After some minor pieces of theoretical study that I worked on, a student in my statistical mechanics class brought to my attention a problem in polyelectrolytes.

Life would be indeed easier if the experimentalists would only pause for a little while!

My education at Baron Byng High School was excellent, with dedicated masters (boys and girls were separate).

After a subsequent interview at Brooklyn Poly, I was hired, and life as a fully independent researcher began.

My interest in the sciences started with mathematics in the very beginning, and later with chemistry in early high school and the proverbial home chemistry set.

After some minor pieces of theoretical study that I worked on, a student in my statistical mechanics class brought to my attention a problem in polyelectrolytes.

My life as a working theorist began three months after this preliminary study and background reading, when Oscar gently nudged me toward working on a particular problem.