As Bob spoke about his boyhood in Philadelphia, his coming of age as a young Harvard intellectual, and the factors that fueled his preoccupation with the history of science and the behavior of scientists, I was touched by a variety of emotions. As often during the 30 years or so that I've known him, I was fascinated by his capacious intellect and his knack for originating concepts and expressing them in clear, evocative terms. (Whether writing or speaking, he knows how to hold his audience.) I was also proud, since he has worked closely with me as mentor, colleague, and coauthor. I must confess as well to a certain amount of civic pride, since The Scientist--like Bob Merton--has its roots in the City of Brotherly Love.
ACLS couldn't have made a more appropriate selection for the 1994 Haskins lectureship. That was also my reaction to the recent news that Bob ...
