Henry Taube

Henry Taube's obituary correctly indicated that he was an extraordinary scientist with innovative ideas (C&EN, Dec. 12, 2005, page 35). What was left out was his extraordinary teaching of graduate students. I was one of those students, in the unusual times of the late 1960s at Stanford. Henry would drop by almost every day to see how my project was going (usually in the evening, after he had had dinner and a couple of drinks). His diligence was often embarrassing, however, since for various reasons I sometimes had nothing new to report! He was never demanding, though, just basically curious; he really allowed me to "go my own way" (but with his guidance) and to develop my research strategies.

My favorite story about Henry was when I reported detailed results to him that I didn't yet understand, and he obviously didn't either. He would literally back out of the door of the lab with that famous little subtle and somewhat distant smile of his and say, "You are really going to have fun with this." How often I have done the same thing over the past 35 years with my own students and postdocs. Henry Taube was not only a great scientist but also a great mentor and teacher. He was one of a kind, and he will be greatly missed.

W. H. (Bill) Breckenridge
Salt Lake City