Your description of Barbara asking for your company on that Indian summer day is extraordinarily touching; it’s like a scene in a lost Puccini opera. What struck me most about it is the courage it must have taken for Barbara to ask for your company.
You're being kind. My recollection is that Penn was the "doormat of the Ivies." When Life Mag came out with its ratings our freshman year of 1960-61 (way earlier than U.S. News), we were the only Ivy school in the third tier. Now, of course, it's way different, as you point out.
Dan...to me, Penn was...and is...the people. You may remember some of them...Dick Kanter, Joy Likoff (who married Dick); Jeff Weinsten; Don Bauchner (my fraternity big brother); Phil Carchman, who became Judge Carchman; Denny Leibowitz; Ginger Saskin; Lee Brechner; Dick Mandell; Steve Steinglass. Very special people...all of them. All bright, interesting people, several of whom I stayed in touch with long after graduation.
I listened to Eric Topol, a cardiologist and researcher, interview Katalin Karikó, who co-won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for the mRNA vaccine, about her experiences at Penn. She had some supporters but also ultimately was forced to leave Penn because she wasn’t able to get grants for her research. She did say though that the best thing about being at Penn was that she got to sit in on seminars and lectures by some of the top people in her field and related fields. Those experiences, she said, helped inspire the creativity and dedication she needed to develop mRNA.
From reader Dan Coren:
Your description of Barbara asking for your company on that Indian summer day is extraordinarily touching; it’s like a scene in a lost Puccini opera. What struck me most about it is the courage it must have taken for Barbara to ask for your company.
From reader Bob Gardner:
You're being kind. My recollection is that Penn was the "doormat of the Ivies." When Life Mag came out with its ratings our freshman year of 1960-61 (way earlier than U.S. News), we were the only Ivy school in the third tier. Now, of course, it's way different, as you point out.
Just a beautiful article, Dan, full of love for Barbara.
Dan...to me, Penn was...and is...the people. You may remember some of them...Dick Kanter, Joy Likoff (who married Dick); Jeff Weinsten; Don Bauchner (my fraternity big brother); Phil Carchman, who became Judge Carchman; Denny Leibowitz; Ginger Saskin; Lee Brechner; Dick Mandell; Steve Steinglass. Very special people...all of them. All bright, interesting people, several of whom I stayed in touch with long after graduation.
Wonderful insights and stories, Dan.
I listened to Eric Topol, a cardiologist and researcher, interview Katalin Karikó, who co-won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for the mRNA vaccine, about her experiences at Penn. She had some supporters but also ultimately was forced to leave Penn because she wasn’t able to get grants for her research. She did say though that the best thing about being at Penn was that she got to sit in on seminars and lectures by some of the top people in her field and related fields. Those experiences, she said, helped inspire the creativity and dedication she needed to develop mRNA.