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.

About 1960, it became clear that it was best for me to bring the experimental part of my research program to a close - there was too much to do on the theoretical aspects - and I began the process of winding down the experiments.

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

Being exposed to theory, stimulated by a basic love of concepts and mathematics, was a marvelous experience.

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

I have always loved going to school.

Growing up, mostly in Montreal, I was an only child of loving parents.