RUDOLPH A. MARCUS (1923– ) INTERVIEWED BY SHIRLEY K. COHEN December 1, 7, and 14, 1993 By Bob Paz, 1989. Courtesy CIT Public Relations ARCHIVES CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Pasadena, California Subject area Chemistry Abstract An interview in three sessions in 1993 with Rudolph A. Marcus, Arthur Amos Noyes Professor of Chemistry at Caltech and Nobel laureate in chemistry, 1992, conducted by Shirley K. Cohen. Marcus recalls growing up in Montreal and Detroit, his undergraduate and graduate student days in chemistry at McGill University (BSc 1943, PhD 1946); Canadian anti-Semitism and quota on Jewish students; recollections of advisor Carl Winkler and other teachers Raymond Boyer, Otto Maass, and Bob McIntosh; fellow students Louis Nirenberg, Lazar Novak, Sam Epstein; research on chemical reaction rates. He then went to the National Research Council of Canada to do postdoctoral work under Edgar Steacie and Basil Darwent. Marcus discusses his interactions with Nathan Rosen and Wayne Bowers; the “Anomalies in Reaction Kinetics” 1951 symposium at the University of Minnesota where he first presented his work on the theory of unimolecular reactions (the RRKM theory); and his quest for a faculty appointment. In 1951 Marcus joined the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn faculty as assistant professor of chemistry. He recalls early experimental work there with gases, high-vacuum equipment, and rates of various chemical and photochemical reactions; his colleagues Herman Mark, Frank Collins, Paul Doty, http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Marcus_R Ernest Loebl, Herbert Morawetz, Bruno Zimm, and Paul Ewald; and his key paper in 1956 in electron transfer theory. Sabbatical year (1960-1961) spent at Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University; Dick Bernstein’s role in Marcus’s decision to wind down his experimental program around 1960; professor of chemistry at University of Illinois (1964-1978) and head, division of physical chemistry (1967-1968). Oxford and Munich sabbatical, 1975-1976. Consultant at Brookhaven National Laboratory and Norman Sutin’s influence. Faculty years at Caltech (1978-present) and interactions with Harry Gray, Fred Anson, Jackie Barton, Ahmed Zewail, and other colleagues. Concludes the interview with his approach to theoretical research and getting students to focus on experimental phenomena; honors; post-Nobel life; opinions on “hype” and the role of chance in research. Administrative information Access The interview is unrestricted. Copyright Copyright has been assigned to the California Institute of Technology © 1995, 2007. All requests for permission to publish or quote from the transcript must be submitted in writing to the University Archivist. Preferred citation Marcus, Rudolph A. Interview by Shirley K. Cohen. Pasadena, California, December 1, 7, and 14, 1993. Oral History Project, California Institute of Technology Archives. Retrieved [supply date of retrieval] from the World Wide Web: http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Marcus_R Contact information Archives, California Institute of Technology Mail Code 015A-74 Pasadena, CA 91125 Phone: (626)395-2704 Fax: (626)793-8756 Email: [email protected] Graphics and content © 2007 California Institute of Technology. http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Marcus_R CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ORAL HISTORY PROJECT INTERVIEW WITH RUDOLPH A. MARCUS BY SHIRLEY K. COHEN PASADENA, CALIFORNIA Caltech Archives, 1995 Copyright © 1995, 2007 by the California Institute of Technology http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Marcus_R Marcus–ii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTERVIEW WITH RUDOLPH A. MARCUS Session 1 1-24 Growing up in Montreal and Detroit; family background. McGill undergraduate student days. McGill graduate student days. Postdoctoral at NRC. Post-doctoral in Chapel Hill; Laura; RRKM theory. Session 2 25-47 Seeking a faculty position. Years at Brooklyn Poly. Electron transfer theory and Poly. Sabbatical at Courant Institute. Switch to full-time theory. Faculty years at Illinois. Brooklyn Poly and Illinois; colleagues. Oxford and Munich sabbatical. Illinois, Brookhaven and Norman Sutin’s influence. Faculty years at Caltech. Sabbaticals, skiing, tennis. Session 3 48-66 Caltech years; students and postdoctorals. Grants, research and coworkers. Interactions at Caltech. Honors. Post-Nobel life. Opinions on “hype” and the role of chance in research. http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Marcus_R CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ORAL HISTORY PROJECT Interview with Rudolph A. Marcus by Shirley K. Cohen Pasadena, California Session 1 December 1, 1993 Session 2 December 7, 1993 Session 3 December 14, 1993 Begin Tape 1, Side 1 COHEN: I wonder if you could tell us something about growing up in Montreal, and your childhood, and your schooling. MARCUS: I was born in 1923, and lived in Montreal and in a nearby town, Ormstown, until I was three years old. We then went to Detroit to begin a new life (my mother had a miscarriage sometime before). We had many relatives, both in Montreal and in Detroit. We lived in Detroit until I was nine, and then returned to Montreal. I actually started school in Detroit. And in fact, there was one thing I didn’t realize at the time: Of the Indians I learned about in history in school in Detroit, some were “good” and some were “bad” Indians. The same tribes I learned about later in Canada were given just the opposite reputations. [Laughter] And the difference, of course, was that the ones who were friendly to the British at the time (Iroquois, Mohawks) lived mainly in the US, and those who were friendly to the French (Algonquins, Hurons) lived in Canada. As a child, I guess I always thought of my father in terms of sports. He was very good at a variety of sports. And my mother had the intellectual qualities. But neither of them went to high school, even. In my mother’s case, she was born in Manchester, England. While she loved school, her family was simply too poor to pay the tuition for high school. In my father’s case, there was no excuse, really, other than that he apparently wasn’t crazy about school. His father was a small-time clothing manufacturer in the early 1900s in Montreal. Two of Dads younger brothers went to medical school at McGill and became doctors. But Dad was never interested in http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Marcus_R Marcus–2 school. So he stopped when he finished grade school. COHEN: What did he do for a living? MARCUS: He originally wanted to be a cartoonist. He had talent in drawing, in fact, won a scholarship at the age of thirteen to the Beaux Arts School in Montreal. Then he got apprenticed on a newspaper—I think it was probably the Montreal Star or the Montreal Gazette. But there was some sort of an incident, somebody apparently spilled printer’s ink on some plans, and Dad was blamed for it. Apparently, he didn’t do it. Some anti-Semitic remarks were made, which he resented, and he left. And I think after that, he did various jobs. For a while he worked for his father. He also had odd jobs in Halifax, Nova Scotia and in Ontario, selling photograph frames, for example. Eventually, he worked as a clerk in various fruit stores, later became a manager, and eventually a clerk again. And that’s really the way he spent his entire life. He wasn’t a businessman at all. Just the opposite! For example, in the stores someone would make the signs to advertise the fruit. He enjoyed that (he also enjoyed sketching all his life), but I recall one instance while he was a manager. He was in the backyard of the store happily making signs while some clerk was at the cash register, apparently helping himself to some of the contents. (I think there turned out to be a cash shortage.) That was the kind of businessman Dad was! He was very good with people, a very friendly and very warm-hearted person. He was really just a natural athlete. He played baseball and hockey. He had figure skates that he could twirl around on. He ran. One time he ran in a race that Johnny Miles, an Olympic champion from Canada, was in. (Not the Olympics race!) My Dad had run in some marathon in Halifax before that— came in third. I remember so well his ice skating. And I’d watch him in a ball game, when he played baseball. Although I love sports, I never really excelled. Somehow I always sort of leaned towards books. But I loved sports, and still do. My mother was a wonderful pianist and wonderful singer. COHEN: Did she give lessons or anything like that? MARCUS: No. She had received some training briefly at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Manchester, but mostly she was self-taught. I recall her mentioning that she did play an overture at some event—a debate that was taking place in a small town, Ormstown, in the Eastern http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Marcus_R Marcus–3 Townships of Quebec where we lived before going to the US. She gave me lessons, but after six months I didn’t want to continue them. She told me I’d regret it. And, of course, I always have. She was really artistic and had so much warmth. So hers was, I’m sure, very much a frustrated life. If she had had opportunities, I’m sure she would have taken them and succeeded. With this background, somehow from the very beginning, I always liked school. It was always my mother who would be asking me the spelling words, as part of the school lessons. COHEN: Were you an only child? MARCUS: Yes, I was. I guess early on I was very conscious, you know, of Dad, especially, not having gone to school. So I somehow got other idols. There were three of them—two of them were these uncles who were MDs.