Martin Lewis Perl
Martin Lewis Perl
Martin Lewis Perlwas an American physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1995 for his discovery of the tau lepton...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPhysicist
Date of Birth24 June 1927
CountryUnited States of America
attitude parents preparing schools towards work
These schools and the attitude of my parents towards these schools were important in preparing me for the work of an experimental scientist.
good
For example, I am not a good craftsman.
allied brought class depression four kept middle printing
However, Allied Printing brought the four of us into the middle class and kept us in the middle class thru the Depression of the 1930's.
art two knowing
Experimental science is a craft and an art, and part of the art is knowing when to end a fruitless experiment. There is a danger of becoming obsessed with a fruitless experiment even if it goes nowhere. It is always a good plan for a speculative experimenter to have two experiments going, or at least one going and one being built.
men ideas attention
My final remark to young women and men going into experimental science is that they should pay little attention to the speculative physics ideas of my generation. After all, if my generation has any really good speculative ideas, we will be carrying these ideas out ourselves.
parent chemistry willing
I was also interested in chemistry, but my parents were not willing to buy me a chemistry set.
school parent world
The remoteness of my parents from the schools, so unfashionable today, was often painful for me, but I learned early to deal with an outside and sometimes hard world.
book answers measurement
I learned quickly, as I tell my graduate students now, there are no answers in the back of the book when the equipment doesn't work or the measurements look strange.
children russia parent
About 1900 my parents came to the United States as children from what was then the Polish area of Russia.
school serious-business mark
Going to school and working for good marks, indeed working for very good marks, was a serious business.
moving class parent
My parents were determined to move into the middle class.
teacher school parent
My parents regarded school teachers as higher beings, as did many immigrants.
children war years
It was good fortune to be a child during the Depression years and a youth during the war years.
distance book home
There were two free public libraries within walking distance of my home; I remember taking six books home from every visit, the limit set by the library.