Edgar,
Dunno if I knew Neil. Sorry, don't think so. Maybe if you were to describe
him.
How about Fred (Cantor)? Physicist. A massive figure on Morningside Heights.
Big as a bear, with a red beard. He was Bob Novick's PhD student in
Astrophysics; Fred worked on focusing "mirrors" for x-ray telescopes, using
steeply-tilted graphite crystals which act as grazing-incident reflectors for
short x-rays. He flew them on sounding rockets from White Sands. Eventually,
the "Einstein" x-ray observatory used these methods successfully, also. Fred
wrote a book, INFORMATION MECHANICS (Wiley). Fred hung out in the Hungarian
Pastry Shop, but I've also chatted with him at "College Inn", and "Tom's", as
well as at his apartment on W. 112th Street near Amsterdam. I worked at the
NASA-GISS center at 2880 Broadway, above Tom's. We could smell the Pea Soup on
Wednesdays in the hallways. GISS was build around an IBM-360 computer.
Security was very tight after the 1968 student uprising.
Two other of Fred's teachers were Polykarp Kusch, and Rabi. I also knew them
both, and I sometimes had lunch with Rabi and his wife, at... "College Inn". A
Greek greasy-spoon, if ever there was one! ;-)
I think Fred deduced the rest-masses of some fundamental particles from
...First Principles! (of Information Mechanics).
One of Fred's better known lines is (and Bill! will like this!):
"A theory that tries to explain its assumptions is a tautology."
- Fred Kantor
Carl Gregerson was another Physicist friend. Long, tall, gaunt, and dark, I
think his heritage was Scandinavian. His girlfriend was a Japanese poet. Carl
was friendly, and quiet. By day, he was a day-trader on Wall Street, and was
always downtown, then. Evenings, he was around. He was interested in poetry,
and turned me on to POEMS AND ANTIPOEMS, by Nicanor Parra, a Chilean. I later
worked in Science for years in Chile, and was glad to know of Parra.
We may know some folks in common, Edgar.
How about "McGraw"? He haunted the Heights. He'd been a paratrooper in Korea,
and was the worse for it. Wealthy, I think, but lived like a destitute pauper.
Chain-smoker. Extremely intelligent. Had practiced Zen at some point. Was
an Inventer, and was always engaging in conversation about Science and Tech.
His sister is the model and actress Ali McGraw. I think he racked himself up
badly in a motorcycle accident in the Village years ago, and so he always
walked everywhere, no car, no bus, no train, no bike. He always paid for meals
and tips with brand new fresh dollar bills, never used bills.
How about Adrian? A diminutive Mayan; Linguist, with his degree from Yale, and
had worked as a Linguist earlier. When I knew him, he worked as a teller in a
bank, downtown. Read the NYT and quietly held court at the end of the counter
in "College Inn", late nights, for years. Friendly, he talked with everybody
who talked with him. He was a polyglot, and a polymath. Remarkable fellow,
kind and just. Generous, too. He had a spare copy of the best Spanish-English
dictionary of the time, and gave me the copy: Williams. He was Adrian
Leon-Marquez.
Reminiscences! "Don't get me 'started' "!
;-)
--Joe
> Edgar Owen <edgarowen@...> wrote:
>
> Joe,
>
> Yes, and the Hungarian Pastry Shop across from St. John's... My friend Neil,
> the mathematician, used to hang out there all afternoon reading. He claimed
> it was a great place to meet girls...
>
------------------------------------
Current Book Discussion: any Zen book that you recently have read or are
reading! Talk about it today!Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
[email protected]
[email protected]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[email protected]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
