Remembering Sydney Brenner

Sydney Brenner was awarded one-third of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in discovering the genetic regulation and programmed cell death (apoptosis) in the nematode C. elegans. However, his work on gene structure and function in the two decades preceding that work may have been more significant. One of the first people to see the double helix model of Watson and Crick, he worked with Francis Crick for twenty years on describing how specific sequences of genes translate into specific amino acids and then into proteins.

Remembering Paul Greengard

Paul Greengard was awarded one-third of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on signal transduction in the nervous system. His key discovery was of a second messenger, a chemical compound in the receiving neuron in the brain that would initiate activity downstream of the initial interneuron message. He was also the founder of the Pearl Meister Greengard Prize, named after his mother, awarded to distinguished women in the field of biology.

Remembering Dick Dale, Birch Bayh, Scott Walker

Dick Dale was the West Coast guitarist who, more than any other single person was responsible for the surf sound in the 1950’s and 1960’s. His recording “Miserlou” is a classic of the genre. Birch Bayh was the Indiana senator who had a hand in two Constitutional amendments, one lowering the voting age to 18 and the other better defining the line of succession in the event of presidential incapacity. Scott Walker was the lead singer of Walker Brothers, an American group that had great success in England in the 1960’s,

Remembering Charles Van Doren, Dick Cole, Lotte Heimann Gruenfeld

Charles Van Doren was the embodiment of the television quiz show scandals of the 1950’s. A hero at first for his performance on the show Twenty One, he was exposed for receiving the answers and left the public eye in ignominy. Dick Cole was the last survivor of Doolittle’s Raiders, the pilots organized by Jimmy Doolittle for the first bombing raid on Tokyo in April of 1942. Dick Cole was Jimmy Doolittle’s copilot. Lotte Heimann Gruenfeld lived a remarkable life, growing up in prewar Berlin and escaping the Nazis were her family by travelling to Shanghai during the Japanese occupation. She was able to land in Colorado after the war.

Remembering Lt. Col Howard Lee

Lt. Col. Howard Lee was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1967 for his bravery on the battlefield in August of 1966 during Operation Prairie. While on an operation deep in enemy territory near the DMZ, then Capt. Lee realized his Marine Company was surrounded. During the attack, they lost their leaders so Capt. Lee stepped in and directed the defense. He coordinated a small band of Marines to hold their position throughout the night, even after he was wounded. After he was evacuated out the Marines fought off several assaults by crack North Vietnamese troops until they were successfully evacuated as well.

Remembering Lt. Col. Joe Jackson

Lt. Col. Joe Jackson was awarded the Medal of Honor in January 1969 by President Johnson for his heroic efforts during the Vietnam War at Kham Duc in May 1968. On May 12, Lt. Col. Jackson, an experienced pilot, maneuvered his C-123 into the middle of a hot landing zone to rescue a three-man Air Force Control team. Lt. Col. Jackson risked his own life, and that of his crew, while their plane was the target of North Vietnamese ground fire. The battle for Kham Duc, during the second phase of the 1968 Tet Offensive, proved to be one of the last times American forces held control of territory where they could do reconnaissance on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Remembering Zhores Alferov

Zhores Alferov was awarded one quarter of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics, along with Herbert Kroemer and Jack Kilby for his work in semiconductor heterostructures. Alferov and his team developed the first heterostructure electronic device in 1966, which proved a significant advance over the previous semiconductors composed of one kind of material. This paved the way for progress in fiberoptic communication and development of communication satellites, cellular telephones, bar code readers and other products. Alferov’s work was done in the Soviet Union almost simultaneously with similar work done independently at research centers in the United States.

Remembering Julia Ruth Stevens, Richard Erdman, Harry Howell, W.S. Merwin, Marshall Brodien

Julia Ruth Stevens was Babe Ruth’s beloved adopted daughter, who guarded his legacy for many years. Richard Erdman was a prolific character actor, best known for his role as the barracks captain in Stalag 17 (1953) and the protagonist in a famous Twilight Zone episode, “A Kind of Stopwatch” (1963). Harry Howell was a defenseman for the New York Rangers, who still holds the team record for games played. W.S. Merwin was the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet who was the Poet Laureate of the United States in 2010. Marshall Brodien was the professional musician who also played “Wizzo the Wizard” on Chicago’s original Bozo’s Circus television show.

The Sportswriter

Dan Jenkins was one of America’s top sportswriters for decades, specializing in golf and college football. He gained a national reputation at Sports illustrated in the 1960’s, and he went on to pen one of the seminal novels about football, Semi-Tough (1972) that was made into a major motion picture. Jan-Michael Vincent was the handsome star of movies and television, best known for his role opposite Ernest Borgnine on the 1980’s television series, Airwolf. Ted Lindsay was the tough defenseman for the great Detroit Red Wing teams of the 1950’s. He was part of the famed “Production Line”, along with Gordie Howe and Sid Abel.

Remembering Hal Blaine

Hal Blaine was unquestionably the most listened to drummer in rock history. As a part of the Los Angeles studio musicians group known as The Wrecking Crew, a term he coined, Blaine played on eight Grammy Records of the Year, at least 150 #1 songs and thousands of familiar popular tunes. In addition he played the theme music on television shows and movies of the 1960’s and 1970’s. It would be impossible to listen to a radio station with a 1960’s-1970’s format and go an hour without hearing Hal Blaine’s drums.