Fame Spreads them most. They decided to de­ of lead and relate it to the decay of vote their lives to making pots uranium in natural materials. HEN W ARREN MACKENZIE was that could be used in the home. In The discovery resulted in the de­ Wa young potter he once 1949 they traveled to St. rves. velopment of radioactive dating turned out 22 mugs in eight England. where they spent two techniques. hours. He was thrilled. Now h e and a half years as apprentices to In 1975. Nier served as head of laughs at the memory. It isn't un­ Leach. the five-member National Aero­ usual for h im to produce 150 to "When we wen t to work with nautics and Space Administra­ 200 pots in a day. him." MacKenzie said of his late tion's Entry Space Team. which Although MacKenzie. a studio teacher and mentor. ''\; e found studied data relayed from Mars by arts professor at the University of that in his own life there was al­ the Viking 1 and 2 space probes. Minnesota. conSiders himself a ways 100 percent interest in pot­ Miniaturized versions of Nier's utilitarian potter - one who tery. We 'd be sitting at breakfast mass spectrometer traveled makes pots people will use in and he would pullout a little piece aboard the Viking and Pioneer­ their everyday lives - he has been of paper and start drawing pots. Venus space missions, and were increasingly recognized as an Breakfast or communication with also used to examine the Earth's artist. us was completely unimportant. upper atmosphere in 1960. His work has been exhibited " Bernard was a great poetic A native of St. Paul. Nier en­ throughout the United States and philosopher of pottery and he rolled at the University in 1927 at beyond. His pots are included in came out with statements that the age of 16. He received a bache­ the collections of the Smithso­ were so romantiC. but they had a lor's degree in electrical engineer­ nian Institution in Washington. ring of truth to them. He talked ing four years later. a master's de­ D.C .. the Tokyo Folk Art Museum. about pottery as frozen music or gree in 1933 and a doctorate in the Bristol (England) Art Museum the life force flowing throu h the physics in 1936. He later joined and Walker Art Center in Min­ hands of a potter. But the impor­ the physics faculty and chaired neapolis. He was one of 23 Amer­ tant thing was that he treated the School of Physics from 1953 ican artists recently invited to pottery as a serious activity. That to 1965. He retired from teaching show at the Eighth Chumchi In­ was a revelation." last June. ternational Exhibition of Ceramic Like Leach. MacKenzie has de­ Nier has been offered positions Arts in Japan. voted his life to pottery. He earns at many universities and corpora­ Born in Kansas Ci ty. Mo .. in as much money sellin his work tions. but. except for two years at 1924. MacKenzie attended the Art as he does teaching at the Uni­ the Kellex Corporation of New In titute of Chicago where he first versity. where he ha been on the York designing instruments for studied painting. Hi tudie faculty since 1954. the Manhattan Project. he has re­ were interrupted by a stint in the Watchin MacKenzie throw mained at the University of Min­ army. When he returned from his pots on his foot-driven treadle nesota. tour of duty in 1945. all the paint­ wheel (called the Leach wheel) in Nier Is the 56th person in the in clas es were filled 0 he signed his studio at Stillwater, Minn., it 129-year history of the University up for a course in pottery "be­ becomes apparent that more is to receive an honorary degree. cause it sounded interestin ." going on than a mechancial proc­ The first was awarded in 1925, Then he read The Potter' Book ess. He appears to be meditatin and re ent reCipients have in- b world-renowned potter Ber­ as his hands hold and mold a ball luded Vic PreSident Walter Mon­ nard Leach. The book Changed of clay. He i totally immersed in ale and Chief Justice Warren his life. the pro e s that tran form the Burger. George Jordan. "Leach set a whole new tone on blob into an Object with vitality. what a potter could be a oppo ed One doe feel that hi life and oul to what I was learnin in school." are being tran mitted throu h Ma Kenzie said. "At that tim his hands into the lay. When he schooling was ut and dried tech­ fini hes ten small va e . on1 nical information. There wa no three satisfy him. MAR H 19 I INNE OTA 5 In that respect he is like Humphrey Fellow Optometrist-Turned­ another potter whose work has had a strong influence on his Named Musician Shares own. Japanese potter Shoji Hamada, whom MacKenzie even­ ED KOLDERIE. former director Dream as MacPhail tually met at a workshop, de­ T of the Twin Cities area Head stroyed about a third of his works Citizens League, has been named as they came out of the kiln. the first senior fellow of the ICHARD LETTS says mUsic "At the end of his life Hamada Hubert H.