Good memories
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Good memories Henry Metzger
Published online: 18 May 2007 Humana Press Inc. 2007
My first substantial interaction with Bob Good was in 1970 at that year’s meeting of the Council of the American Association of Immunologists (AAI). He had just been elected for a 4 year term and I had just taken over from Sheldon Dray as Secretary-Treasurer. I had encountered Bob 1 year earlier at a meeting in June in Prague––a period memorable for the world and us not only because of the troublesome political upheavals, but also more narrowly memorable for us as immunologists, because we were in the midst of a revolution in our field relating to the clarification of the role of B and T lymphocytes and how this related to antigenicity. I recall vividly the discussions in which Bob participated so energetically along with Av Mitchison and other luminaries at that key meeting [1]. The Council of the AAI in 1970 was led by Byron Waksman (who had taken over the presidency prematurely in 1969 upon Karl Habel’s fatal illness) and included Frank Dixon, Dan Campbell, Baruj Benacerraf, and Henry Kunkel––an extraordinary collection of assertive, highly productive, creative scientists who clearly were much more engaged with their research than with the largely routine administrative matters that at that time constituted much of the Council’s agenda. As continues to be the procedure in the AAI, the Councilor completing his/her 4th year is the sole nominee for the position of Vice-President, and the following year, for the Presidency. Then as now, the President gives a plenary ‘‘Presidential Address’’ at the Annual Meeting and I can attest to the fact that all of us who have been privileged to give that address, worry about what to say. Bob alluded to that phenomenon in his own address given on April 13 1976 [2]. Most, if not all of the AAI’s presidents have used the occasion to summarize much of their own research so one in a sense lays open for critical evaluation by a large audience how one has spent one’s time. Bob took it one step further. He felt that it was appropriate in that US bicentennial year to speak not only about his own work but to
Presented at the First Robert A Good Society Symposium, St. Petersburg, FL 2006. H. Metzger (&) National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Rm 10S259, 10 Center Drive, MSC 1820, Bethesda, MD 20892-1820, USA e-mail: [email protected]
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Immunol Res (2007) 38:137–138
give an overview of ‘‘our surging discipline and to analyze its origin and future.’’ Those of us familiar with Bob’s expansive nature were not surprised that he should undertake such a task. I thought it appropriate for this present volume to summarize very briefly a few of Bob’s principal points hoping thereby that the reader will be encouraged to retrieve the full text which makes delightful and instructive reading. Bob’s particularly apt title ‘‘Runestones in Immunology: Inscriptions to Journeys of Discovery and Analysis’’ referred to the inscriptions Viking explorers left o
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