Baruch Blumberg
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Further to yesterday's obituary of the Nobel Prize-winning scientist Baruch Blumberg, Tam Dalyell writes:
In 1990, the undergraduates of the Cerberus Society, an intellectual grouping at Balliol, invited me to be their speaker after dinner in Hall. In that capacity, I was asked to stay the night at the Master's Lodge, where Baruch Blumberg welcomed me for a nightcap. I asked him why he had come to England, given his prestigious position and busy life in the United States. He reeled off four reasons.
First, 35 years previously, Balliol had given him a warm welcome as a foreign postgraduate, "providing me with the confidence, which may come naturally to graduates of Harvard and Yale, but which came less naturally to a young man from the Columbian Presbyterian Medical Centre." Secondly, he had the greatest respect for colleagues in the department of biochemistry at Oxford. Thirdly, he said it was good for a scientist to be transplanted for a five-year period into a totally different environment. He told me that he never forgot his friend Max Perutz recollecting that he could not have achieved what he did had he remained in an Austria spared the Nazi invasion. A comfortable life is not necessarily a recipe for the best work.
Lastly, Blumberg was contemplating a career change from Hepatitis-related issues to astrobiology. Was there a better perch than the Master's Lodge to reflect on and map out "my future"? In doing so Blumberg also gave full value to undergraduates and fellows.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments