Karl Kelchner Darrow—Writer, councilor and secretary

APR 01, 1967

Twenty‐six years as secretary of the American Physical Society is the latest portion of a career that has included much graceful writing and a reputation for style that is admired everywhere.

DOI: 10.1063/1.3034261

John H. Van Vleck

THERE COMES A TIME when it is appropriate for an opera association to recognize not just the prima donnas and conductors, who receive the customary applause, but also the stage manager, who is usually hidden behind the stage but who is responsible that everything goes smoothly. The American Physical Society finds itself in essentially this position. Our stage manager, of course, has been Karl Darrow, who has just completed 26 years of service as secretary, twice as long a term as anyone else. Incidentally he held the same seats at the old Metropolitan Opera House for 48 years; so the operatic analogy seems particularly à propos. When things go smoothly, one takes the stage manager for granted, but once things go awry, he is the target of complaint. It is a tribute to the way Darrow has performed his duties as secretary of APS that he has never had to be its whipping boy.

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References

1. S. A. Goudsmit, PHYSICS TODAY 19, no. 9, 52 (1966).https://doi.org/PHTOAD
2. K. K. Darrow, Scientific American 186, no. 3, 47 (1952).https://doi.org/SCAMAC
3. K. K. Darrow, Introduction to Contemporary Physics, D. Van Nostrand, New York (1926) 2nd edition (1939);
Electrical Phenomena in Gases, Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore (1932);
The Renaissance of Physics, MacMillan, New York (1936);
Atomic Energy John Wiley and Sons, New York (1948).
4. Bull. Am. Phys. Soc. 29, 3 (1954).https://doi.org/BAPSA6

More about the authors

John H. Van Vleck, Harvard University.