Who has not, at some time or another, had a fresh new idea suddenly strike him and then wondered in amazement, “Why did I never think of that before?” One May evening, when I was fifteen years old, I was standing out in the front yard when just such a new thought came to me. The night air was soft and warm, there was no moon, and all the brighter stars were shining. Something – perhaps it was a meteor – caused me to look up for a moment. Then, literally out of that clear sky, I suddenly asked myself, “Why do I not know a single one of those stars?”

Just after the end of World War 1, my mother and I were observing Perseid meteors when we saw a Perseid as bright as Venus. At the same instant, a brilliant sporadic meteor hurtled down at an angle 120 degrees from the Perseid's radiant. Both left sparks as they flew, and they appeared to collide. I never forgot that night.