So to start out 2012, I’m going to go back about 17 years to: my very best Ph.D. prank. By that time, I was already a veteran Ph.D. student in Jerusalem, and our lab had just taken on a young (and impressionable) new graduate student. Being the most senior student (and the first to eventually graduate with a Ph.D. from the lab), it often was incumbent upon me to train newcomers. In a number of cases, I was dissatisfied with the work ethics of these new recruits, but in the case of –let’s call him Johnny–there seemed to be genuine interest and dedication. Along with a little naivety! He was a nice kid, but suffice to say that after a while, he began to grate on my nerves. Well, perhaps not enough to justify this<\/em>…<\/p>\n One day I came into the lab in the morning to find Johnny being photographed–by some newspaper reporter. Holding a pipette at a jaunty angle and examining a column with his white lab coat on. I snickered and was about to say something, when I had a better idea. I allowed the shoot to continue and came back a few minutes after it was over.<\/p>\n “Wow, you must have a lot of special connections,” I said.<\/p>\n “Oh, it wasn’t that. They just wanted to photograph a scene from a lab.”<\/p>\n “No,” I shook my head. “I mean connections to get permission from the Chancellor’s office to have your photo taken in the lab or speak to the media.”<\/p>\n “What do you mean?” There was a bit of a dent in his smile now.<\/p>\n “You know how rigid they are about controlling publicity. I mean it’s great that they gave you permission, but really unusual. They hate this type of thing.”<\/p>\n “But I didn’t<\/em> get any permission. The reported just walked in and took my picture.”<\/p>\n “You DIDN’T get permission?! Ha! You’re putting me on! Don’t joke with me.”<\/p>\n Now he was beginning to get worried, lines appearing in his forehead. “There was a guy in the other building who interviewed in the paper without permission,” I added. “He’s now a biology high school teacher. A shame, he was really talented–published a couple high profile papers, too. They caught him doing an interview, and—–”<\/p>\n “No way. You’re pulling my<\/em> leg.”<\/p>\n He definitely looked worried now. “Okay, I’m pulling your leg,” I said.\u00a0 “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”<\/p>\n I let it fester for a few days, and then pulled the big one. I had a fellow graduate student from another lab call our lab and present herself as an administrator in the Chancellor’s office. Poor Johnny took the phone, as she explained to him that he had violated university policy, and that they would have to schedule a hearing<\/em> for him. He would be allowed legal representation at this or any subsequent stage.<\/p>\n I waltzed into the lab later, and he pounced on me. “They’re scheduling a hearing<\/em> for me.”<\/p>\n Play it dumb, I thought. “A hearing<\/em>? What are you going to listen to? Rock music?”<\/p>\n “Seriously, at the Chancellor’s office! Because of the reporter and photograph!”<\/p>\n “You can’t be serious! I wonder how they found out so quickly. Did the article come out already? I hope you didn’t say anything bad about the university!”<\/p>\n “What am I going to do?” He was close to tears now, so some optimism was called for.<\/p>\n “Well I know that a strong recommendation letter from our supervisor\/mentor would definitely help. Would you like me to talk to her?”<\/p>\n “Oh thank you–I can’t thank you enough!” No, I thought, I guess you can’t!<\/p>\n Well, cutting to the chase, my mentor was delighted<\/em> to take part in an additional bit of He took it well, and turned out to be a decent student. But a year or so later, out of the blue, he simply failed to show up in the lab and left his research altogether. No warning or explanation. A new career\/life. And I can’t help wondering whether I contributed, ever-so-slightly to pushing him over the edge. But if I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: in science (as in life) one needs a thick skin to survive…<\/p>\n _____________________________________________________________<\/p>\n In other news of the day: My novel Welcome Home, Sir<\/em><\/a> about a scientist with post traumatic stress disorder is now available from Amazon Kindle as an e-book!<\/a><\/p>\n Note the different covers, since the e-book is my own publication. Guess whose house is on the cover of the e-book?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The paper version cover: Welcome Home, Sir<\/p><\/div>\n The Kindle e-book cover: Welcome Home, Sir<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Looking back at 2011, my first year as a blogger and my new affiliation with OT, I find that I have written 96 blogs. That’s probably 96 more than most of you would care to read, so I may try … Continue reading bullying<\/del> foolery (in today’s world, they’d probably arrest me for such a prank!). We went on a bit longer before finally divulging that it was all just a prank!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/stevecaplan\/files\/2012\/01\/WHS-cover-for-blog-210x300.jpg\")
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