I very much enjoyed Kurt Gottfried and J. David Jackson’s appreciation of Victor Weisskopf. Another illustration of Viki’s approach to life may be of interest to readers.
When Viki arrived at the University of Rochester in 1937, he found himself somewhat lonely and disconnected, as might have been expected. As a result, he spent substantial time with Arthur Gibson, who for many years had been in charge of the physics department’s machine shop. Gibson undertook to assist Viki in becoming settled in his new city. Over time, they became close friends, and it was Gibson who served as Viki’s formal sponsor when he applied for American citizenship.
Leaving Rochester for Los Alamos in 1943, and then moving on to MIT in 1946, Viki maintained his contact with Gibson. Whenever Viki visited Rochester—as he did frequently in the late 1940s and the 1950s while I was there—he would go talk with Gibson in the machine shop before contacting any of the physicists. Gibson was extremely proud of their relationship, and the visits demonstrated that Viki never forgot who his real friends were.
