George Rathmann Interview (page: 3 / 9) Founding Chairman, Amgen	Print Interview

Do you remember how you first became interested in science?

George Rathmann: I couldn't go quite back to day one, but it was pretty early. And it partly was influenced by others...

Get the Flash Player to see this video. I can remember at the ages of 8, 9 and 10, my brother going into science. He was quite a bit older than I was. My brother-in-law being in medical research at Lilly, things like that. But I was actually, about that time, I was also reading medical books and the popular type of books, Paul de Kruif and Microbe Hunters and things like that, Pasteur and Ehrlich, and that was a huge stimulus to think about medical research. I never stopped thinking about it. I got myself into more physics and chemistry along the way. Some of the excitement there was learning how to create explosive reactions whenever you wanted to, in a way that you were pretty sure wasn't going to hurt you. Fortunately I never was even close to being injured. In high school and those days, those adventures sometimes were rather painful, when people got semi-disabled with fingers and other things. So it's not a very good role model for people. But getting your hands on early chemicals and physical experiments is a really stimulating part, experiencing it yourself. So there's a whole combination of things that involve role models, and people would give you stimulus by their objections. My brother-in-law, in my case, would set up little experiments so he could build some kind of a projector with a few little objects, and all of a sudden you were really creating something. That's very exciting, and if you happen to be susceptible to this, as I was, it leaves an imprint that never goes away. So I was probably fascinated from maybe an 8-year-old age right on up.

[ Key to Success ] Passion

Did you have a chemistry set?

Get the Flash Player to see this video. George Rathmann: I had a chemistry set. It never worked all that well for me. Stuff would dry out and wouldn't seem to be very good. So I did better with standard materials. I did a lot better when I got to high school and could borrow from the school, things like zinc and hydrochloric acid so you could make hydrogen. Then you can blow up hydrogen. Then you learn how to do electrolysis, and then you can make hydrogen and oxygen. Then you can blow up hydrogen and oxygen. I did a lot better then, although I did have a chemistry set and I did have a lot of other -- I was certainly fascinated by chemistry relatively early. But I found it a bit disappointing, and I suspect it was not as sophisticated. The toys of that era were pretty primitive compared to today.

Where did you grow up, and how did that have an influence on you, if so?

George Rathmann: I grew up in Milwaukee and stayed there right through high school, and haven't been back all that much since then, because I went on to college and then moved to other places in the country.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. But I met my wife-to-be in Milwaukee in high school, so I also had an extra incentive to do spectacular things once in a while, which I found to be -- but I think that she was as impressed with my growing a gardenia tree as she was with my explosions. Anyway, I figured out ways to get her attention in Milwaukee. So it was important I was in Milwaukee, or I never would have met her. We both were in high school together, probably from early years in high school. Other than that, I think Milwaukee -- the school I was in had a wonderful science program, and that was a factor. It was a private school, and even today sets the pace for the whole state in terms of the quality of the education that it produces. I was fortunate enough to get a scholarship, and was very, very impressed with the teachers that were absolutely dedicated. When you teach in a private school, you're dedicated, because you're also a basketball coach and five other things. You might teach general science, biology, chemistry and physics. And you think something has to be clicking in those peoples' minds that they're really inspired to inspire kids. I was a beneficiary of that.

Were there any particular teachers that stand out for you?

Get the Flash Player to see this video. George Rathmann: The science teacher, Mr. Leker -- gone for many years -- he wasn't particularly friendly. He was kind of grumpy, but science was everything in his life. And that came through to the kids, and he was quite patient with kids. He didn't need to be patient with me, but he had to be patient with some of the others in the science classes that took it on a little slower. But he was always challenging me, and it was very important. His way of challenging was that you would -- he'd give you a part-time job, and you'd get paid for it. But you'd have to take care of his garden, and then you had to do this, then you had to do that, because he was also the biology teacher. So I had a close affinity for him, because I was sort of his handyman for quite a while, and that's how he also had a chance to give you some extra special ideas and continue to stimulate you. So that's one. The math teacher was marvelous. Of course he had the benefit of also being the basketball coach, and I was on the basketball team. Of course, that's an inspiration. You've got to like that guy. Then, of course, when I went to college, there were four professors there that were wonderful teachers. So much so that the family recognized them, and our foundation made a contribution to a new laboratory and commemorated those teachers. They were quite astonished because teachers in college or universities are largely recognized for their academic work in connection with research. These were all brilliant research people. But the thing that impressed me was they brought into that classroom dedication and enthusiasm and inspiration, and I thought that's something that should be recognized. So our family did that.

What were their names?

George Rathmann: They were Dr. Bordwell, Dr. Basolo, Dr. Klotz and Dr. Burwell. Bordwell, Basolo, Burwell and Klotz, four professors at Northwestern, two of them in physical chemistry, one of them in organic chemistry and one in inorganic chemistry.

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