Interview with Lee F. Browne - Caltech Oral Histories

Browne–21
BROWNE: You see? And I had been going back to the National Science Foundation meeting
with Harry Gray and Linus Pauling—you know, learning new stuff. And I would bring that.
They’d say, “You don’t know what you’re talking about. This man knows all of that stuff. He
doesn’t even have to look in the book sometimes.”
COHEN: [Chuckle]
BROWNE: So then they started sending people to look. And guys would be in the meetings and
whatnot—
COHEN: So you could really say that your first introduction to Caltech was through students of
professors?
BROWNE: Yes. Well, it was through the kids who had Caltech fathers or administrators who
became motivated to see who this guy was. I’ll give you a good example. Do you know [Arie]
Haagen-Smit?
COHEN: Sure.
BROWNE: Haagen-Smit’s daughter went home one night and they fell out about something.
COHEN: Joanna? What was her name? Joanna?
BROWNE: Yes. She never told me that, but he sent word that he wanted to meet with me. So he
had a little shack right in the middle of the campus near the humanities building.
COHEN: Yes.
BROWNE: So I went and sat down in that room and waited for him. And he kept coming out of
his office, looking around, and going back, then coming out [again] and looking around. So
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