Charlie Duke, CAPCOM for Apollo 11 and moonwalking companion of John Young on Apollo 16. Didn’t just get to meet Charlie, I got to spend almost 90 minutes with him one on one. Listening to the voice of “Houston” read from Psalm 19 will never be topped!
I have met quite a few famous people. Nobel Laureates in Biology:
James Watson, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, at a small symposium at Cold Spring Harbor that I attended as a post doctoral fellow. He was warm, friendly and engaging with all of us, quite different from his later personality.
David Baltimore, discoverer of reverse transciptase, which copies RNA into DNA and the basis of retroviruses, at Wood’s Hole Institute, where we passed each other on a path through the woods and I stopped to say hello an had a 5 minute conversation. I guess that counts.
Stanley Prusiner, the discoverer of prions, (cause of mad cow disease) at a small executive meeting at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, where I was acting Vice President for Research. He was the most imposing and glamourous of all, but was also friendly and warm. And brilliant beyond compare.
Robert Lefkowitz, major contributions to receptor biochemistry, at a conference. We talked about a paper I had just published in Nature (the only one) and he gave me some advice. Pleasant and brilliant.
There are several more, but this getting too long. Here are the names. Leland Hartwell, Harold E. Varmus (I went canoeing with him at a Summer conference), Rosalyn Yalow, Gerald Edelman, Peter Medawar, Irwin Rose, Carol W. Greider.
I have also met (twice) a Physics Nobelist, fellow Methodist William Phillips when he hosted a small group for a tour of NIST, and we had lunch. Wonderful man.
Two Nobelists for literature: Isaac Bashevis Singer, Jewish writer at a college event, and Dario Fo, playwright, in Milan Italy at a mutual friend’s home.
Other famous people include scientists Francis Collins, former Director of NIH (my boss’s boss) and founder of Biologos. Just saw him a few weeks ago at a conference; Tony Fauci, former Director of NIAID (NIH) as a member of his Institute’s Advisory Committee, when I worked at NIH; Simon Conway Morris, (the pioneer of evolutionary convergence), Alister McGrath and physicist John Barrow at meetings of the John Templeton Board of Advisors.
I also know quite a few folks active in Christian apologetics, theology or the field of science and faith: N.T. Wright, Lee Strobel, Hugh Ross, Jennifer Wiseman, many more, but I don’t know the degree of their general fame,
When I lived in NYC I met (briefly) a number of actors: Daryl Hannah, Jon Voight, Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick (not very nice), writers: Phillip Roth, Kurt Vonnegut, ,
Im sure I have forgotten some, but that’s normal at my age.
That's the good part of being old. Also I forgot the musicians. Bob Dylan, Yitzhak Perlman (violinist) both when quite young. Laura Nyro, Janis Ian (both at my high school of Music and Art). Arlo Guthrie and Joan Baez at Woodstock (very very briefly), Bill Evans (jazz pianist) and his wife. Pete Seeger, Oscar Brand (when I was 5). Also Harry Belafonte, actor Jack Gilford,
In the mid 90’s during the TQM (Total Quality Management) craze, I had the opportunity to attend a seminar put on by W.Edwards Deming, the statistician who, at the end of WW2, taught the Japanese the value and elements of statistical process control. He was in his 90’s and his passion for teaching was inspiring as he demonstrated the folly of conventional management techniques in his “Red Bead Experiment”.
Jon Lomberg—Chief Science Artist for Carl Sagan's Emmy Award-winning Cosmos TV special. He, too, won an Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement on this series. Jon has managed and led teams of artists and technicians on major scientific projects using sophisticated image technology. These days, he remains one of the world's most distinguished artists inspired by astronomy.
Once upon a time, I contacted Jon's website when building my own for my Christmas Fantasy novel (about a young teen who creates a "new world" to save his cancer-stricken younger sister) and asked permission to use his "Infinite Regression" image because it illustrates a main theme in my story. I expected an assistant to reply. Instead, after checking out my website, Jon sent me an email requesting more info about my book. "I'm intrigued," he stated. We've been emailing each other about science, religion (he's definitely NOT Catholic) and the Big Questions ever since. Eventually, I asked him to critique my story. If interested, here's what he wrote: https://www.robert-italia.com/endorsements
The only famous scientist I have ever met was the British astronomer and eccentric TV personality, the late Sir Patrick Moore. My late father was a keen amateur astronomer, and one Saturday morning he took me to a talk in London at the headquarters of the British Astronomical Association, to which he belonged. I was maybe 7 or 8 years old. The talk was way over my head, but there was a BAA member on the door, checking people in, and that was Patrick Moore, despite his fame and celebrity here in the UK. After the talk, many people queued up to speak with him, and it was striking how he gave priority to giving time to children and their questions. He knew the importance of nurturing the next generation. Many years later, as an adult, I discovered that I shared a birthday with him.
The "greatest physicist" whom I have met an talked with a number of times is John Bardeen
I went to graduate school in Physics at the Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. The first & second year graduate students shared a large office that was near John Bardeen's office. So we often saw him in the hallway.
The UI Physics Dept. was a “sprawling enterprise” in the mid-’60’s. Much bigger than most Physics Departments at that time. Typically, 300 new grad students were accepted each year with the anticipation that less than 100 would get PhD’s. (Legions of TA’s were needed due to the huge “physics for engineers" courses at UI.) The Dept. was very large and was staffed with many prominent Physicists - in all of the major areas of Physics.
This meant that it was a daunting task for an entering grad student to get to know the professors . In my second year there I was part of a group that organized the “Graduate Seminar”. This was a once-a-month (sometimes more often) session that consisted of a talk by one of the prominent professors about their current interests and research. Well attended by the first & second year grad students (a few hundred usually in attendance!) as it was a way to get some perspective on the various research programs at UI.
However, someone had to seek out these professors and get them to commit to a specific date (often very reluctantly). That was my ‘job’ during my second year.
I have told you the above so that I can tell you about John Bardeen. He was a very humble, unassuming man. Whenever I came to his office, he would look out, see me, and without a word open his schedule book. Compared to other professors Bardeen was a joy to approach. No ‘attitude’. Just a humble willingness to encourage the next generation. Many of whom would not last long enough at UI to get a PhD, but all would, as high-school physics teachers or lab assistants, etc., recall the gentle kind man who had won two Nobel Prizes.
Around 2001 John Nash came to Purdue and gave a lecture on his work. It was an hour long exposition of the naming convention he used for naming variables in a program he was writing. A psych prof said "That's classic schizophrenic behavior: he's utterly unaware of his audience."
Afterward there was a reception in the Krannert Building lobby. He was hitting on one of the Chinese grad students. She was disgusted and too polite to shut him down. I avoided meeting Nash, but I did get a piece of the cake.
The most famous (at least to me) that I have personally met and inspired me on my faith-science journey are Henry F. Schaefer III (https://www.chem.uga.edu/directory/people/henry-schaefer), William A. Dembski (https://billdembski.substack.com/) and Thomas E. Woodward (https://apologetics.org/tom-woodward/). They have all provided me with great encouragement and hope at different times, and it was when Bill pivoted to Substack recently that got me thinking, ‘‘maybe I could start one of those blog things’’, and then found other great Substack publications, such as yours Sarah…the journey continues…
Charlie Duke, CAPCOM for Apollo 11 and moonwalking companion of John Young on Apollo 16. Didn’t just get to meet Charlie, I got to spend almost 90 minutes with him one on one. Listening to the voice of “Houston” read from Psalm 19 will never be topped!
Great article, Sarah! ☺️
Oh my goodness, what an experience!
I thought you knew about that, Sarah! My goodness, I can't believe I never told you. Anyway, I made it a five-part video series (each part about 15-20 minutes). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmGsoZklgcs&list=PL_EBD9nEOtiNJm1gR8j0TtVBZA5Kil-0E&pp=gAQBiAQB
I'll watch!
Sweet! Thanks so much! Part one is his retelling of landing Apollo 11, and part three is his testimony of coming to Jesus.
I have met quite a few famous people. Nobel Laureates in Biology:
James Watson, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, at a small symposium at Cold Spring Harbor that I attended as a post doctoral fellow. He was warm, friendly and engaging with all of us, quite different from his later personality.
David Baltimore, discoverer of reverse transciptase, which copies RNA into DNA and the basis of retroviruses, at Wood’s Hole Institute, where we passed each other on a path through the woods and I stopped to say hello an had a 5 minute conversation. I guess that counts.
Stanley Prusiner, the discoverer of prions, (cause of mad cow disease) at a small executive meeting at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, where I was acting Vice President for Research. He was the most imposing and glamourous of all, but was also friendly and warm. And brilliant beyond compare.
Robert Lefkowitz, major contributions to receptor biochemistry, at a conference. We talked about a paper I had just published in Nature (the only one) and he gave me some advice. Pleasant and brilliant.
Gertrude Elion. Meeting her was a story I related in a blog post called “The Biggest Loser” (the title does NOT refer to Dr. Elion). https://thebookofworks.com/2022/09/10/the-biggest-loser/
There are several more, but this getting too long. Here are the names. Leland Hartwell, Harold E. Varmus (I went canoeing with him at a Summer conference), Rosalyn Yalow, Gerald Edelman, Peter Medawar, Irwin Rose, Carol W. Greider.
I have also met (twice) a Physics Nobelist, fellow Methodist William Phillips when he hosted a small group for a tour of NIST, and we had lunch. Wonderful man.
Two Nobelists for literature: Isaac Bashevis Singer, Jewish writer at a college event, and Dario Fo, playwright, in Milan Italy at a mutual friend’s home.
Other famous people include scientists Francis Collins, former Director of NIH (my boss’s boss) and founder of Biologos. Just saw him a few weeks ago at a conference; Tony Fauci, former Director of NIAID (NIH) as a member of his Institute’s Advisory Committee, when I worked at NIH; Simon Conway Morris, (the pioneer of evolutionary convergence), Alister McGrath and physicist John Barrow at meetings of the John Templeton Board of Advisors.
I also know quite a few folks active in Christian apologetics, theology or the field of science and faith: N.T. Wright, Lee Strobel, Hugh Ross, Jennifer Wiseman, many more, but I don’t know the degree of their general fame,
When I lived in NYC I met (briefly) a number of actors: Daryl Hannah, Jon Voight, Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick (not very nice), writers: Phillip Roth, Kurt Vonnegut, ,
Im sure I have forgotten some, but that’s normal at my age.
Wow, Sy! That's an impressive list!
That's the good part of being old. Also I forgot the musicians. Bob Dylan, Yitzhak Perlman (violinist) both when quite young. Laura Nyro, Janis Ian (both at my high school of Music and Art). Arlo Guthrie and Joan Baez at Woodstock (very very briefly), Bill Evans (jazz pianist) and his wife. Pete Seeger, Oscar Brand (when I was 5). Also Harry Belafonte, actor Jack Gilford,
Amazing. My parents listened to a lot of that music when I was a kid.
And, yes, that's one benefit of getting older, you accumulate a lot of neat experiences like these. I'm looking forward to accumulating more.
Thanks for pointing out that scientists are human. And generally, more interesting than the people who get all the attention.
That said, I saw the Beatles live! Sorry, that's all I've got.
In the mid 90’s during the TQM (Total Quality Management) craze, I had the opportunity to attend a seminar put on by W.Edwards Deming, the statistician who, at the end of WW2, taught the Japanese the value and elements of statistical process control. He was in his 90’s and his passion for teaching was inspiring as he demonstrated the folly of conventional management techniques in his “Red Bead Experiment”.
Jon Lomberg—Chief Science Artist for Carl Sagan's Emmy Award-winning Cosmos TV special. He, too, won an Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement on this series. Jon has managed and led teams of artists and technicians on major scientific projects using sophisticated image technology. These days, he remains one of the world's most distinguished artists inspired by astronomy.
Once upon a time, I contacted Jon's website when building my own for my Christmas Fantasy novel (about a young teen who creates a "new world" to save his cancer-stricken younger sister) and asked permission to use his "Infinite Regression" image because it illustrates a main theme in my story. I expected an assistant to reply. Instead, after checking out my website, Jon sent me an email requesting more info about my book. "I'm intrigued," he stated. We've been emailing each other about science, religion (he's definitely NOT Catholic) and the Big Questions ever since. Eventually, I asked him to critique my story. If interested, here's what he wrote: https://www.robert-italia.com/endorsements
Wow, Robert, that's really cool that Lomberg responded personally, and that you've kept up the correspondence with him.
I LOVED the Cosmos TV show when I was a kid. It's one of the reasons I became a scientist.
Thanks, Sarah. I hope you checked out the link. I think you'd be interested in my story for many reasons other than the science.
The only famous scientist I have ever met was the British astronomer and eccentric TV personality, the late Sir Patrick Moore. My late father was a keen amateur astronomer, and one Saturday morning he took me to a talk in London at the headquarters of the British Astronomical Association, to which he belonged. I was maybe 7 or 8 years old. The talk was way over my head, but there was a BAA member on the door, checking people in, and that was Patrick Moore, despite his fame and celebrity here in the UK. After the talk, many people queued up to speak with him, and it was striking how he gave priority to giving time to children and their questions. He knew the importance of nurturing the next generation. Many years later, as an adult, I discovered that I shared a birthday with him.
Neat! So glad to hear he was kind to children.
Yes: he made the adults wait!
Yeah, a good recollection of famous encounters!
Well, for me, I'd say, famous gospel artists at gospel rock shows. 😃
The "greatest physicist" whom I have met an talked with a number of times is John Bardeen
I went to graduate school in Physics at the Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. The first & second year graduate students shared a large office that was near John Bardeen's office. So we often saw him in the hallway.
The UI Physics Dept. was a “sprawling enterprise” in the mid-’60’s. Much bigger than most Physics Departments at that time. Typically, 300 new grad students were accepted each year with the anticipation that less than 100 would get PhD’s. (Legions of TA’s were needed due to the huge “physics for engineers" courses at UI.) The Dept. was very large and was staffed with many prominent Physicists - in all of the major areas of Physics.
This meant that it was a daunting task for an entering grad student to get to know the professors . In my second year there I was part of a group that organized the “Graduate Seminar”. This was a once-a-month (sometimes more often) session that consisted of a talk by one of the prominent professors about their current interests and research. Well attended by the first & second year grad students (a few hundred usually in attendance!) as it was a way to get some perspective on the various research programs at UI.
However, someone had to seek out these professors and get them to commit to a specific date (often very reluctantly). That was my ‘job’ during my second year.
I have told you the above so that I can tell you about John Bardeen. He was a very humble, unassuming man. Whenever I came to his office, he would look out, see me, and without a word open his schedule book. Compared to other professors Bardeen was a joy to approach. No ‘attitude’. Just a humble willingness to encourage the next generation. Many of whom would not last long enough at UI to get a PhD, but all would, as high-school physics teachers or lab assistants, etc., recall the gentle kind man who had won two Nobel Prizes.
Around 2001 John Nash came to Purdue and gave a lecture on his work. It was an hour long exposition of the naming convention he used for naming variables in a program he was writing. A psych prof said "That's classic schizophrenic behavior: he's utterly unaware of his audience."
Afterward there was a reception in the Krannert Building lobby. He was hitting on one of the Chinese grad students. She was disgusted and too polite to shut him down. I avoided meeting Nash, but I did get a piece of the cake.
The most famous (at least to me) that I have personally met and inspired me on my faith-science journey are Henry F. Schaefer III (https://www.chem.uga.edu/directory/people/henry-schaefer), William A. Dembski (https://billdembski.substack.com/) and Thomas E. Woodward (https://apologetics.org/tom-woodward/). They have all provided me with great encouragement and hope at different times, and it was when Bill pivoted to Substack recently that got me thinking, ‘‘maybe I could start one of those blog things’’, and then found other great Substack publications, such as yours Sarah…the journey continues…