Interview with Thomas A. Tombrello - Caltech Oral Histories

Tombrello–47
heavy ions. Jancaitis was a freshman, but remember, we’re still living off the legacy of Sputnik.
These kids have had all kinds of advanced material in high school. He comes in and he’s taking
junior courses in his freshman year. A little bit of complicated classical mechanics with the
mathematics to go with it, and he’s ready for it.
So now I’m working with Koonin and I’m working with Jancaitis. The Jancaitis story
takes on an interesting corollary. It’s 1972; I’m sitting at home on a Saturday, and I get a call
from somebody at the University of Texas. “I’m stepping down as head of the nuclear lab here.
I think you should come here and take my place.” There’s a named professorship and the
opportunity to run a big lab. I said, “Yes, I’m interested. But I’ve got to talk to this student right
now. Can you call me back, maybe in an hour?” So Ken calls and wants to talk about this
problem. We start talking about it. Remember, I’m talking to a freshman. I’m talking to a
freshman about a hard, publishable problem in accelerator design. And it strikes me during this
conversation that if I go to the University of Texas, I’m never going to have a conversation like
this with an undergrad. I may never have a conversation like this with a grad student—maybe
not even with my colleagues. How can I possibly leave this place? So this guy calls back and
says, “OK, let’s talk.” I said, “Too late. There’s no way I can go.” It’s a totally seductive
experience at Caltech to meet somebody who is barely out of high school and you’re talking with
them as if they’re a colleague. Caltech’s a fantastic place.
So a series of really great students came through. There was one named Joe Polchinski
[BS 1975], who is now one of the shining lights in string theory. We published a paper or two
together, again on accelerator design. Very interesting kid. Another kid, Bill Zajc [BS 1975], is
now the chairman of physics at Columbia—does high-energy nuclear physics. One kid, Roland
Lee [BS 1975], and I worked out the business of dating obsidian, using a nuclear technique. I
don’t think he got a PhD. He’s got an MD, and he works in functional MRI and has done very
well. I mean, these were just extraordinary kids.
ASPATURIAN: Were these students your advisees, or jointly your advisees?
TOMBRELLO: No. They found me. They found me because I would give them a research
project. A real research project that they could publish somewhere.
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