A Superb Interaction

by David Laker 

I moved to the School of Chemical Sciences at the University of Illinois in 1962 as part of a planned expansion of the academic and technical staffs in the Biochemistry Department. Several months after I arrived, I was told that the school had enticed a major senior scientist to move from Britain to the Illinois cornfields and that my job would be to provide him with technical support and any new instrumentation he might need.  I was assured that, even though my new job was vaguely defined, all would work out eventually.  A month later the head of Biochemistry, Dr. I.C. Gunsalus, brought the new scientist, Dr. Gregorio Weber to the machine shop and introduced me to him.

Dr. Weber struck me as a very pleasant man who would be pleasing to work with.

Shortly thereafter, Dr. Weber brought down some of his English-built equipment for me to look at along with his wish list of modifications for this equipment and also new instruments to be built from scratch.  This was the beginning of my relationship with him which lasted over thirty years.  

I was new to the job and unsure of what I was doing.  I also felt thick headed and unable to readily understand what Dr. Weber wanted of me.  After a close examination of the English equipment and a few false starts I began to produce small instruments which were useful.  At first Dr. Weber and I were probably not sure of what we might be able to make. He was used to building everything from scratch and I was unfamiliar with any possible commercial suppliers of parts we might use so we made everything.  Gradually, I began to develop an understanding of what he wanted me to build next.  If I needed a push, he did so gently and always made his wishes known in a polite and low-key manner.  If I was busy with a lathe he would wait until I finished a cut before asking politely if I had a moment to discuss a problem.

We worked together with little or no formal documentation. Some verbal instructions from Dr. Weber with possible clarifications became all I needed to get to work. As we progressed the instruments became larger and more complex. If he saw that I was becoming apprehensive about working with expensive or unfamiliar optics his stock answer was "I mean, I mean it does not appear to be very difficult. I am sure you can do it."  He once asked me to change the grating in a large, expensive monochromator. I'd never seen the inside of the monochromator let alone worked on it.

At the conclusion, I got his standard response, " I mean.....that wasn't too difficult was it?."

Within the year Dr. Weber had enough instruments and students to make his laboratory hum.  It was a heady time.

Our instruments typically had one or two racks of electronics loaded with controls and switches (This was well before integrated electronics).  Dr. Weber had the habit of becoming engrossed in conversation with users and begin to absently turn an adjustment knob or two - usually the ones most critical to the proper operation of the machine.  We started putting large, shiny hand wheels in convenient places on the racks.  Known as "Weber’s Knob", their sole function was to occupy the Professors fingers during his visit.  He used them often and with good humour.

Writing this brought back many fond memories of Dr. Weber and his students.  I cannot speak to his scientific accomplishments but on a human level he helped me and certainly others achieve more than they thought possible.  My association with him was a high point in my life.