Speaker: Condoleeza Rice (Stanford)
"I can't speak to Sid's ability as a physicist." said Condi Rice. "I wanted to preserve my GPA as an undergraduate, so I avoided all the hard subjects." But Rice went on to speak about Drell at Stanford, remarking that he "insisted that the university think differently," even though universities are inherently conservative. Drell has always been able to "uphold the values of the university and simultaneously innovate," said Rice.
Speaker: Michael Peskin (SLAC)
In this orientation to Drell's research, Peskin decided to look at the top ten of the Drell papers, starting with the thesis "that didn't work out very well." Other papers in the 1950's helped introduce "a very tall graduate student," according to Peskin. Then in the 1960's came the Drell-Hearn paper on sum rules and in the '70's four famous papers with Levy and Yan which were difficult and not recommended reading, said Peskin, but which had important analyses. Richard Blankenbecler and Sidney Drell collaborated in the 1980's on a paper about quantum treatment of beamstrahlung. In conclusion, Peskin said that in addition to the physical body of written work, Drell "was creating the themes of high energy physics theory," and a "style of free inquiry" which is invaluable.
Michael Peskin is seen here on the
left talking with James Bjorken (the after dinner speaker) and
Tatsu Takiuchi.
Speaker: Robert Jaffe (MIT)
"When Michael Peskin called me to ask me to speak about the four eras of electron-proton scattering, I was too embarrassed to admit that I didn't know what they were, so I accepted thinking that I'd better find out." Jaffe, a former student of Drell's who is now a professor at MIT, said that it was Drell's "practical, explicit, straightforward approach to physics" that most impressed him about his teacher.
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In a quiet moment before the symposium, speaker Robert Jaffe reviewed his notes on the four eras of electron-positron scattering. |
Gloria Lubkin from Physics Today in animated conversation with Martin Perl in the crowded breezeway
during a break in the Drell Fest. Other media present were reporters
from the SF Chronicle and the Stanford Report.
Speaker: Chris Llewellyn Smith (CERN)
Llewellyn Smith promised a trip down memory lane, since he gave an historical overview of inelastic sum rules and then went on to discuss outstanding issues in the field. But before getting deep into the physics, there was some reminiscing about "house-sitting" for the Drells one time, and having to take care of Harvard, Princeton and Yale - Drell's three cats.
Speaker: Tung-Mow Yan (Cornell)
July of 1968 was the historic first meeting of Drell and Yan, some 30 years ago. Now that each is married and has children, Yan speculated on the possibility that another Drell (Persis, a physics professor at Cornell) would teach another Yan (Tony, a student at Cornell) about the 'naïve Drell-Yan' theory.
John O'Fallon from the Office of Energy Research at DOE (right)
poses here with Luciano Maiani, the incoming Director of CERN,
swapping restaurant reviews for Washington and Geneva.
Speaker: T.D. Lee (Columbia)
In this metaphysical talk, Lee discussed the spirituality of the number "9," the Chinese Imperial Palace and counting with an abacus. Of course. He then advised that he and Drell were in fact only 11 years old, since the Chinese cycle is 60 years, not 100, hence easier to complete. After the philosophical musings, Lee warned the audience that he would cover QED, QFT and general relativity in the remaining 20 minutes. And he did. Quite elegantly.
T.D. Lee in the foreground, Burton Richter, and SLAC staff. Lee's presentation had oriental philosophy and Feynman physics, while Richter's closing remarks about Drell told a few stories out of school.
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