Interview with Lee F. Browne - Caltech Oral Histories

Browne–26
BROWNE: So I just ran all kinds of programs.
COHEN: OK. Do you want to describe it? This was really a big change, I know, going from a
high school to a place like Caltech.
BROWNE: No, no. No, no, no. On the contrary. First of all, I was not frightened by Caltech.
And still I’m not. You see? Because [Richard P.] Feynman and I used to have debates all the
time. You know, other people would say, “You can’t talk to him like that.” I’d say, “Shut up.
I’m talking to him.” [Chuckle] We’d be sitting down arguing in the dining room. There was a
pretense that because of who he was he needed some special attention. But he only needed
special attention in physics. Do you understand?
COHEN: Oh. [Chuckle]
BROWNE: There were some things about life in America which he didn’t know anything about.
COHEN: Well, I’d believe that.
BROWNE: Do you understand?
COHEN: Yes.
BROWNE: So I didn’t give anybody any special respect because they were a professor at Caltech;
I waited till I heard where they were coming from. Jerry [Jerome] Pine, for instance, was a good
friend of mine. He was with Benton. But then, after I was working about four years, he just
disappeared. Do you know Jerome Pine?
COHEN: Yes. He’s doing all these secondary school things now.
BROWNE: Yes. Some people were just doing stuff for notoriety or to get funds or other kinds of
things. They weren’t motivated in the same way I was.
http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Browne_L