|
|
|
|
|
|
Judah Folkman
Cancer Research
In the '70s, there was post doctoral fellows who would apply, who were told not to come to our laboratory. They said, "That's very controversial, very controversial," and so nothing scares a young post-doc worse than "very controversial," because he doesn't want to commit his two years of his life, three years. And I remember it turned around with a couple of people. One was Michael Gimbroni, but another one was Robert Langer. Robert Langer came from MIT, number one in his class in chemical engineering in 1974. And we really needed help in chemical engineering, because we were trying to get these molecules to diffuse like tumors. And Langer said he had offers from everywhere, from MIT, from Shell Oil, from everywhere. And he was interested in biomedicine, and he was just going to stop in and say hello, but he said, "I have to warn you, I've been told by four professors at MIT don't come here, and never go to a medical school anyhow because they'll treat you like a technician if you're a chemical engineer." And I remember saying, "Why don't you come for six months and make up your own mind?" And that appealed to him, and he came and stayed two years, and within six years was a professor at MIT.
View Interview with Judah Folkman
View Biography of Judah Folkman
View Profile of Judah Folkman
View Photo Gallery of Judah Folkman
|
|
Shelby Foote
Novelist and Historian
Shelby Foote: The first dreadful thing that happened to me was the death of my father before I was six years old. We were in Mobile, Alabama. My father had just been promoted to general manager of Armour and Company in that part of the country. And he had an operation for a deviated septum or something, and septicemia set in and he died in two days. The bookkeeper from Armour and Company was given the job of telling me that he had died. My mother was in no shape to tell me anything. So he took me outside the hospital, and we sat in one of these swings that's in a stand, and they had two seats, and the swings between them. And he said, "Shelby, I have some bad news for you. Your father has gone away." And I said, "Do you mean he died?" And the shock must have -- he was shocked at me talking that way. And he said, "Yes, I'm afraid that's what it is." And then I felt a huge responsibility. There I am, the survivor, five years old. And I wanted to measure up to the responsibility, so I asked him a question that nearly made him fall out of the swing. I said, "Who is going to get his money?" I thought it was a responsible thing to ask.
View Interview with Shelby Foote
View Biography of Shelby Foote
View Profile of Shelby Foote
View Photo Gallery of Shelby Foote
|
|
Carlos Fuentes
Author, Scholar & Diplomat
I went to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, and was promptly denied a visa. I asked why, and they said, "We can't tell you why. It's a secret." So I was left stranded and classified forever under the Undesirable Aliens list. I asked once, "Do you ever get out of that list? Can I ever get out?" and they said, "No, no, no." I said, "Even hell has its limits. Even in hell you are promised that one day everybody will go to purgatory or to heaven; hell is not forever. Surely, the denial of a visa is not forever." They said, "No, no, you can come out with a visa." How? "If you demonstrate your allegiance to the cause of anti-Communism." I said, "Well, that is something I will never do just on the principle of it. I am not a Communist, but I will not go to that McCarthyite length."
View Interview with Carlos Fuentes
View Biography of Carlos Fuentes
View Profile of Carlos Fuentes
View Photo Gallery of Carlos Fuentes
|
| |
|
