Meliora Moment*

I returned to the medical center in 1965 to be chief resident in medicine after two years in the U.S. Public Health Service. The Department of Medicine had instituted a program to go from one to two chief residents in 1964. They served sequentially with the opportunity to do whatever they chose in the other six months. When I finished six months of those very enjoyable duties, I started my research career. I was given the opportunity to have my lab in the Department of Radiation Biology and Biophysics, né the Atomic Energy Project, at the University of Rochester. The department had co-chairs, each an extraordinary figure: William Neuman, Ph.D, an expert in bone and calcium metabolism (the hard-cell group) and Aser Rothstein, Ph.D., an expert in yeast genetics and later blood cells (the soft-cell group). They rotated the chair every two years. Both were outstanding scientists, outstanding human beings, and had superb leadership qualities. I was asked to join Aser and Bill’s tennis group. The Medical Center had tennis courts within a stone’s throw of the Department’s location; east of Wing-O and Wing-OO where our laboratories and offices were located. We would play at lunch-time, frequently, during the warm seasons. There were five regulars in the group. I made six. Four players were usually available on any day. One day Aser asked if I would play singles with him; the rest of the group was not available that day. He had an important meeting and could only play for 45 minutes. After forty minutes of play I was ahead 4 to 1; he should have left. I recall saying, “Aser, it is time for your meeting should we stop.” He was too competitive to stop with me ahead. He missed his meeting and beat me 7 to 5. I still am not sure whether I let up to avoid beating the department chair. Much more likely, it was his unwillingness to lose and his determination to win against a much younger upstart. The members of our tennis group, other than Aser and Bill, included Leon Miller, Ph.D, M.D. a distinguished biochemist and physiologist, Louis Hempelmann, M.D. a renowned radiobiologist and radiologist, who participated in the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, Taft Toribara, Ph.D., an outstanding chemist, and author of the third most cited scientific paper ever published at that time. He also was a national squash champion six times and played at the national level into his 80’s.Taft had a tennis stroke that was unconventional and a reflection of his commitment to squash but his shots were marked by pinpoint accuracy and angle shots rarely seen in tennis. I was lucky to be associated with these extraordinary scientists and gentlemen. When the Medical Center decided to build on the site of the tennis courts, the influence of these respected faculty lead to replacement courts behind Helen Wood Hall. Alas, the encroachment of additional buildings resulted in the loss of tennis courts on the medical school campus.

*The University of Rochester motto is “meliora”, Latin for “ever better”, selected in 1851. The choice of the motto is attributed to Asahel Kendrick, a professor of Greek. It is thought to be derived in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, book 7, lines 20-21: video meliora, proboque, which means “…I see better things, and approve...”. The archives of the University contain Meliora Moments, an opportunity for faculty, students and staff to write a brief experience that ties them to the University.

Written June 2013