Interview with Frank Oppenheimer - Caltech Oral Histories

Oppenheimer–26OPPENHEIMER: No. I had [William V.] Houston.GOODSTEIN: He was the mathematical physicist.OPPENHEIMER: Yes. And [William Ralph] Smythe for electricity and magnetism. [Paul S.]Epstein for thermodynamics.GOODSTEIN: How was Epstein?OPPENHEIMER: I liked him, I really did. And I liked the subject.GOODSTEIN: Was he a good teacher?OPPENHEIMER: I think so, yes. It’s a strange subject. It always seemed like sort of a swindle.GOODSTEIN: [Laughter] Why did it seem a swindle?OPPENHEIMER: Well, it’s sort of results without any physical input. But I liked the subject. Iliked his teaching and I liked his accent. Smythe, I thought, was a little more boring, for a reallyjuicy subject. And he had a real prejudice against vectors. You know, his book has every X, Y,and Z, written out.GOODSTEIN: And what kind of a teacher was Houston?OPPENHEIMER: Very good, I think.GOODSTEIN: He left at the end of the war. He became president of Rice University.OPPENHEIMER: Yes. I liked Houston, both as a friend and as a teacher.http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Oppenheimer_F