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Albert Michelson -
Profile of a Lowellite
BTP-IULOCTV
The official Register of BovV HI»h
-choot It ihe oldest Item of
memorabilia in (he Lowell archive!.
On ru pafca ire handnrincn Ihe
names of rcf buimi beginning with
the dau of 1364. A> our eye: ran
down the entries, we ire returns! M
Mother kge by the father!' occispadons:
bbckimtih, !hip chandler, carriage
raalrr. drayman, ihijiwriglii,
and an occasional unabashed
capitalist. The registrants 1 places of
Huh verify what wt would afar, in
Ihe mid-1 KWi, few were native-born
San Franciscans. Albert Michebon
waa bora in ?ruuia where he lived
for two yean before hi! family Im*
migrated to America.
was one of seventeen fcoyt in hil
^ncteung cUu. Five yean had cas>-
CC since Uut cjcillog diy when the
Msewheclrr tied np atthe Sraxhay
wharf. Thirty-nine more yeart would
fco by when, on • vastly more
memotVifc day in Stockholm, he
would be the first American to stand
before Hie i»eduh Royal Ai-demy
and receive the Nobel IVM in
Physici. fnv: year was 1907. In
April of the previous year, the old
Powell Street school building *hcrc
be received his early academic training
had diuppearcd Is the firestorm
that swept over the hill he had » jlkcd
up so often).
When Albert graduated from Boys
High School, the openinf of the
"You led physicists into new paths
and through your marvelous experiments
paved the way for those who
followed..."
- Albert Einstein
Yccng Albert came to San FraucUco
from Murphy*! camp in the
(old field! w here Ms fa .her was a dry
goods merchant. We can imagine the
excitement of the thirteen year-old
boy as the sidewhcelcr from
Sacramento churned into the Bay pan
Mare bland. As Alcalru l^and and
th; Golden Gate hove into vfcw. the
onshore breeze brought &e smell of
the ocean to him. Yerba Buena Island
was off to his left as the steamer
reared the shore to dock at the Broadway
wbarf, one of the bisicst on the
waterfront at the lime, riven though
their heyday was over, clipper ships
rode at anchor firing the imagination
of the boy- The Mkhelson family
disembarked near the base of
Telegraph Kill where thi scenic
delight! of hilkidc living were beginning
to attract the more adventuresome
fUHlH DWPf fSi
When the Michclions stepped
ashore, the country wu in the third
year of civil war. In 1861 when the
Pony Express brought word of the
firing on the American flag at Fort
Suiruer. the city held • patriotic mm
netting and pledged loyalty to the
L'mon. There was always lome Confederate
sympathy in town txit ihe
allegiance of matt San Francisc-uts
WH never in serious question.
Volunteers Tilled ail recruiting levies
and for four years helped Inure that
the vast territories of the West were
cf DO hrtp to the Southern came. The
State's greatest contribution to the
war effort may have been the heavily
guarded shipments of yellow metal
seat to St. Louis on the Bmterfield
stagecoach lute.
Toe Ugh school that Albert entered
was located on Powell Street between
day and Sacramento in the shadow
of today'! Fairmont Hotel Tower.
The school day wa» a rijoraa ratine
of study for th-; students, patterned
•ACT the school! the teachers had
tacwa in the Eri. TV course of
story coaabted solely of academe
•objects—a legacy that charactericcs
the main emphasis cf Hie Kboo" today.
A tBtanre of Latin an) Qittk.
it.chcTniiir)r and physio, Freud) and
Genoa, .natUenatics. Anctent end
European History, and Ettflish
1 Iteramrr was the usual fare, topped i
;c