Caltech Sings Praises of Its 22nd Nobelist
This was a rousing, old school celebration, complete with hip-hip-hoorays and a 500-voice-strong rendition of “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.”
Caltech chemist Rudolph Marcus, whose work on the theory of electron transfer reactions won him the 1992 Nobel Prize in chemistry, arrived at the Pasadena campus on Wednesday for the first time since the prize was announced last week, and they threw a big party.
The guest of honor, who had been at conferences in Canada for the last week, got hugs and kisses from many, and a few words of advice from the last Nobel Prize winner from Caltech, 81-year-old physicist William Fowler, the 1983 laureate.
Try to restrain yourself at the sight of Queen Silvia at the Nobel ceremonies in Stockholm, Fowler said. “She’s so beautiful, I couldn’t get over wanting to kiss her,” Fowler said. “You bow to her.”
“How many times?” Marcus asked agreeably.
“Once,” said Fowler. “The nicest thing is having a person with nothing to do tell you what to do.”
In the arcade of Caltech’s Beckman Institute, there was a jazz band to muffle conversation, a table full of sandwiches and crudites, pitchers of beer and bottles of champagne and a spillover crowd, which appeared to have gathered as much to celebrate Caltech’s renowned braininess as to honor the 69-year-old prizewinner.
Faculty and alumni of the 100-year-old institute have now won 22 Nobels since physicist Robert Millikan was awarded the first one in 1923. Marcus’ work has provided a way of predicting how electrons jump between molecules without breaking chemical bonds. His theories have been found to have a variety of applications, from creating synthetic chemicals to storing solar energy.
He talked about the legendary round table discussions at the Caltech faculty club, the Athenaeum, comparing them to a faculty club at England’s Oxford University, where he spent a year before coming to Caltech 14 years ago.
“The round tables really outdo the long, thin tables at Oxford,” said Marcus, a gray-haired Canadian who looked at times to be wearying of all the attention. “I didn’t realize then that they represent what we have at Caltech, with such tremendous interaction among faculty and with students.”
Caltech President Thomas Everhart read part of a telegram from Gov. Pete Wilson, congratulating Marcus for winning the “Nobel Peace Prize in chemistry” (which got raucous laughter from the audience) and then Marcus mingled.
He autographed chemistry textbooks, posed for pictures and chatted with students, modestly dismissing the significance of the prize. “It’s accidental,” he told a colleague. “We all know that. It’s good when it happens.”
The past week had been disorienting he said. “Occasionally I’ve wondered, ‘Can this be real?’ ” he said.
Mostly, Marcus wanted to get back to work, he said. “I’ve often likened it to what it’s like to go down a ski slope that’s a little more difficult than you feel you’re ready for,” said Marcus, who is known among his research assistants for his single-minded absorption in his work. “But you say, let’s go for it.”
The $1.2 million that he will be given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm is “entirely secondary” to his work, he said. “The key thing is doing the research.”
