It was good fortune to be a child during the Depression years and a youth during the war years.

I read everything: fiction, history, science, mathematics, biography, travel.

Experimental science is a craft and an art, and part of the art is knowing when to end a fruitless experiment. There is a danger of becoming obsessed with a fruitless experiment even if it goes nowhere.

I learned quickly, as I tell my graduate students now, there are no answers in the back of the book when the equipment doesn't work or the measurements look strange.

My parents regarded school teachers as higher beings, as did many immigrants.

I was also interested in chemistry, but my parents were not willing to buy me a chemistry set.

A parent being called to the school because their child had misbehaved was as serious as a parent being called to the police station because their child had robbed a bank.