When I entered graduate school I had carried out the instructions given to me by my father and had knocked on both Murray Gell-Mann's and Feynman's doors and asked them what they were currently doing. Murray wrote down the partition function for the three-dimensional Ising model and said it would be nice if I could solve it (at least that is how I remember the conversation). Feynman's answer was 'nothing'.

In 1975 I met Alison Brown and in 1982 we were married. She works for Cornell Computer Services.

The Nobel award occasions a unique celebration of the vision of science by the public at large. The prestige the prize confers today is largely due to the extraordinary diligence of the Nobel committees.

Life is to be lived through action not by dreaming.

One other hobby of mine has been playing the oboe but I have not kept this up after 1969.

Industry now should become a full partner of government in supporting longrange basic research.

The scientist's inquiry into the causes of things is providing an ever more extensive understanding of nature.