Haverford College - Record Yearbook (Haverford, PA)

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{ rr f- ,. 1 f LOUIS C. GREEN AARON LEMONICK THOMAS A. BENHAM FAY A. SELOVE PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY In the context of d liberal arts atmosphere, physics is a symbol of the outside world where technological advance is the order of the day and emphasis is, with attendant regret, shifting from an artistic to a mecha- nistic culture. To the world-weary physics student, however, its high level of abstraction provides a wel- come relief from the apparently hopeless muddle of social science and the aimless frustnition of modern art. In the microcosm of Haverford. then, the physics department assumes a position of aloofness from the main stream of intellectual activity. Life surges for- ward at its own hurricane pace, oblivious to the idyllic atmosphere elsewhere; Sharpless hums with a dizzy round of new equipment purchases and curriculum changes. Aaron Lemonick, who with his boundless and exuberant energy has almost completely trans- formed the face of the department over the past four years, is a dynamic and convincing teacher, spending much care and thought on the development of new teaching methods and materials. Mrs. Fay Selove com- bines a passion for Turkish cigarettes with an uncanny sense of the importance of a laboratory in modern physics, a valuable and unusual feature for a small department. Thus, except for the peaceful soirees at Tom Benham ' s, where bedraggled Efe?M students come to report long-overdue problem sets and where the world revolves around a cup of Constant Comment, the department lurches ahead, possibly trying to fol- low Sputniks and Explorers in their headlong courses above. Notwithstanding the absence of astronomy majors in the class, the astronomy department is far from idle. In addition to those students of introductory astronomy who always seem to find out that the second semester is much harder than the first, bemused liberal-arts students come to the spacious observatory classroom on Mondays to learn of Kepler, Newton, Faraday, and Einstein, and bemused physics students come on Tues- days to learn of those more recondite deities, Navier- Stokes and Sturm-Liouville. The octagonal library, reminiscent of a polyhedron from Diirer ' s Melencolia, IS filled with a peaceful solemnity, where Louis Green ' s tall benign figure intrudes apologetically from time to time to examine the latest copy of the Astrop iysical Journal, replacing it quickly so as not to nip in the bud the aspirations of any future astronomy major. The bewildering array of courses required of a major in physics takes its toll. After four years, the two physics majors m the Class of 1958, a smaller and perhaps less representative group than most, are es- caping back into the less abstract world of the humani- ties, where life seems more tangible and possibly even more genuine. But on occasion the luckless ones drag themselves back to the gloomy dungeons of Sharpless, to their bubbling vats of liquid nitrogen and to their ghoulishly shrieking 600-cycle square waves. For these tortures are as nothing compared to those which are to come. . . . Twenty-two

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ECONOMICS The economics department resides, appropri.uely enough, in Whitall, the building to and through which many a greenback flows. We must give the ec scholars credit for discussing dispassionately such emotionally charged subjects as income, taxes, and depressions, and for considering such weighty questions as whether the invisible hand is really invisible and what the chances are of transforming guns into butter. Howard Teaf is a tough customer, especially when he knows you don ' t know what you ' re talking about. His discussion section is one long cataclysmic catechism, in which he demands extreme precision in formulating detinitions and utilizing concepts. Even his lectures ,ire so conducted that most of the information presented is eventually elicited from the students. He character- istically refers to all students by their last names, es- pecially when he becomes angry (no rarity). His classes start in high gear (usually he begins talking as he approaches the doorway), but sometimes he stretches out his long frame m his chair, closes his eyes, and describes dreamily his observations while visiting the Near East. Teaf specializes m business and labor ec, and has served as an advisor to the state of Pennsyl- vania on insurance problems. He frequently visits Harrisburg; his majors wonder if he goes to try to prevent the new belt highway from running through his new house. Holland ( Ho ) Hunter ' 4. , the master of Wood- side Cottage and third floor Whitall, holds the faculty speed record for ascending and descending stairs. He calm;; down in class, however, where, after putting the daily outline on the board and manipulating his course cards to correspond to the students seating arrange- ments, he folds his hands, occasionally scratches his nose, and procedes to criticize an incorrect statement or faulty generalization with the initially innocuous deterent Well, now, wait a minute. He is plagued by books that keep disappearing from the reserve desk, but is pleased by researchers who discuss their topic and outline with him ( Then how can I fail to give you an A? ). Ho ranks as an expert on the Russian transportation systems, and spent a month in the Soviet Union last summer. Will Lyons comes to the ec department this year with ' a background in government service and Wall Street finance. His special field is everyone ' s favorite subject — money — and his pet theory on how to have the same may surprise some: If something goes wrong with a durable good (e.g., auto, TV), throw it away. It ' ll cost less to buy a new one. His students speculate that besides collecting pipes and stamps, Mr. Lyons may also save such memorabilia as GM and RCA stocks. Will dislikes losing at bridge, being interrupted during class by phone calls from the library, and that ob- noxious parable, You can lead a horse to water but you can ' t make him drink. Lyons appears more theo- retical than case-study-oriented Teaf. HOWARD M. TEAF, JR. HOLLAND HUNTER WILL LYONS Twenty-one

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MATHEMATICS Havcrford ' s m.itlK-ni.itics rooms bear the labels East and West , but the majors who studied topology found out that the twain eould actually meet. Al- though both majors and teachers realize that some (e.g., physicists, psychologists, morticians, gamblers, and income-tax cheaters) use their favorite subject simply as a tt)ol, they enioy mathematics for its own sake and for the marvelous, infinite, n-dimensional world it opens to them. To some, mathematics is to science what phil- osophy IS to the humanistic disciplines — a distant com- mon meeting ground. Cletus ( Clete ) Oakley, head of the department, may look stuffy and serious in his classroom (even at iS a.m.), especially when he slides his glasses to the tip of his nose and peers over the tip of the rims at a student who obviously has not done the day ' s home- work; or when he bows his head, closes his eyes, and clarities a principle in quiet, measured tones. The first sign of his true spontaneity w-ould be his leap onto the sill to lower the top window and let in refreshing breezes. His humorous extroversion would be confirmed by his frequent vaults out of the East Math Room window onto Founders Porch. No sideliner with re- spect to athletics, Clete still offers an A to any of his students who can beat him in handball. Many have attempted, but nobody has yet had the strength, ability, or cunning to emerge victorious. Mr. Oakley ' s math- ematical interests range from an explanation of Mor- ley ' s theorem (to be seen, framed, in the Gummere- Morley Room), to co-authoring the Freshman Math text, to designing educational cutouts for children ' s magazines. Robert ( Bullet Bob ) Wisner is a shrewd, liberal thinker who maintains rigorous teaching standards and commands the admiration of his hard-working math majors. In his criticism of philosophers, Haverford ' s admission policy, and other weighty issues in society, he tends to biting and caustic sarcasm. Bullet Bob frequents the Coop regularly, either conducting an ad- vanced seminar, conversing with several other pro- fessors, or holding a coffee hour v ith some of the younger secretaries. When asked about his office hours, he replies succinctly: Almost never. Perhaps this occurs because he ' s often so busy playing with his flexagons. When Fr.mklin Duttenhofer began teaching here as an instructor in the fall of 195 7, he needed no in- troduction to Haverford College, having graduated from this venerable institution just fifteen months previously. Fr.mk then became a Quaker (University of Pennsyl- vania variety) and has now returned to preach in his Main Line drawl of curves, natural functions, and limits. CLETUS O. OAKLEY FRANKLIN H. DUTTENHOFER ROBERT J. WISNER Tu ' entv-three