Edward Condon Remembered

The article on Ed Condon taught me much I should have known about the endurance of a scientific leader in the face of political attacks. Condon was kind to me—in a completely different field—when I was the youngest assistant professor in the physics department at the University of Colorado in the mid-1960s. His legacy is the present excellence of the department and of JILA. I miss his puckish humor.

Ed used to offer me a ride in his huge Cadillac; he could barely see over the steering wheel. The first time he offered, I was reluctant, because of his reputation as a terrible driver. He explained that, since he drove a Cadillac (though admittedly secondhand), he could never be accused of being a Communist.

When he was appointed chief scientist on Project Blue Book (a US Air Force-sponsored review of evidence for UFOs), he said that he was chosen because of his history—no one could say that he was automatically biased on the side of the government.