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Isaac Asimov was a writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University

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Matt Beasley

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Jan 26, 2023, 5:00:06 PM1/26/23
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Isaac Asimov was a writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke.

Asimov was born in Petrovichi, Russian SFSR, on an unknown date between Oct. 4, 1919, and Jan. 2, 1920, inclusive. Asimov celebrated his birthday on January 2.

Asimov's parents were Anna Rachel (née Berman) and Judah Asimov, a family of Russian Jewish millers. Asimov wrote of his father, "My father, for all his education as an Orthodox Jew, was not Orthodox in his heart", noting that "he didn't recite the myriad prayers prescribed for every action, and he never made any attempt to teach them to me".

In 1921, Asimov and 16 other kids in Petrovichi developed double pneumonia. Only Asimov survived. He later had two younger sibs: a sister, Marcia (1922–2011) and a brother, Stanley (1929–95), who was VP of Long Island Newsday.

Asimov's family travelled to the U.S. via Liverpool on the RMS Baltic, arriving on Feb. 3, 1923. His parents spoke Yiddish and English to him; he never learned Russian, his parents using it as a secret language "when they wanted to discuss something privately that my big ears were not to hear". Growing up in Brooklyn, Asimov taught himself to read at the age of 5 (& later taught his sister to read as well, enabling her to enter school in the 2nd grade). His mother got him into 1st grade a year early by claiming he was born on Sept. 7, 1919. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1928.

After becoming established in the U.S., his parents owned a succession of candy stores in which everyone in the family was expected to work. The candy stores sold newspapers and magazines, which Asimov credited as a major influence in his lifelong love of the written word, as it presented him with an unending supply of new reading material (including pulp sci-fi mags) as a child that he could not have otherwise afforded. Asimov began reading sci-fi at age 9, at the time that the genre was becoming more science-centered. Asimov was also a frequent patron of the Brooklyn Public Library during his formative years.

In between earning two degrees, Asimov spent 3 years during WWII working as a civilian chemist at the Philadelphia Navy Yard's Naval Air Experimental Station. In 1946, a bureaucratic error caused his military allotment to be stopped, and he was removed from a task force days before it sailed to participate in Operation Crossroads nuclear weapons tests at Bikini Atoll.

He began work as a professor in 1949 with a $5,000 salary (equivalent to $57,000 in 2021), maintaining this position for several years. By 1952, however, he was making more money as a writer than from the university, and he eventually stopped doing research, confining his university role to lecturing students.

In 1959, after a recommendation from Arthur Obermayer, Asimov's friend and a scientist on the U.S. missile defense project, Asimov was approached by DARPA to join Obermayer's team. Asimov declined on the grounds that his ability to write freely would be impaired should he receive classified info, but submitted a paper to DARPA titled "On Creativity" containing ideas on how govt-based science projects could encourage team members to think more creatively.

Asimov met his first wife, Gertrude Blugerman (1917–1990), on a blind date on Feb. 14, 1942, and married her on July 26. They had 2 kids, David (born 1951) and Robyn Joan (born 1955). In 1970, they separated and Asimov moved back to New York, this time to the Upper West Side of Manhattan where he lived for the rest of his life. He began seeing Janet O. Jeppson, a psychiatrist and sci-fi writer, and married her in 1973, two weeks after his divorce from Gertrude.

Asimov was a claustrophile: he enjoyed small, enclosed spaces. In the 3rd volume of his autobio, he recalls a childhood desire to own a magazine stand in a NYC Subway station, within which he could enclose himself and listen to the rumble of passing trains while reading.

Asimov was afraid of flying, doing so only twice: once in the course of his work at the Naval Air Experimental Station and once returning home from Oahu in 1946. Consequently, he seldom traveled great distances.

Asimov was an able public speaker and was regularly hired to give talks about science. He was a frequent participant at sci-fi conventions, where he was friendly and approachable. He patiently answered tens of thousands of questions and other mail with postcards and was pleased to give autographs. He was of medium height (5' 9"), stocky, with—in his later years—"mutton-chop" sideburns, and a distinct New York accent. He never learned to swim or ride a bicycle, but learned to drive a car after he moved to Boston. In his humor book Asimov Laughs Again, he describes Boston driving as "anarchy on wheels".

In 1984, the American Humanist Association (AHA) named him the Humanist of the Year. He was one of the signers of the Humanist Manifesto. From 1985 until his death in 1992, he served as president of the AHA, an honorary appointment. His successor was his friend and fellow writer Kurt Vonnegut. He was also a close friend of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, and earned a screen credit as "special science consultant" on Star Trek: The Motion Picture for advice he gave during production.

Asimov described Carl Sagan as one of only two he ever met whose intellect surpassed his own. The other, he claimed, was the computer scientist and A.I. expert Marvin Minsky. Asimov was a long-time member & VP of Mensa International, albeit reluctantly; he described some members of that org as "brain-proud & aggressive about their IQs".

In 1977, Asimov suffered a heart attack. In Dec. 1983, he had triple bypass surgery at NYU Med Ctr, during which he contracted HIV from a blood transfusion. His HIV status was kept secret out of concern that the anti-AIDS prejudice might extend to his family members.

He died in Manhattan on April 6, 1992, and was cremated. The cause of death was reported as heart and kidney failure. Ten years later, Janet and Robyn Asimov agreed that the HIV story should be made public; Janet revealed it in her edition of his autobio, It's Been a Good Life.

Asimov was an atheist, a humanist, and a rationalist. He did not oppose religious conviction in others, but he frequently railed against superstitious and pseudoscientific beliefs that tried to pass themselves off as genuine science.

Asimov believed that "science fiction ... serve[s] the good of humanity". He considered himself a feminist even before women's liberation became a widespread movement; he argued that the issue of women's rights was closely connected to that of population control. Furthermore, he believed that homosexuality must be considered a "moral right" on population grounds, as must all consenting adult sexual activity that does not lead to reproduction. He issued many appeals for population control, reflecting a perspective articulated by people from Thomas Malthus through Paul R. Ehrlich.

Asimov's defense of civil applications of nuclear power, even after the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant incident, damaged his relations with some of his fellow liberals. In a letter reprinted in Yours, Isaac Asimov, he states that although he would prefer living in "no danger whatsoever" than near a nuclear reactor, he would still prefer a home near a nuclear power plant than in a slum on Love Canal or near "a Union Carbide plant producing methyl isocyanate", the latter being a reference to the Bhopal disaster.

In the closing years of his life, Asimov blamed the deterioration of the quality of life that he perceived in New York City on the shrinking tax base caused by the middle-class flight to the suburbs, though he continued to support high taxes on the middle class to pay for social programs. His last nonfiction book, Our Angry Earth (1991, co-written with Frederik Pohl), deals with elements of the environmental crisis such as overpopulation, oil dependence, war, global warming, and the destruction of the ozone layer. In response to being presented by Bill Moyers with the question "What do you see happening to the idea of dignity to human species if this population growth continues at its present rate?", Asimov responded:

"It's going to destroy it all ... if you have 20 people in the apartment and two bathrooms, no matter how much every person believes in freedom of the bathroom, there is no such thing. You have to set up, you have to set up times for each person, you have to bang at the door, aren't you through yet, and so on. And in the same way, democracy cannot survive overpopulation. Human dignity cannot survive it. Convenience and decency cannot survive it. As you put more and more people onto the world, the value of life not only declines, but it disappears."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov

israel socratus

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Jan 27, 2023, 6:30:06 AM1/27/23
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The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries,
is not “Eureka!” (I found it!) but “That’s funny …” / Isaac Asimov /

Athel Cornish-Bowden

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Jan 27, 2023, 6:50:06 AM1/27/23
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If you bothered to read what other people post here you'd know that
Jillery has given this quotation many times.

I haven't managed to read a copy of Asimov's book on biochemistry, but
I suspect I'd find it very old-fashioned. He never did any research in
biochemistry worth a damn.


--
athel cb : Biochemical Evolution, Garland Science, 2016







Öö Tiib

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Jan 27, 2023, 7:10:06 AM1/27/23
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On Friday, 27 January 2023 at 13:50:06 UTC+2, Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:
> On 2023-01-27 11:25:25 +0000, israel socratus said:
>
> > The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new
> > discoveries,
> > is not “Eureka!” (I found it!) but “That’s funny …” /
> > Isaac Asimov /
> If you bothered to read what other people post here you'd know that
> Jillery has given this quotation many times.
>
I have seen it more often used in Bob Casanova's sig.

Athel Cornish-Bowden

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Jan 27, 2023, 8:25:06 AM1/27/23
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Maybe I got it wrong. I should have checked, but I didn't. In any case
Socratus should know that it has come up very many times.

Bob Casanova

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Jan 27, 2023, 11:55:06 AM1/27/23
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On Fri, 27 Jan 2023 12:47:08 +0100, the following appeared
in talk.origins, posted by Athel Cornish-Bowden
<athe...@gmail.com>:

>On 2023-01-27 11:25:25 +0000, israel socratus said:
>
>> The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new
>> discoveries,
>> is not “Eureka!�€? (I found it!) but “That’s funny …�€? /
>> Isaac Asimov /
>
>If you bothered to read what other people post here you'd know that
>Jillery has given this quotation many times.
>
I've used it as my sig since April of 2013.
>
>I haven't managed to read a copy of Asimov's book on biochemistry, but
>I suspect I'd find it very old-fashioned. He never did any research in
>biochemistry worth a damn.
>
Research is nice, but he did more to advance the knowledge
of science among laymen such as myself than almost any
researcher.
>
--

Bob C.

"The most exciting phrase to hear in science,
the one that heralds new discoveries, is not
'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...'"

- Isaac Asimov

Bob Casanova

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Jan 27, 2023, 12:00:06 PM1/27/23
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On Fri, 27 Jan 2023 04:05:23 -0800 (PST), the following
appeared in talk.origins, posted by Öö Tiib <oot...@hot.ee>:
Yep; thanks. I switched from my previous one...

"Evidence confirming an observation is
evidence that the observation is wrong."

- McNameless

...in April of 2013 when McNameless (McCoy? Whatever...)
became no longer well-known here.
>
--

Bob C.

"The most exciting phrase to hear in science,
the one that heralds new discoveries, is not

erik simpson

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Jan 27, 2023, 12:00:07 PM1/27/23
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Socratus moves in an orbit of very high eccentricity. It isn't at all clear what things
he sees.

jillery

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Jan 27, 2023, 12:30:06 PM1/27/23
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On Fri, 27 Jan 2023 12:47:08 +0100, Athel Cornish-Bowden
<athe...@gmail.com> wrote:

>On 2023-01-27 11:25:25 +0000, israel socratus said:
>
>> The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new
>> discoveries,
>> is not “Eureka!� (I found it!) but “That’s funny …� /
>> Isaac Asimov /
>
>If you bothered to read what other people post here you'd know that
>Jillery has given this quotation many times.


I wish it was me, but it isn't. I hope you haven't fallen for some
trolls' claims that Casanova and I are sock puppets.


>I haven't managed to read a copy of Asimov's book on biochemistry, but
>I suspect I'd find it very old-fashioned. He never did any research in
>biochemistry worth a damn.


I imagine writing 300+ books and countless articles might have taken
most of his time. I recall Asimov did write about some chemical
compound he claimed was so soluble, it dissolved even before it
touched the water. This led him to speculate if that were true, he
could create a kind of time-machine by daisy-chaining a series of
devices, where each device would be triggered to drop its sample into
water by the sample from the previous device dissolving. So, given a
long enough chain, the last device would drop its sample several
seconds *before* the first sample did. Much hilarity ensued as he
further speculated what would happen if tried to prevent the first
sample from being dropped *after* the last sample had already
dissolved.

--
You're entitled to your own opinions.
You're not entitled to your own facts.

Bob Casanova

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Jan 27, 2023, 3:30:07 PM1/27/23
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On Fri, 27 Jan 2023 12:29:11 -0500, the following appeared
in talk.origins, posted by jillery <69jp...@gmail.com>:

>On Fri, 27 Jan 2023 12:47:08 +0100, Athel Cornish-Bowden
><athe...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>On 2023-01-27 11:25:25 +0000, israel socratus said:
>>
>>> The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new
>>> discoveries,
>>> is not “Eureka!�€? (I found it!) but “That’s funny …�€? /
>>> Isaac Asimov /
>>
>>If you bothered to read what other people post here you'd know that
>>Jillery has given this quotation many times.
>
>
>I wish it was me, but it isn't. I hope you haven't fallen for some
>trolls' claims that Casanova and I are sock puppets.
>
>
>>I haven't managed to read a copy of Asimov's book on biochemistry, but
>>I suspect I'd find it very old-fashioned. He never did any research in
>>biochemistry worth a damn.
>
>
>I imagine writing 300+ books and countless articles might have taken
>most of his time. I recall Asimov did write about some chemical
>compound he claimed was so soluble, it dissolved even before it
>touched the water. This led him to speculate if that were true, he
>could create a kind of time-machine by daisy-chaining a series of
>devices, where each device would be triggered to drop its sample into
>water by the sample from the previous device dissolving. So, given a
>long enough chain, the last device would drop its sample several
>seconds *before* the first sample did. Much hilarity ensued as he
>further speculated what would happen if tried to prevent the first
>sample from being dropped *after* the last sample had already
>dissolved.
>
Thiotimoline, IIRC. He loved to play logic games, of which
the above is only one example.
>
--

Bob C.

"The most exciting phrase to hear in science,
the one that heralds new discoveries, is not

jillery

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Jan 28, 2023, 12:30:07 AM1/28/23
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On Fri, 27 Jan 2023 13:28:58 -0700, Bob Casanova <nos...@buzz.off>
wrote:

>On Fri, 27 Jan 2023 12:29:11 -0500, the following appeared
>in talk.origins, posted by jillery <69jp...@gmail.com>:
>
>>On Fri, 27 Jan 2023 12:47:08 +0100, Athel Cornish-Bowden
>><athe...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>>On 2023-01-27 11:25:25 +0000, israel socratus said:
>>>
>>>> The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new
>>>> discoveries,
>>>> is not “Eureka!� (I found it!) but “That’s funny …� /
>>>> Isaac Asimov /
>>>
>>>If you bothered to read what other people post here you'd know that
>>>Jillery has given this quotation many times.
>>
>>
>>I wish it was me, but it isn't. I hope you haven't fallen for some
>>trolls' claims that Casanova and I are sock puppets.
>>
>>
>>>I haven't managed to read a copy of Asimov's book on biochemistry, but
>>>I suspect I'd find it very old-fashioned. He never did any research in
>>>biochemistry worth a damn.
>>
>>
>>I imagine writing 300+ books and countless articles might have taken
>>most of his time. I recall Asimov did write about some chemical
>>compound he claimed was so soluble, it dissolved even before it
>>touched the water. This led him to speculate if that were true, he
>>could create a kind of time-machine by daisy-chaining a series of
>>devices, where each device would be triggered to drop its sample into
>>water by the sample from the previous device dissolving. So, given a
>>long enough chain, the last device would drop its sample several
>>seconds *before* the first sample did. Much hilarity ensued as he
>>further speculated what would happen if tried to prevent the first
>>sample from being dropped *after* the last sample had already
>>dissolved.
>>
>Thiotimoline, IIRC. He loved to play logic games, of which
>the above is only one example.


That sounds right. Asimov wrote about it in his first autobiography.
The story is a witty and whimsical anecdote from his academic career.
Not sure how many of us could fill one interesting autobiography,
nevermind three.

*Hemidactylus*

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Jan 28, 2023, 1:05:06 AM1/28/23
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Bob Casanova <nos...@buzz.off> wrote:
> On Fri, 27 Jan 2023 12:47:08 +0100, the following appeared
> in talk.origins, posted by Athel Cornish-Bowden
> <athe...@gmail.com>:
>
>> On 2023-01-27 11:25:25 +0000, israel socratus said:
>>
>>> The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new
>>> discoveries,
>>> is not “Eureka!� (I found it!) but “That’s funny …� /
>>> Isaac Asimov /
>>
>> If you bothered to read what other people post here you'd know that
>> Jillery has given this quotation many times.
>>
> I've used it as my sig since April of 2013.
>>
>> I haven't managed to read a copy of Asimov's book on biochemistry, but
>> I suspect I'd find it very old-fashioned. He never did any research in
>> biochemistry worth a damn.
>>
> Research is nice, but he did more to advance the knowledge
> of science among laymen such as myself than almost any
> researcher.
>
I read his physics book. I think I may have read a chemistry book by him
too decades ago. His book on Genesis _In the Beginning_ pointed me in
various directions for skeptical exegesis.

I read several books of _Foundation_. His version of psychohistory was
annoying as hell because some people of the memetics persuasion actually
took it seriously. The psychoanalytic version of psychohistory was silly in
its own way. It didn’t help that Freud’s notion of history was that Jews
felt guilty for having murdered Moses after escaping Egypt and then hooked
up with another guy who happened to be named Moses who took after a volcano
god.

Athel Cornish-Bowden

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Jan 28, 2023, 3:25:08 AM1/28/23
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On 2023-01-28 06:03:45 +0000, *Hemidactylus* said:

> Bob Casanova <nos...@buzz.off> wrote:
>> On Fri, 27 Jan 2023 12:47:08 +0100, the following appeared
>> in talk.origins, posted by Athel Cornish-Bowden
>> <athe...@gmail.com>:
>>
>>> On 2023-01-27 11:25:25 +0000, israel socratus said:
>>>
>>>> The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new
>>>> discoveries,
>>>> is not “Eureka!�€? (I found it!) but “That’s funny …�€? /
>>>> Isaac Asimov /
>>>
>>> If you bothered to read what other people post here you'd know that
>>> Jillery has given this quotation many times.
>>>
>> I've used it as my sig since April of 2013.
>>>
>>> I haven't managed to read a copy of Asimov's book on biochemistry, but
>>> I suspect I'd find it very old-fashioned. He never did any research in
>>> biochemistry worth a damn.
>>>
>> Research is nice, but he did more to advance the knowledge
>> of science among laymen such as myself than almost any
>> researcher.

That is true: he was one of the greatest science popularizers who has
ever lived. However, I wasn't referring to that, but to the statement
that he was a Professor of Biochemistry. As a Professor of Biochemistry
he was supremely undistinguished, and would be completely forgotten
today if it were not for his popularization of science (and for his
science fiction, I suppose, though that has never appealed to me).


--
athel -- biochemist, not a physicist, but detector of crackpots

Bob Casanova

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Jan 28, 2023, 10:55:07 AM1/28/23
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On Sat, 28 Jan 2023 09:22:30 +0100, the following appeared
OK, point taken. But he was somewhat of a polymath, which to
me means that "professor of biochemistry" became a bit
irrelevant. And I suspect that the vast majority of
professors, whether of biochemistry or anything else, will
be completely forgotten by nearly everyone not a relative
even before the end of their lives.
>
--

Bob C.

"The most exciting phrase to hear in science,
the one that heralds new discoveries, is not

Bob Casanova

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Jan 28, 2023, 11:00:07 AM1/28/23
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On Sat, 28 Jan 2023 06:03:45 +0000, the following appeared
in talk.origins, posted by *Hemidactylus*
<ecph...@allspamis.invalid>:

>Bob Casanova <nos...@buzz.off> wrote:
>> On Fri, 27 Jan 2023 12:47:08 +0100, the following appeared
>> in talk.origins, posted by Athel Cornish-Bowden
>> <athe...@gmail.com>:
>>
>>> On 2023-01-27 11:25:25 +0000, israel socratus said:
>>>
>>>> The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new
>>>> discoveries,
>>>> is not â??Eureka!â?? (I found it!) but â??Thatâ??s funny â?¦â?? /
>>>> Isaac Asimov /
>>>
>>> If you bothered to read what other people post here you'd know that
>>> Jillery has given this quotation many times.
>>>
>> I've used it as my sig since April of 2013.
>>>
>>> I haven't managed to read a copy of Asimov's book on biochemistry, but
>>> I suspect I'd find it very old-fashioned. He never did any research in
>>> biochemistry worth a damn.
>>>
>> Research is nice, but he did more to advance the knowledge
>> of science among laymen such as myself than almost any
>> researcher.
>>
>I read his physics book. I think I may have read a chemistry book by him
>too decades ago. His book on Genesis _In the Beginning_ pointed me in
>various directions for skeptical exegesis.
>
He was certainly prolific, in many fields.
>
>I read several books of _Foundation_. His version of psychohistory was
>annoying as hell because some people of the memetics persuasion actually
>took it seriously. The psychoanalytic version of psychohistory was silly in
>its own way. It didn’t help that Freud’s notion of history was that Jews
>felt guilty for having murdered Moses after escaping Egypt and then hooked
>up with another guy who happened to be named Moses who took after a volcano
>god.
>
You should have reserved your annoyance for the idiots who
violated (sort of) Niven's Other Law: "There is a term for
those who ascribe to an author the beliefs of his
characters. The term is 'idiot' ". It works as well for
those who read fiction and think the plot hooks are real.
>
--

Bob C.

"The most exciting phrase to hear in science,
the one that heralds new discoveries, is not

William Hyde

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Jan 28, 2023, 3:45:07 PM1/28/23
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He would agree with you, I suspect. In his autobiography he gives the
sense that he enjoyed his PhD research, but that area of chemistry
was about to change, becoming more mathematical. mathematics
was not his strongest area, and the delay due to the war ruled out
any retraining. He more or less drifted into biochemistry, for
somewhat the same reasons as the protagonist of C.P. Snow's
first novel "The Search".

Asimov didn't seem to like research as a postdoc or professor and wisely bowed
out to pursue his real strengths. He retained the title but was no longer paid.

We've all known professors who decided, not long after gaining tenure,
that they weren't going to do any more research, but kept the chair
and the pay until age 65. And couldn't teach, either.

His mystery novel "A Whiff of Death" contains characters based on
his time in graduate school, the principal character being based
on his supervisor.

One might argue that is most important work was for the US navy,
designing dyes that, when spread over the sea, could be easily
seen by air. Though he did not like to fly, he did take a test
flight to verify that his dyes worked as he expected. During
the test part of the flight, he says, he was so involved with
the work that he forgot to be afraid.


William Hyde

*Hemidactylus*

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Jan 28, 2023, 6:55:08 PM1/28/23
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William Hyde <wthyd...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
[snip]
>
> He would agree with you, I suspect. In his autobiography he gives the
> sense that he enjoyed his PhD research, but that area of chemistry
> was about to change, becoming more mathematical. mathematics
> was not his strongest area, and the delay due to the war ruled out
> any retraining. He more or less drifted into biochemistry, for
> somewhat the same reasons as the protagonist of C.P. Snow's
> first novel "The Search".
>
I am curious as to what FR Leavis would say about that particular novel by
Snow. And what would he think of Asimov’s science and literary careers?
Then I’m sure Lionel Trilling would chime in on that.

A one time student of TH Huxley, HG Wells would also bridge the worlds of
science and fiction.




William Hyde

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Jan 29, 2023, 12:40:07 AM1/29/23
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On Saturday, January 28, 2023 at 6:55:08 PM UTC-5, *Hemidactylus* wrote:
> William Hyde <wthyd...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> [snip]
> >
> > He would agree with you, I suspect. In his autobiography he gives the
> > sense that he enjoyed his PhD research, but that area of chemistry
> > was about to change, becoming more mathematical. mathematics
> > was not his strongest area, and the delay due to the war ruled out
> > any retraining. He more or less drifted into biochemistry, for
> > somewhat the same reasons as the protagonist of C.P. Snow's
> > first novel "The Search".
> >
> I am curious as to what FR Leavis would say about that particular novel by
> Snow. And what would he think of Asimov’s science and literary careers?
> Then I’m sure Lionel Trilling would chime in on that.

Rutherford told Snow the novel was OK, but that he was too old fashioned
to appreciate the "sexual element".

William Hyde

Athel Cornish-Bowden

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Jan 29, 2023, 3:10:08 AM1/29/23
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On 2023-01-28 15:54:17 +0000, Bob Casanova said:

> On Sat, 28 Jan 2023 09:22:30 +0100, the following appeared
> in talk.origins, posted by Athel Cornish-Bowden
> <athe...@gmail.com>:
>
>> On 2023-01-28 06:03:45 +0000, *Hemidactylus* said:
>>
>> [ … ]

>>
>>>>>
>>>>> I haven't managed to read a copy of Asimov's book on biochemistry, but
>>>>> I suspect I'd find it very old-fashioned. He never did any research in
>>>>> biochemistry worth a damn.
>>>>>
>>>> Research is nice, but he did more to advance the knowledge
>>>> of science among laymen such as myself than almost any
>>>> researcher.
>>
>> That is true: he was one of the greatest science popularizers who has
>> ever lived. However, I wasn't referring to that, but to the statement
>> that he was a Professor of Biochemistry. As a Professor of Biochemistry
>> he was supremely undistinguished, and would be completely forgotten
>> today if it were not for his popularization of science (and for his
>> science fiction, I suppose, though that has never appealed to me).
>>
> OK, point taken. But he was somewhat of a polymath, which to
> me means that "professor of biochemistry" became a bit
> irrelevant. And I suspect that the vast majority of
> professors, whether of biochemistry or anything else, will
> be completely forgotten by nearly everyone not a relative
> even before the end of their lives.

You exaggerate, especially with "vast majority". As it happens, I have
been reading a Discussion of the Faraday Society from 1955, for which
47 participants are listed. Of these, several are people I don't ever
encountering in other contexts (G. I. H. Hanania, F. L. Hoch, J. G.
Beetlestone ...), and others who fit your generalization, people who
were once well known but have now pretty much faded from memory (Julia
Sturtevant, Brian Rabin, Otto Hoffmann-Ostenhof ...). In addition there
are at least 11 (23% of 47) who are still well known today, very far
from being forgotten: Paul Boyer, Keith Dalziel, Malcolm Dixon, Freddie
Gutfreund, Aaron Klug, Daniel Koshland, Keith Laidler, Hans Neurath,
Francis Roughton, Bill Slater and R. J. P. Williams. I don't think any
of them are still alive, since Freddie Gutfreund died two years ago at
the age of 99.

Bob Casanova

unread,
Jan 29, 2023, 11:50:08 AM1/29/23
to talk-o...@moderators.isc.org
On Sun, 29 Jan 2023 09:05:31 +0100, the following appeared
I was referring to remembrance by people *not* members of
the same or related disciplines. In fact, hardly anyone is
remembered by more than a very few people after they die.
"Household names" are rare, but I'd argue that Asimov is one
of them.

Matt Beasley

unread,
Sep 3, 2023, 2:50:24 AM9/3/23
to talk-o...@moderators.isc.org
Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:
> israel socratus said:
>
> > The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new
> > discoveries,
> > is not “Eureka!” (I found it!) but “That’s funny …” /
> > Isaac Asimov /
> If you bothered to read what other people post here you'd know that
> Jillery has given this quotation many times.
>
> I haven't managed to read a copy of Asimov's book on biochemistry, but
> I suspect I'd find it very old-fashioned. He never did any research in
> biochemistry worth a damn.
---------------------------
COMMENTS ON POPULATION ISSUES, BY NOBEL LAUREATES IN CHEMISTRY, IF ANY:
1901 Jacobus van 't Hoff (1852–1911)
1902 Hermann Fischer (1852–1919)
1903 Svante Arrhenius (1859–1927)
1904 Sir William Ramsay (1852–1916)
1905 Adolf von Baeyer (1835–1917)
1906 Henri Moissan (1852–1907)
1907 Eduard Buchner (1860–1917)
1908 Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937)

1909 Wilhelm Ostwald (1853–1932) In 1911, Ostwald became President of the Deutscher
Monistenbund (Monist Association), founded by Ernst Haeckel.[45] Ostwald (and other
Monists) promoted eugenics and euthanasia, but only as voluntary choices with the
intention of preventing suffering. Monist promotion of such ideas is suggested to
have indirectly facilitated acceptance of the later Social Darwinism of the National
Socialists. Ostwald died before the Nazis adopted and enforced the use of eugenics
and euthanasia as involuntary government policies, to support their racist ideological
positions.[43][3] Ostwald's Monism also influenced Carl G. Jung's identification of
psychological types.[46]

1910 Otto Wallach (1847–1931)
1911 Marie Curie, née Skłodowska (1867–1934)

1912 Victor Grignard (1871–1935) During World War I he studied chemical warfare agents
with Georges Urbain at Sorbonne University, particularly the manufacture of phosgene
and the detection of mustard gas.[5]

1912 Paul Sabatier (1854–1941)

1913 Alfred Werner (1866–1919) In his last year, he suffered from a general, progressive,
degenerative arteriosclerosis, especially of the brain, aggravated by years of excessive
drinking and overwork. He died in a psychiatric hospital in Zurich.[3]

1914 Theodore Richards (1868–1928)
1915 Richard Willstätter (1872–1942)
1916 Not awarded
1917 Not awarded
1918 Fritz Haber (1868–1934)
1919 Not awarded
1920 Walther Nernst (1864–1941)
1921 Frederick Soddy (1877–1956)
1922 Francis Aston (1877–1945)
1923 Fritz Pregl (1869–1930)
1924 Not awarded
1925 Richard Zsigmondy (1865–1929)
1926 Theodor Svedberg (1884–1971)
1927 Heinrich Wieland (1877–1957)
1928 Adolf Windaus (1876–1959)
1929 Arthur Harden (1865–1940)
1929 Hans von Euler-Chelpin(1873–1964)
1930 Hans Fischer (1881–1945)
1931 Carl Bosch (1874–1940)
1931 Friedrich Bergius (1884–1949)
1932 Irving Langmuir (1881–1957)
1933 Not awarded
1934 Harold C. Urey (1893–1981)
1935 Frédéric Joliot (1900–1958)
1935 Irène Joliot-Curie (1897–1956)
1936 Peter Debye (1884–1966)
1937 Walter Haworth (1883–1950)
1937 Paul Karrer (1889–1971)
1938 Richard Kuhn (1900–1967)
1939 Adolf Butenandt (1903–1995)
1939 Leopold Ružička (1887–1976)
1940 Not awarded
1941 Not awarded
1942 Not awarded
1943 George de Hevesy (1885–1966)
1944 Otto Hahn (1879–1968)
1945 Artturi Virtanen (1895–1973)
1946 James Sumner (1887–1955)
1946 John Northrop (1891–1987)
1946 Wendell Stanley (1904–1971)
1947 Sir Robert Robinson (1886–1975)
1948 Arne Tiselius (1902–1971)
1949 William Giauque (1895–1982)
1950 Otto Diels (1876–1954)
1950 Kurt Alder (1902–1958)
1951 Edwin McMillan (1907–1991)
1951 Glenn Seaborg (1912–1999)
1952 Archer Martin (1910–2002)
1952 Richard Synge (1914–1994)
1953 Hermann Staudinger (1881–1965)

1954 Linus Pauling (1901–1994) Pauling supported a limited form of eugenics by suggesting
that human carriers of defective genes be given a compulsory visible mark – such as a
forehead tattoo – to discourage potential mates with the same defect, in order to reduce
the number of babies with diseases such as sickle cell anemia.[128][129]

1955 Vincent du Vigneaud (1901–1978)
1956 Sir Cyril Hinshelwood (1897–1967)
1956 Nikolay Semenov (1896–1986)
1957 Lord Alexander Todd (1907–1997)
1958 Frederick Sanger (1918–2013)
1959 Jaroslav Heyrovský (1890–1967)
1960 Willard Libby (1908–1980)
1961 Melvin Calvin (1911–1997)
1962 Max Perutz (1914–2002)
1962 John Kendrew (1917–1997)
1963 Karl Ziegler (1898–1973)
1963 Giulio Natta (1903–1979)
1964 Dorothy Hodgkin (1910–1994)
1965 Robert Woodward (1917–1979)
1966 Robert Mulliken (1896–1986)
1967 Manfred Eigen (1927–2019)
1967 Ronald Norrish (1897–1978)
1967 George Porter (1920–2002)
1968 Lars Onsager (1903–1976)
1969 Derek Barton (1918–1998)
1969 Odd Hassel (1897–1981)
1970 Luis Leloir (1906–1987)
1971 Gerhard Herzberg (1904–1999)
1972 Christian Anfinsen (1916–1995)
1972 Stanford Moore (1913–1982)
1972 William H. Stein (1911–1980)
1973 Ernst Fischer (1918–2007)
1973 Geoffrey Wilkinson (1921–1996)
1974 Paul J. Flory (1910–1985)
1975 John Cornforth (1917–2013)
1975 Vladimir Prelog (1906–1998)
1976 William N. Lipscomb (1919–2011)
1977 Ilya Prigogine (1917–2003)
1978 Peter D. Mitchell (1920–1992)
1979 Herbert C. Brown (1912–2004)
1979 Georg Wittig(1897–1987)
1980 Paul Berg (1926–2023)
1980 Frederick Sanger (1918–2013)
1981 Kenichi Fukui (1918–1998)
1981 Roald Hoffmann (b. 1937)
1982 Aaron Klug (1926–2018)
1983 Henry Taube (1915–2005)
1984 Robert Merrifield (1921–2006)
1985 Herbert A. Hauptman (1917–2011)
1985 Jerome Karle (1918–2013)
1986 Dudley R. Herschbach (b. 1932)

1986 Yuan T. Lee (b. 1936) In 2010, Lee said that global warming would be much more
serious than scientists previously thought, and that Taiwanese people needed to cut
their per-capita carbon emissions from the current 12 tons per year to just three.
This would take more than a few slogans, turning off the lights for one hour, or
cutting meat consumption, noting: "We will have to learn to live the simple lives
of our ancestors." Without such efforts, he said, "Taiwanese will be unable to
survive long into the future".[9]

1986 John C. Polanyi(b. 1929)
1987 Donald J. Cram (1919–2001)
1987 Jean-Marie Lehn (b. 1939)
1987 Charles J. Pedersen (1904–1989)
1988 Johann Deisenhofer (b. 1943)
1988 Robert Huber (b. 1937)
1988 Hartmut Michel (b. 1948)
1989 Sidney Altman (1939–2022)
1989 Thomas Cech (b. 1947)
1990 Elias J. Corey (b. 1928)
1991 Richard R. Ernst (1933–2021)
1992 Rudolph A. Marcus (b. 1923)
1993 Kary B. Mullis (1944–2019)
1993 Michael Smith (1932–2000)
1994 George A. Olah (1927–2017)
1995 Paul J. Crutzen (1933–2021)
1995 Mario J. Molina (1943–2020)
1995 Frank S. Rowland(1927–2012)
1996 Robert F. Curl Jr. (1933–2022)
1996 Sir Harold W. Kroto (1939–2016)

1996 Richard E. Smalley (1943–2005) Starting in the late 1990s, Smalley advocated for
the need for cheap, clean energy, which he described as the number one problem facing
humanity in the 21st century. He described what he called "The Terawatt Challenge",
the need to develop a new power source capable of increasing "our energy output by a
minimum factor of two, the generally agreed-upon number, certainly by the middle of
the century, but preferably well before that."[29][30] He also presented a list entitled
"Top Ten Problems of Humanity for Next 50 Years".[29][31] It can be interesting to compare
his list, in order of priority, to the Ten Threats formulated by the U.N.'s High Level
Threat Panel in 2004. Smalley's list, in order of priority, was:
ENERGY, WATER, FOOD, ENVIRONMENT, POVERTY, TERRORISM & WAR, DISEASE, EDUCATION,
DEMOCRACY, POPULATION [29]
Smalley regarded several problems as interlinked: the lack of people entering the fields
of science and engineering, the need for an alternative to fossil fuels, and the need to
address global warming.[29] He felt that improved science education was essential, and
strove to encourage young students to consider careers in science. His slogan for this
effort was "Be a scientist, save the world."[32]

1997 Paul D. Boyer (1918–2018)
1997 John E. Walker (b. 1941)
1997 Jens C. Skou (1918–2018)
1998 Walter Kohn (1923–2016)
1998 John A. Pople(1925–2004)
1999 Ahmed Zewail (1946–2016)
2000 Alan J. Heeger (b. 1936)
2000 Alan G. MacDiarmid (1927–2007)
2000 Hideki Shirakawa (b. 1936)
2001 William S. Knowles (1917–2012)
2001 Ryōji Noyori (b. 1938)
2001 K. Barry Sharpless (b. 1941)
2002 John B. Fenn (1917–2010)
2002 Koichi Tanaka (b. 1959)
2002 Kurt Wüthrich (b. 1938)

2003 Peter Agre (b. 1949) He has said that he admired Linus Pauling, another
Nobel laureate and peace activist.[54]

2003 Roderick MacKinnon (b. 1956)
2004 Aaron Ciechanover (b. 1947)
2004 Avram Hershko (b. 1937)
2004 Irwin Rose (1926–2015)
2005 Yves Chauvin (1930–2015)
2005 Robert H. Grubbs (1942–2021)
2005 Richard R. Schrock (b. 1945)
2006 Roger D. Kornberg (b. 1947)
2007 Gerhard Ertl (b. 1936)
2008 Osamu Shimomura (1928–2018)
2008 Martin Chalfie (b. 1947)
2008 Roger Y. Tsien (1952–2016)
2009 Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (b. 1952)
2009 Thomas A. Steitz (1940–2018)
2009 Ada E. Yonath (b. 1939)
2010 Richard F. Heck (1931–2015)
2010 Ei-ichi Negishi (1935–2021)
2010 Akira Suzuki (b. 1930)
2011 Dan Shechtman (b. 1941)
2012 Robert Lefkowitz (b. 1943)
2012 Brian Kobilka (b. 1955)
2013 Martin Karplus (b. 1930)
2013 Michael Levitt (b. 1947)
2013 Arieh Warshel (b. 1940)
2014 Eric Betzig (b. 1960)
2014 Stefan W. Hell (b. 1962)
2014 William E. Moerner (b. 1953)
2015 Tomas Lindahl (b. 1938)
2015 Paul L. Modrich (b. 1946)
2015 Aziz Sancar (b. 1946)
2016 Jean-Pierre Sauvage (b. 1944)
2016 Fraser Stoddart (b. 1942)
2016 Ben Feringa (b. 1951)
2017 Jacques Dubochet (b. 1942)
2017 Joachim Frank (b. 1940)

2017 Richard Henderson (b. 1945) Outside academia, he lists his interests as hill walking
in Scotland, kayaking and drinking good wine.[3][8]

2018 Frances Arnold (b. 1956) Her hobbies include traveling, scuba diving, skiing,
dirt-bike riding, and hiking.[43]

2018 George Smith (b. 1941)
2018 Sir Gregory Winter (b. 1951)
2019 John B. Goodenough (1922–2023)
2019 M. Stanley Whittingham (b. 1941)
2019 Akira Yoshino (b. 1948)
2020 Emmanuelle Charpentier (b. 1968)
2020 Jennifer Doudna (b. 1964)
2021 Benjamin List (b. 1968)
2022 David MacMillan (b. 1968)
2022 Carolyn R. Bertozzi (b. 1966)
2022 Morten Meldal (b. 1954)
2022 K. Barry Sharpless (b. 1941)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_laureates_in_Chemistry
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