For me, science took on a whole new dimension at my first GRC, which was on Electron Donor Acceptor Interactions. I felt I was finally a full-fledged member of the scientific community. It really was both a rite of passage and an eye-opener to the power of scientific thought and the scientific community.
- Chris Chidsey
A perrenial event in the conference on Chemistry at Interfaces was playing cricket with the Europeans and Americans who had never played the game before.
- D Sunil Jayasuriya
While taking a canoe trip, Mike Fritze from MIT/Lincoln Labs swung from a rope at a swimming hole and gave a Tarzan-like scream before plunging into somewhat shallow water. Fortunately, Mike was not injured and had a superb sense of humor about the incident. Classic!
- Gregory Cardinale
At the morning coffee break during the Isotopes in Biological and Chemical Sciences Gordon Conference in 1998, 80 percent of the participants did not return. It turns out they were filming a "Baywatch" episode across the street on the beach at Ventura.
- John S. Blanchard
Very early on, there were acronyms everywhere for the various Raman methods. My favorite is one I heard from Al Harvey at the 1976 conference. Common Old Ordinary Raman Spectroscopy - COORS.
- Larry Rahn
In 1993, big, loveable Jonathan Fracter from NIST walked right through a plate glass window at Colby- Sawyer College. It was not funny at the time, of course, but it has been discussed anecdotally ever since - especially the speed with which the college put stickers of owls on the other windows.
- George R. Pilcher