Interview with Thomas A. Tombrello - Caltech Oral Histories

Tombrello–221
ASPATURIAN: How do you feel your successors have done in the division?
TOMBRELLO: Well, it’s kind of unfair to make judgments. After me, [Andrew] Lange was in for
a year. Lange probably should never have taken the job. He was a superb scientist; I nominated
him for the Nobel Prize several times. I got him several prizes he wouldn’t have gotten without
active intercession. Because, you know, somebody’s got to nominate you for a prize. You can’t
nominate yourself! I got him some nice prizes. Made sure he got an endowed chair before he
asked for it. Got Thorne and Readhead to help me get him into the National Academy [of
Sciences] before he worried about it. As division chair, between [Marc] Kamionkowski and
Lange—that is, the theoretical and observational cosmology work—I raised probably about $23
million for two people. I got a Moore grant for Lange, out of turn. How did I do it? Jennings
was recruiting speakers for one of the off-site trustee meetings—that one was probably at La
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