Meeting a legend in the History of Science

Two nights ago, my wife and I sat down at a Hearing Symposium next to another gentleman my age; we shared the situation that our wives are telling us that neither of us can hear as well as we once did.

My wife is an engaging conversationalist, and she drew him out.  He said his accent was from his English youth, but he was "a ‘dumb immigrant’ who came to this country right out of college, and stayed, ‘on the east coast’ "

Which to a Westerner, especially for two who briefly tried the East Coast at mid-life+, made sense.

To her question of ‘what do you do?’ he replied that he was a historian.  I said, brightly, that I was an erstwhile historian myself.  He said, “of what?”  I proudly said, History of Technology”, and went on to say, “maybe you’ve heard of SHOT.  I was just at their annual conference.”  

Arnold Thackray said in reply, “Yes, I’ve heard of them.”

Well, off we went.  I had explored the idea of a PhD in the History of Science and Technology in 1966, coincident with getting a History Master's degree in Urban Studies from the University of Colorado (looking for something to do while working at Hewlett-Packard at a hinterland division).  I'd met luminaries in the field at the time -- I. Bernard Cohen at Harvard, Thomas Kuhn at Princeton, Carroll Purcell at UC Santa Barbara, and Melvin Kranzberg at Case Western (now Carnegie Mellon).  It was an attractive field, nascent to be sure, and I decided to 'stay in electronics' which was just 'going digital'.  Logic Analyzers might not have happened the same way if I'd shifted, who knows?

Well, Thackray met Cohen virtually at the same time, came to Harvard to teach, went on to found the department at the Univ of Pennsylvania, and then the Chemical Heritage Foundation.  He retired, sort of, to the West Coast five years ago, but is working on projects still.

We have met, discussed our mutual interests at this point (which are several!), and commiserated about our choice of line of work.

Thackray, among many achievements, did the biography of Arnold Beckman--a tour-de-force in the chemical instrumentation world, one we knew well at HP.

He added, to the 'dumb immigrant' story, saying he was a 'dumb entrepreneur also, starting a non-profit corporation re the History of Science, and a 'dumb geoscociologist' as well, since he chose both a field where everyone looks forward, not back, in a country clearly the least interested in history of any nation.

I couldn't help thinking I've found a kindred spirit!