Physics for adventure

“When our good friend Karl Darrow conveyed to me the invitation to speak to you tonight, my first reaction was that nothing could be said in the ten minutes—which I feel is the ultimate limit I can maintain in an after dinner speech—which would signify much of what I believe is the present direction our physics research is taking, or convey very much of what solutions might be sought for some of our dilemmas. And perhaps this is the wrong place to think, at all. It has been my experience on these occasions that the dinner itself, and the desultory talk with one’s colleagues, and old friends, constitute the chief enjoyment of the evening. We physicists are like the forthright customer described in a recent New Yorker, who, when asked by the head waitress at Schrafft’s, ‘Which way do you prefer to face?’ replied, ‘I prefer to face the table.’

This article is only available in PDF format