The Chemistry and Physics of Isotopes

This was the title of a Gordon Research Conference in 1970 which I  attended. There were over one hundred conferences in various fields in the three major sciences held each year. At that time, there were quite a number of research groups in the USA which were very much involved in developing new methodology, in finding new frontiers in the field. I was one of the young members in Professor Peter E. Yankwich’s research group. Even though I was teaching at the University of Kentucky, Dr. Yankwich kindly invited me to work at his lab in Urbana for the summer and thus I was qualified to participate in this Conference. While it was common practice for major professors to help their post docs get established and to assist young, former students as they started their careers, it was definitely not a “take it for granted” action. Dr. Yankwich was always very considerate in almost every aspect in assisting his former students, a fact which I need to acknowledge gratefully here. The conference in 1970 was held in Issaquah, WA, which was and is a very nice summer resort. The attendees could therefore discuss the tough subjects in a pleasant and relaxed environment. That was the last Gordon Conference in which I participated. They were getting too expensive for small universities to support. Dr. Yankwich is in both the pictures below, one of which also includes his graduate student, Joe Keller.