[continued from previous message]   
      
   >>> Well, at least you tried.  I took first year chemistry the year after   
   >>> Herzberg won the Nobel, but he was never mentioned.  I didn't come   
   >>> across his name, except in passing, until I took QM two years later.   
   >>   
   >> Incidentally, French students are no more interested than those of   
   >> Guelph in history, in my experience. A few years ago I was talking   
   >> about Monod, Changeux and Jacob in a lecture. I showed a picture of the   
   >> Institut Jacques Monod in Paris, and I asked if anyone could tell me   
   >> what Monod had done to deserve a massive new building in his name: no   
   >> one had any idea. Likewise with Changeux and Jacob.   
   >>   
   >   
   > In the late 1970's I took majors Biochemistry at Berkeley.  It started   
   > off as a good experience because I had Koshland as an instructor for   
   > the first quarter, but then it went downhill.  Koshland had a knack for   
   > making his lectures interesting.   
      
   I knew Dan very well.I heard him give research lectues two or three   
   times, but I never heard him lecture to students. I can believe he was   
   as good as you say.   
      
   >  The last quarter was taught by Schekman.   
      
   At first I tought you meant Howard Schachman, but I was wrong, of   
   course. I never encouuntered Schekman.   
      
   >   It was mostly nucleic acid biochemistry and I was frankly bored, and   
   > at the time I was deeply into doing my undergraduate research most   
   > nights and I ended up sleeping in the class most days because it was my   
   > first morning class.  One test question asked how to identify the   
   > tryptophan operon repressor.  I answered with how Jacob and Monod had   
   > done it with the lac operon.  The answer that he wanted was that   
   > bacterial extracts bound tryptophan in a dialysis bag creating a higher   
   > concentration of tryptophan in the bag compared to the outside   
   > solution.   It was probably the only time I went in and tried to get   
   > more credit for any test answer, but Schekman said that my answer was a   
   > genetic answer and not biochemistry.  Even though his answer only   
   > indicated that something had an affinity for tryptophan inside the   
   > dialysis bag and was not direct evidence for identification of a   
   > tryptophan repressor he would not accept a correct answer.  He even   
   > told me that my answer was correct.  As crazy as this exchange was   
   > Schekman ended up getting the Nobel prize for integrating genetics and   
   > Biochemistry years later, but at the time he was a new hire in the   
   > biochemistry department.   
      
   Incidentally, the Wikiparticle on Howard Schachman is pathetically bad.   
   I would like to fix it, but I cannot, because I have been blocked from   
   editing by three idiot administrators. The reason was unintelligible,   
   but had something to do with misuse by someone who uses a similar   
   internet connection. I appealed, but the appeal was denied, no reason   
   being given. After five years and 22000 edits Wikipedia will have to   
   survive without me, but I expect it will manage.   
      
   --   
   Athel -- French and British, living in Marseilles for 38 years; mainly   
   in England until 1987.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)