Jerome Karle - Part IJerome Karle was born in New York City on June 18, 1918 into a family that had a number of artistic people among its members. The propensity of his family for artistic endeavors extended to his generation and beyond. His mother was an excellent pianist and organist and it was one of her hopes that he would become a professional pianist. He had played piano as a youth and had participated in a number of competitions, but he founded he had no taste for public performance, and he was far more interested in science as a long career at an early age. In his autobiography he says he had the privilege of attending public schools in the New York City public school system, considering their standards of education, character building and discipline very high, which for him it signified a benefit. They used to separate out the more advanced students and permitted them to progress at their own pace. As a youth, Karle enjoyed handball, ice skating, touch football and swimming in the nearby Atlantic Ocean. He attended Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn. A prestigious school built in 1929 that has graduated several Nobel Prize winners. Arthur Kornberg (awarded the Nobel in Medicine in 1959) and Paul Berg (a winner in Chemistry in 1980) shared their high school days with Jerome Karle. The school has also notable alumni graduates as famous MDs, scientists, engineers, politicians, and other celebrities. Jerome entered the City College of New York in 1933 at the age of 15. At first he felt it was a bit of a struggle because their academic standards were very high, and in addition to this, he had to spend more than one hour and a half every day travelling on the subway system from home to school and the same to return home. It made three hours a day; he had to abandon piano practices. Jerome received his bachelor's degree from the City College of New York in 1937, after studying beyond the requirements the school had, additional courses in mathematics, some physics and much chemistry and biology. After graduation from City College, he spent the following year at Harvard University studying biology, for which he received a master's degree, M.A. in 1938. Jerome went to work with the New York State Health Department in Albany. His intention was to save enough money to pay for further graduate studies. He achieved this goal and enrolled at the University of Michigan in 1940. |