Contemporary Memorials

These memorials contain basic biographical information about Tomas Hirschfeld, but are notable for two other reasons.  The variety of journals in which these memorials appeared show the breadth of his influence on measurement science, and the depth of his influence is apparent through the personal and professional sense of loss expressed by the authors.

• “Noted lab chemist, innovator dies”, Weekly Bulletin (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), 11(17), 1986 (April 30), 1.  PDF (courtesy of LLNL).
• “Obituary”, D.L. Massart, Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems 1 (1986) 4. https://doi.org/10.1016/0169-7439(86)80003-X.
• “Obituary – Tomas Hirschfeld”, Trends in Analytical Chemistry 5 (1986) IV.  https://doi.org/10.1016/0165-9936(86)80038-3.
• “In memoriam: Tomas Hirschfeld (1939-1986)”, H.M. Shapiro, Cytometry, Part A 7(5) (1986) 399.  https://doi.org/10.1002/cyto.990070502.
• “Editor’s Notes / Sad News”, B. Fateley, Applied Spectroscopy 40(6) (1986) 11A.  (This page also contains “The Sayings of Tomas Hirschfeld” by D. Honigs, which is       reproduced on the “Tomas-isms” page in this collection.)
• “Tomas Hirschfeld Remembered”, J.G. Grasselli, Mikrochimica Acta III (1987) 13-17.  https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01201679.
• “Tomas Hirschfeld – In Memoriam”, in “Cell Structure and Function by Microspectrofluorimetry”, E. Kohen, ed., Elsevier/Academic Press (1989) xxiii-xxiv.  https://doi.org/10.1016/C2013-0-10983-X.
  
  

'Tomas-isms' - The Wit and Wisdom of Tomas Hirschfeld

Tomas Hirschfeld’s ability to get at the essence of physical and chemical problems was also reflected in his ability to find pithy and efficient expressions to characterize his approach to science and life.  These rules of thumb (or “Tomas-ims”, per his last post-doctoral student, Mike Angel) were among the most-remembered parts of people’s encounters with Hirschfeld.  A list of 29 items was published under “The Sayings of Tomas Hirschfeld” by David Honigs in Applied Spectroscopy (40(6) (1986) 11A).  Mike Angel kept a document, dated 3/13/1985, which contains these and several more which are listed below. (Starting with number 12, the list largely follows with Honigs’.)

Tomas’ Rules of Thumb

1. Problem solving starts by finding the available degrees of freedom (cash, time, people).
2. If one degree of freedom is unbounded, nearly everything is solvable.
3. Your chances of solving a problem increase linearly with cash, and exponentially with time.
4. Almost nothing can be solved if one does not have at least one degree of freedom.
5. Natural laws have more loopholes than tax laws.
6. The goal of the exercise rarely coincides with the statement of the problem.
7. You can always get to the same goal by a different route.
8. Belief in patents is a superstition.  Since many people have this superstition, patents may be good for you anyway.
9. If enough people ask you questions, sooner or later you’ll run into the ones you can answer.
10. Spend 10% of your time collecting problems.
11. Babe Ruth made his reputation by missing the ball 60% of the time.
12. Inspiration must precede perspiration.
13. If it’s surprising, it’s useful.
14. Always work backwards from ideal cases.
15. Never learn details before deciding on a first approach.
16. Never mind approaches that transform one problem into another; that’s a new chance.
17. You can get lots of home runs on a low batting average if you swing often enough.
18. Use the last for post-mortems only.
19. If you hit every time, the target’s too near.
20. Problems become easier in the order: information theory, physics and chemistry, electronics.
21. If you don’t understand, explain to an audience and listen to yourself.
22. Remember only abstracts and where they are.
23. When using experts, ask why until they stutter.
24. Keep notes in a small pad, to keep out cluttering detail.
25. Accurate prejudices are better than an analytical mind 90% of the time.  An analytical mind is better than any prejudice 10% of the time.  Find out the position of this 10% or else.
26. Persistence at thinking increases average speed and decreases the instantaneous time.
27. Remember all phenomenae with big derivatives.
28. The second assault on the same problem should come from a totally different direction.
29. Literature references are most useful if relatively recent or relatively old.
30. Manufacturers’ literature is better than technical articles, after division of all specs by 2.
31. Anything can be made smaller, never mind physics.
32. Anything can be made more efficient, never mind thermodynamics.
33. Everything will be more expensive, never mind common sense.
34. Information theory determines physics, logic supersedes mathematics.
35. Studying the inverse problem always helps.
36. If the facts don’t match your intentions, look for other facts.
37. Spend a proportion of your time analyzing your work methods.
38. If you do not ask “why this” often enough, somebody will ask “why you”.
39. Never state a problem to yourself in the same terms as it was brought to you.
40. Science is infinite; problems are not.
41. If any biological system does the same job, it will have found a better way.

Acknowledgements

Special thanks are given to Prof. Mike Angel, who kindly shared his archive of Hirschfeld papers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, to the librarians at Livermore and Savannah River National Laboratories, who tracked down photographs and newsletter clippings from their respective archives, and to all of the authors of the reminiscences that are found here.

This collection is far from a complete record of Tomas Hirschfeld.  Additional materials will be considered for inclusion in these pages.  Please contact the FACSS office if you have material that might be added.

Rob Lascola
Savannah River National Laboratory
Awards Chair, SciX 2021
July 2021