Interview with Thomas A. Tombrello - Caltech Oral Histories
Interview with Thomas A. Tombrello - Caltech Oral Histories
Interview with Thomas A. Tombrello - Caltech Oral Histories
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<strong>Tombrello</strong>–220<br />
She’s one of the great speakers. She’ll be on campus the end of next week for [associate<br />
professor of physics] Maria Spiropulu’s little event called “The Physics of the Universe.” At that<br />
event last year, Lisa gave by far the best talk. I’m certain this year it will be at least as good.<br />
She thinks clearly and she speaks clearly. I like her a lot. But I failed in dealing <strong>with</strong> what I can<br />
only describe as insecurities, and [Andrew] Lange—we thought he might have better luck <strong>with</strong><br />
her—ended up in the same place I was in. There was nothing you could do <strong>with</strong> it. They’re<br />
bringing her back yet another time, I think, as a Moore Scholar. She doesn’t want to teach. That<br />
causes a problem. Everybody in this division teaches. Feynman taught. Gell-Mann taught. All<br />
of us teach. You don’t teach much, but you teach and you teach well. She has the makings of a<br />
very good teacher. She didn’t want to teach, she wanted to be special. We lost a winner of the<br />
Veblen Prize in geometry to the Institute for Advanced Study because he wouldn’t teach. That’s<br />
just too bad, because at <strong>Caltech</strong> everybody teaches.<br />
ASPATURIAN: Was that David Gabai?<br />
TOMBRELLO: Yes, David’s now at Princeton. We replaced David <strong>with</strong> Calegari. I like David<br />
very, very much, but he was the Karate Kid, very much involved in karate, and I kept telling him<br />
as he was leaving that Mr. Ohshima was not at Princeton. That’s the farm-team problem, that<br />
you lose guys like David. But we got one of his first-born and that’s OK, too. Graber and<br />
Calegari are as good as David Gabai, though I miss having David here. Losing people is<br />
something you have to get used to. As long as you can replace them <strong>with</strong> people who can hit the<br />
ball just as far, that’s OK.<br />
ASPATURIAN: How about the post–<strong>Tombrello</strong> era in the division? It’s been two or three years<br />
now since you stepped down [2008].<br />
TOMBRELLO: Well, I’ve had a hard time <strong>with</strong> the administration at <strong>Caltech</strong>.<br />
[PORTION TEMPORARILY CLOSED, pages 220-221]<br />
http://resolver.caltech.edu/<strong>Caltech</strong>OH:OH_<strong>Tombrello</strong>_T