> From: Jed ...
> Yesterday I mentioned that Mizuno paid for his own equipment > for 5 or 10 years. You may have noticed the numbers do not > add up, since he has been doing CF for 16 years. As I > reported here some time ago, starting ~5 years ago unnamed > corporations have given him grants to pay for equipment, and > also the use of their mass spectrometers and so on. I gather > they are replicating the experiments. I have no idea how > their replications are going, but they are still supporting > his work, which is a good sign. I would certainly take this as a positive sign considering the obvious fact that the only way corporations stay in business is by carefully evaluating the profit potential of their R&D investments. > Yesterday Mizuno called to say hello, and he send me some > more .pdf files which I will upload today. He had good news > about funding. As I said in the book, his "lab" at the > university -- lab / office / grad-student experiment > / equipment storage room -- is about as big as a U.S. > university broom closet. You have to go into the room > sideways because there is so much stuff crammed into it. > See the photo in my book, p. 32. Anyway, his corporate > sponsors have increased their support, and he is now > setting up a much larger, better equipped lab, on > property just outside the university campus. I wonder, with a new lab set up away from the university campus does this mean Mizuno will likely experience fewer academic hassles? But then, I gather one must now please the whims of the Corporate Board of Directors. I would imagine this group might turn out to be an even tougher group to kowtow to when compared to academic peers presumably more interested in the pursuit of pure research. > Our own noisy Russian friend Ludwik Kowalski hopes to visit > Mizuno soon. I will ask him for a full report and photos of > the new lab. I hope he brings back some knowledge and > replicates here in the U.S. > > Mizuno's assistant, Ms. Kawasaki (shown in the photo on p. > 32) has been seriously ill. She has lung cancer. She > underwent surgery and chemotherapy, and she seems much > better. > > - Jed May Kawasaki's recovery be quick and thorough. I would imagine it's hard to get good help. Regards, Steven Vincent Johnson www.OrionWorks.com
