Lillian C. McDermott
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History
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squeamish about hurting animals, but mostly because I thought that physics was harder than other
subjects and I wanted to understand it better.
The faculty encouraged me, perhaps because they
had no male students whose apparent self-confidence was more characteristic of the field.
One of my fondest memories of Vassar was my almost daily walk to the Music Building.
I had a music scholarship that funded my piano lessons.
The only requirement, besides daily
practice, was a year-long course in music theory.
I also took a year of music history and art
history, as well as philosophy.
I was elected to Phi Beta Kappa during my junior year.
When I
later met Arnold Arons and realized how broadly knowledgeable he was, I was impressed that he
had managed to do for himself what my college had done for me.
It was at Vassar that I first began to think about becoming a college professor.
What I had
in mind was teaching at a college that had an academically strong program, a compassionate
faculty who cared about students, and an atmosphere that promoted cross-disciplinary
conversations among colleagues – all in a garden-like environment.
I did not envision becoming a
professor at a large institution like the University of Washington (UW), which also has a beautiful
campus.
I think that my college experience and my idyllic perspective on the life of a professor
influenced my later choice of physics education as my field of research.
There was one important incident that occurred during my college years that had lasting
consequences, not only for my personal life but also for my professional future.
My father died
unexpectedly from a heart attack one week before the beginning of my sophomore year.
As soon
as I returned to Vassar, the Dean came by my room to assure me that I would have a full
scholarship until graduation.
This sad event in my life also determined which graduate school I
would attend.
I knew that my mother needed me at home.
Thus, Columbia was almost my only
possibility for graduate study.
The University awarded me a Higgins Fellowship for my first year
in graduate school (1952-1953).
Another recipient of the same fellowship that year was Mark
McDermott, who had chosen to come to Columbia because New York was very different from
Walla Walla, Washington, where he had attended high school and Whitman College.
Life during my first year at Columbia differed greatly from my undergraduate experience.
With a few exceptions, the faculty (which included several Nobel Laureates) seemed arrogant and
unconcerned about students.
One of the Nobelists greeted our entering class with the words,
“Look to the right and look to the left; half of you will be gone by the end of the year.”
On seeing
me in Mark’s laboratory, a future Nobelist sarcastically remarked that the Higgins Fellowships had
at least succeeded in promoting romance.
(The presence of a male student would not have elicited
that type of comment.)
Another incident that was not at all encouraging occurred during an oral
examination that I had to take because I had not done well enough on the thermodynamics part of
Lillian C. McDermott
74
History
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the Qualifying Examination.
The exam was administered by another future Nobelist.
He began
by stating that he considered it his responsibility not only to decide if I knew enough
thermodynamics but also whether he thought that I belonged in physics.
My memory of all of
these episodes is softened not only by the fact that they didn’t stop me but also by the relatively
kind treatment that I received from two other future Nobel Laureates and from C.S. Wu, the only
female member of the faculty (later nominated for the Nobel Prize).
The Columbia Physics
Department was not a welcoming place but, with the determination that I had developed at Vassar,
I was able to hold my own as one of only four women in our classes.
I had some very good friends among my classmates.
I ate lunch almost every day at a
Japanese restaurant with Mark, Jesse Weil (later at U. of Kentucky), and Ed Nicollian.
The four of
us formed a study group that sometimes met at my family’s apartment.
One outcome of this
friendship was that Mark and I were married in 1954.
Noemie Benczer (Rutgers U.) and Lenny
Koller (Stevens Institute) were married later and have been my friends since graduate school.
Most of the students in our entering class were Teaching Assistants (TAs) in their first
year and later became Research Assistants (RAs). However, I could not afford to have a part-time
salary because my mother and my brother (a student at Columbia College) needed my financial
help.
I was hired as a Woman Technician (which I think was the official title) at the IBM Watson
Laboratory, a short distance away from Pupin (the Columbia Physics Building).
The difference in
salary between my full-time work at IBM and what a TA or RA received for a half-time position at
Columbia was very small, but it made a difference.
(Mark and I lived mostly on his salary, while
mine helped support my family.)
I remained with IBM for about two and a half years, during which I clocked out of my job
to attend classes.
I have the unhappy memory of punching a time clock on my arrival every
morning.
If I were even one-minute late, the printed time would turn red.
There was nothing that
I could do to compensate by working later (which I always did).
At that time, Mark and I lived in
New Jersey and were part of a carpool.
The driver, a Ph.D. physicist at Watson Laboratory, did
not have to account for his time and was casual about his arrival.
I remember being reprimanded
for being a few minutes late on several days in a row.
Knowing that I did not want to be treated in
that way strengthened my determination to obtain a Ph.D.
My final experience at IBM was even
more compelling.
After my brother graduated from college, I told the director of the laboratory of
my plans to become an RA at Columbia in order to complete the Ph.D. program.
To my surprise,
he admonished me for a lack of appreciation for what the company had done for me.
I was
disappointed because I had thought that he would be pleased that I wanted to continue in physics.
Except for the difference in pay (and sometimes in treatment) between men and women, I felt that
