Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- To Christy, my light
- Prologue
- 1 Uncle Al's Truss
- 2 A Quantum Moment
- 3 Louis and the Problem of Sixty-Three
- 4 A Cane Mutiny
- 5 Pinocchio Becomes a Real Boy
- 6 Aunt Mildred and the Circle of Fifths
- 7 Scarlet Ribbons
- 8 Dauntless Courage
- 9 The Age of Enlightenment
- 10 Baggett v. Bullitt, and All That Jazz
- 11 Publish or Perish, My Best Work
- 12 The Renaissance
- 13 “So How'd That All Work Out for You?”
- Author's Notes
- Acknowledgments
- Index
11 - Publish or Perish, My Best Work
from To Christy, my light
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- To Christy, my light
- Prologue
- 1 Uncle Al's Truss
- 2 A Quantum Moment
- 3 Louis and the Problem of Sixty-Three
- 4 A Cane Mutiny
- 5 Pinocchio Becomes a Real Boy
- 6 Aunt Mildred and the Circle of Fifths
- 7 Scarlet Ribbons
- 8 Dauntless Courage
- 9 The Age of Enlightenment
- 10 Baggett v. Bullitt, and All That Jazz
- 11 Publish or Perish, My Best Work
- 12 The Renaissance
- 13 “So How'd That All Work Out for You?”
- Author's Notes
- Acknowledgments
- Index
Summary
In the fall of 1963, there was a brand new graduate student in the Mathematics Department, a girl called Pat Merkle from Tulane University. I knew nothing about her other than the name of her undergraduate college, but I had known somebody at Davidson who had gone on to be a grad student at that New Orleans school, so I thought I might have an in with Ms. Merkle. I was still inept at striking up a conversation with a stranger, particularly one of the opposite sex, but this time I figured at least I had an opening line. So toward the middle of November, still buoyed by my independent summer's experience in Sweden, I stuck my head in the office where this girl and her office mate had their desks and said, “Anybody here know a fellow called Bill Babcock?”
“Yes, I know Bill Babcock,” the new girl said, and so I married her. Well, not that very day, but that was the beginning of my first real romance. A few days later I worked up the courage to ask her out for drinks, a date we did keep, although it turned out to be Friday November 22, the very day that President Kennedy was assassinated. Yes, it was kind of a morbid first date.
We were both young, shy, and inexperienced, basically fearful kids, which may explain why we were drawn to each other so quickly. I think we both must have thought, “at last, at long last, somebody cares.” In retrospect, it seems clear that this is not a promising attitude to have when choosing a marriage partner; our union lasted ten years.
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- Information
- In the Dark on the Sunny SideA Memoir of an Out-of-Sight Mathematician, pp. 153 - 168Publisher: Mathematical Association of AmericaPrint publication year: 2012