Haverford College - Record Yearbook (Haverford, PA)

Page 21 text:

W.r ARIEL G. LOEWY MELVIN SANTER IRVING FINGER ROBERT L. CONNER BIOLOGY Second floor Sharpless, principal home of the biology department, has undergone a major face-lifting in the last few years, the lift being supplied by our new, aggressive bio profs. The principal change has been an academic shift from classical biology (botany, zool- ogy, vertebrate morphology, etc.) to the modern fron- tiers of biology (bio-chemistry, cellular physiology, genetics, etc.). Through grants of money from several foundations, the academic shift has resulted in a labor- atory ' shift from dissection kits and microscopes to Warburg respirometers, walk-in freezers, sterilizing tanks, and spectrophotometers. The initiation of the Senior Research Tutorial has given bio majors excellent experience in original research. A major part of the credit for the modernization of subject material and laboratory equipment goes to Ariel Loewy, the big bird of the biology department. Loewy has shed much blood for Haverford, especially in 195 7, when he did research on the disulfide bond in blood. Once, students really wanted to see blood flow when he told one class that he had lost their exams on the train. Often seen dashing around campus on an English bicycle with a rumble-seat, Loewy has plenty of time to converse with his majors on subjects ranging from politics to art. It has been rumored that when he obtains sabbatic leave he will spend most of the time cleaning up his hopelessly disorganized office desk. Melvin Santer is a microbiologist who grows bugs (bacteria) by the bottlcful. His 1957-58 research grant ( magnificent, just magnificent ) involved thiobacilli, and for the research Santer preferred mud imported from New Haven ( it ' s got good ' bugs ' . ) Almost daily he can be seen in his white lab smock, slapping and rubbing his hands together and vowing to his senior majors: All right, boys, today we gotta clean up the lab. Besides capably teaching complex biochemistry ' , Mel Santer leads his students to be aware and critical of the non-science world, especially the A.M. A. Perhaps the toughest teacher in the department, he maintains high standards by driving his students hard. The third member of the department that had such an excellent Philips Lecture Series for 1957-58 is Irving Finger, who ended 1957 by winning a research grant in his special field, genetics. An alumnus of Swarthmore College, Finger lost a Coca-cola bet to his genetics class that the Garnet would beat the Fords in their latest football clash. He often produces a big stink in Sharpless when he boils lettuce for his Paramecium. The zoology assignments are held down by Robert Conner. Each second semester slim, suave, smiling Conner drives over from Bryn Mawr to spend morn- ings lecturing on the weird, multicolored, anatomical cross-sections which cover his blackboards, and after- noons requiring his students to do lab dissections ( I think the instructions are fairly simple. ) He is in- trigued with the problem of whether protozoans are smarter than men. Seventeen

Page 20 text:

J ■ . i» e I I DOUGLAS H. HEATH GEORGE V. COELHO CHARLES E. MAYER PSYCHOLOGY Animal Lahoraiory : an unobtrusive sign on the fourth floor of Sharpless hides a dozen sad-eyed white rats peeking from behind empty water bottles, sharing their meager quarters with some imperious looking rabbits marked ' Property of the Biology Department. This seene is perhaps typieal of the plaee psyehology occupies among its sister bioU)gieal sciences even at enlightened Haverford : a kind of Cinderella scorned by the rest of the family and shuttled between the social and the natural sciences in true fairy tale fashion. But like Cinderella, psychology at Haverford has a certain pioneering spirit introduced by its dynamic head, Douglas Heath, whose unlimited faith in the ability of students to do advanced work — if given the opportunity — has made the department ideal for any- one interested in mastering the fundamentals of re- search. The center of his educational philosophy is in- deed the student, who, when given encouragement, can take his place early in the community of seekers of scientific truth. At the same time Heath has remained interested in the personal development of his students, and thus has succeeded in giving the department an air of scientific excitement as well as understanding of the personal needs of the scientists. Since psychology may be said to represent a fusion of the biological and social views of man, George Coelho leans more heavily toward the social interpretation. Accordingly, his contribution has been to present a thoughtful, rigorous approach to the less well defined problems of personality and social psychology, which with him become scientifically manageable while re- taining the flavor of their complexity. His sensitive grasp of significant literature has been mentioned by Gordon Allport, a noted psychological theorist — who has said of him, He can distinguish a significant book better than anyone else I know. Yet in spite of his serious grasp of the psychological meat, Coelho at home, in the midst of French House din, is one of the most friendly and informal members of the Haverford community, as are his wife Rani and three bright, lovable children. Representing the other psychological camp, the rigorous positivist Charles E. Mayer has already estab- lished himself in Haverford society as the somewhat caustic introductory psychology professor with a lean- ing toward impossible objective exams, intense interest in animals of all kinds — including human ones — and a predisposition for viewing the world as the central nervous system extended. If he were not a universal tinkerer as well, even the meager beginnings of an instrumented lab would still be in the blueprint stage. Thus he may be seen scurrying about extolling the rat and the implanted electrode, all the while reclaiming psychology as a true science. While still the Cinderella of the campus, psychology at Haverford is growing, and more than other departments can say confidently, Wait till next year! Sixteen

Page 22 text:

PHILOSOPHY DOUGLAS VAN STEERE MARTIN FOSS We can see the three heads of Haverford ' s philosophy department groping through the forest. The hght is so dim that not even the forms of the objects are visible to the searchers, but they do manage a random walk. In their search, sometimes one finds another going the same way for a short distance, but neither knows where he is, so this is not much help. Several times one or another has even stumbled into the agora, but none has ever seen it. Henry Veatch stayed in our section of the wood only for the first semester. He strolled briskly as if it were a bright summer day, slashing right and left with a rubber sword labeled Intentionality. It was very amusing to watch the sword bouncing harmlessly from the trees, while Its user never noticed. Intentional Veatch was particularly renowned for his lecture seminar on St. Thomas, a logical man. The rubber sword was welcome as a change and it succeeded in making a few dents, but It is fortunate that these dents faded so quickly. Douglas Steere drives into the woods in his Volkswagen, mystically missing the trees. After having run in tight circles around some of the more visible ones, he managed to erect a sign on top of the jalopy advertising a patent panacea, Reverence for Life. Unfortunately, the sign was engulfed by smoke and moonbeams, and no bottles were sold. In public, he is the well-known largest smile on campus, prized for its pure genuineness. His Volkswagen is likely to circle trees for some time, lecturing, and the sign will grow still mistier, but the smile shows clearly through the darkness. Frank Parker resembles a bloodhound in the woods. He has no strong direction of his own, but keeps his nose glued to the realistic ground, following the trail and passing judgment over every tree he FRANCIS H. PARKER HENRY J. CADBURY Eighteen