Lillian C. McDermott
75
History
3/15/10
the company had been good to me and I was grateful.
This episode further increased my already
strong desire for an academic future.
By this time Mark, who was an RA in the Columbia Radiation Laboratory, was making
excellent progress in his research in atomic physics.
After I became a full-time student and RA, I
began my research on the Columbia Van de Graaff accelerator.
I was the sixth student to join the
group.
W.W. Havens was my formal advisor but post-docs (Ray Benenson, Keith Jones, and Lee
Lidofsky) supervised our daily work.
I was assigned the task of identifying the effect of traces of
O
16
in an experiment involving the elastic scattering of alpha particles by N
15
, which was the
subject of Herman Smotrich’s dissertation.
The complications introduced by the presence of O
16
were sufficiently challenging that a similar experiment on O
16
became my dissertation topic.
Herman built most of the equipment and I did most of the analysis for both elements.
As the last to join our group of six graduate students, I had the lowest priority for machine
time.
I was able to overcome this handicap, however, because Mark learned how to operate the
Van de Graaff.
I could therefore collect data over the weekends when there were no technicians
present and my fellow students were less eager to work on their experiments.
As a result, I
completed my research and wrote the related paper for the
Physical Review
within a couple of
years after I joined the group.
After finishing my research, I had to take a Final Examination on
all of my graduate coursework (a Physics Department requirement).
I defended my dissertation in
the Spring of 1959, three weeks before our son, Bruce, was born.
Mark defended his dissertation
very soon afterward.
We had experienced the trials of graduate student life more intensely than
many others.
The crises (
e.g.,
Qualifying and Final Exams) were doubled, but so were the happy
events.
Although we worked most of the time, on Saturday nights Mark and I often had dinner at
a restaurant, followed by a movie or concert.
We occasionally went dancing.
Sometimes we
played tennis in Riverside Park on Sunday afternoons.
My education at Columbia was definitely in the “sink or swim” mode.
The faculty tacitly
assumed that if students could pass the Department’s Qualifying and Final Examinations and
successfully defend their dissertations, they had a deep understanding of physics and thus were
well qualified to teach the subject.
My subsequent experience at three other universities convinced
me otherwise.
In retrospect, I think that fellowships are not the best way to start graduate work.
I
realize that they are useful incentives for recruiting good students.
However, I think that working
as a TA is a better beginning for most students (as it might have been for me).
The experience can
be helpful for strengthening one’s understanding of physics, for making friends, and for learning
about how a university physics department operates.
Lillian C. McDermott
76
History
3/15/10
Mark and I left Columbia for the U. of Illinois in the summer of 1959.
He had accepted a
post-doctoral position there and we anticipated staying in Champaign-Urbana for three years.
The
Department was extremely friendly and made us feel very welcome – a great contrast with
Columbia.
We were therefore disappointed when, at the end of only one year, we felt that we had
to return to New York.
Bob Novick, with whom Mark was collaborating, decided to accept a
position as a professor in the Columbia Physics Department.
It was clear that if Mark were to
decide to stay at Illinois, their joint research project would remain with him and Bob would not be
able to participate.
We reluctantly left Illinois for New York in the summer of 1960.
Soon after we returned, I became an Instructor in the Physics Department at CCNY.
I was
able to accept a full-time appointment there because my mother and my great-uncle volunteered to
care for Bruce.
I taught introductory calculus-based physics.
In those days students had the same
instructor for lectures, laboratory, and recitation sessions.
I relearned (or learned) a lot of basic
physics.
I also learned an important lesson about teaching.
Student enthusiasm and good
evaluations are not reliable indicators about what students have learned.
In particular, I remember
one student who sat near the front of the room and appeared fascinated during my lectures.
(I still
remember his big brown eyes.)
My illusions were shattered after the first exam, which placed him
at the bottom of the class.
After we had been in New York for two years, Mark began looking for a more permanent
position.
He received a number of offers, mostly from universities but also from research labs.
He
finally narrowed the choice down to U. of Maryland and UW.
On returning by plane from one of
his visits to College Park, he noted the continuous stretch of bright lights on the land below.
Knowing that he did not want to live in that kind of environment forever, Mark accepted the UW
position (a decision with which I fully concurred).
In addition to the beauty of the area and his
Washington roots, the presence in the Physics Department of Hans Dehmelt (an atomic physicist,
who was later awarded the Nobel Prize) was as an added incentive for Mark.
The events described
in the main narrative of this monograph begin with our arrival in Seattle in September 1962.
Appendix B:
Some Overseas Experiences
I have discussed our group’s research and research-based curriculum development, our
programs in teacher preparation, and our experience with underprepared students at many
conferences and universities abroad.
I have been an invited speaker and/or leader of workshops in
Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, and Cuba.
I have done the same in many countries is
Europe, including Croatia, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Italy,
Portugal, Spain, and the UK.
I have been on professional trips to South Africa on more than one
