One short post as Christmas Eve draws to a close on the west coast of America.
And a flavourful evening it’s been too, in both the culinary and scientific senses; for tonight I dined at CalTech’s Athenaeum Club in Pasadena, California.
Athenaeum in Pasadena
The first club dinner in February 1931 was attended by Albert Einstein, Robert A. Millikan, and A. A. Michelson; the club has since hosted the likes of Richard Feynman (physicist), David Baltimore (biologist) and Maarten Schmidt (Astronomer). I got through the door on the strength of my father-in-law’s double qualification as Caltech graduate and former Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) employee.
(Chemical) Abstract Dining in the Athenaeum Library
I’ve eaten in the main dining room before, but tonight was especially interesting as we were hosted in one of the more private library rooms. That meant I got to enjoy the somewhat surreal experience of tucking into my prime rib surrounded by the last fifty years’ worth of Chemical Abstracts; food for thought as it were….groan.
Food for thought
Clearly time to stop, take the indigestion tablets, and go to bed.
Merry Christmas.
Since the mid 1980s, I've worked in university and industrial research, as a manager and editor in technology and environment for an international industry association, and held senior business development, strategy, and procurement posts in industry. I hold a PhD in chemical engineering from Birmingham University, an MBA from Warwick University Business School, and an MSc in Science Communication from Imperial College. In 2008, I left industry to focus full-time on my passion for science and technology, and to share that enthusiasm with others as a freelance science communicator. I live in London with my wife Erin.
Contact me at timjones(at)communicatescience.com or through the tab above.
Ohh, it brings tears to my eye. I only ate there once when my son graduated from Caltech. The food is exquisite.