Edward Condon Remembered

Jessica Wang’s excellent article on Edward Condon’s career and trials inspired this letter. He had an ability that may not be fully recognized but that should be mentioned in any evaluation of his career.

Condon was my adviser in graduate school. Early one morning, I entered his office to be greeted with “Bob, what’s on your mind that you can admit?” I referred to an article that I did not fully understand in the latest Physical Review. He took his unopened copy of the Review, turned to the article, scanned it with amazing speed, went to the blackboard, and said, “Are you taking Robertson’s course in methods of mathematical physics?” After I said “yes,” he explained the article at my level of mathematics.

As we sat and talked, a senior in physics entered and apologized for interrupting. Condon greeted him with “Join the fun, we’re just shooting the breeze. What’s on your mind?” The same article was bothering the senior. As Condon erased the board, he asked, “Are you taking advanced calculus?” The student said he was, and Condon explained the article in advanced calculus.

The next visitor was Fred Seitz, at the time an advanced graduate student, who was puzzled by the same article. Condon again went to the board and explained the article in math I didn’t know. These three explanations spanned 45 minutes. I was privileged to study under many brilliant people, but Condon was the only one who could, without a shadow of a doubt, teach calculus to a six-year-old.