Blake, carrying a clipboard with a checklist of discussion items, quickly apologizes for the interruption as he places several pages of data atop the sea of papers and reports covering Rowland's desk. For the next several minutes, the two men converse about the data and a few administrative matters. Then, with a quick smile, Blake waves goodbye and disappears.
A veteran of Rowland's atmospheric research lab, Blake has learned it takes a wily aggressiveness to capture a few minutes of Rowland's time. And the competition for that time is getting stiffer and stiffer. This past November, Rowland was voted AAAS's president-elect, an honor that carries with it a considerable number of new responsibilities.
Blake and Rowland's work styles are simultaneously opposite and complementary. Blake loves lab work, but complains that he doesn't have as much time for experiments as he would like. Rowland hasn't done regular hands-on lab work in ...
