Chance Meetings

An egregious error occurs in the caption to the photograph accompanying the otherwise excellent obituary of Steven Weinberg *57 (“ ...receives Nobel Prize in Physics from Norwegian King Carl Gustaf in December 1979,” February issue). Only the Nobel Peace Prize is presented in Norway. All of the other Nobel Prizes are presented in Stockholm by Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf.

I had the pleasure of being introduced to Weinberg in the elevator of the physics department at the University of Texas in 1985 while visting my dear friend Jacob D. Bekenstein *72 (of blessed memory; PAW April 6, 2016). I can never forget Weinberg's red hair.

Even earlier, in the summer of 1975, while I lived in Sweden, I met His Majesty at the Linnaeus Gardens in Uppsala. My comment to the King was “Good day, Your Majesty.”  His response, with a smile: “Good day!”

Also in 1975, I met Bekenstein’s Ph.D. adviser, John Archibald Wheeler, at the entrance of the main university building when Wheeler was being presented with an honorary doctorate by Uppsala University. Many people feel that Wheeler should have been awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics.