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

Going to school and working for good marks, indeed working for very good marks, was a serious business.

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.

About 1900 my parents came to the United States as children from what was then the Polish area of Russia.

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

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

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