The story of Dr. Gerhard Herzberg speaking at Glebe Collegiate (Walter Davidson)

I have a very good recollection of Dr Hertzberg coming to Glebe Collegiate to give a lecture to the grade 11 and 12 science students. My son Malcolm was in grade 11 at Glebe Collegiate. And at supper one night he asked me if I could get a very good speaker from the National Research Council to talk to this science club, if you wish, of grade 11 and grade 12 students. And I said, well, Malcolm, yes, I can. I'll talk to Dr Hertzberg. He's a Nobel laureate. So I phoned up Dr Hertzberg and he said, you know, I'd be delighted to give a lecture to those students. Particularly since my own children went to, that's Paul and Agnes, went to Glebe Collegiate. Now, there was an interesting backdrop to all this. The grade 11 and grade 12 students hadn't told the principal that they were bringing in a Nobel laureate until that morning. Someone said, well, perhaps you should let the principal know. So the principal was aghast. He played along and things worked out very well. Dr Hertzberg was ushered into the large auditorium there. And the place was full of young students, a lot of excitement in the air. And Dr Hertzberg was introduced and gave a tremendous talk. It really was a speech from the throne on molecules and interstellar space to the assembled group of students. The students were extremely excited about all this. There was no question there was a lot of buzz in the room and there wasn't a spare seat to be found. So there really was a kind of sense of occasion that ensued for a question and answer period. And then it was followed by a little presentation. They had prepared a certificate, a beautifully done certificate to Dr Hertzberg for coming and speaking at Glebe Collegiate. It was well done and Dr Hertzberg received this certificate and spoke how much Glebe High School had meant to his children. And he was really delighted to have had the chance to speak to them and so on. The principal was very happy and so on. So that was a tremendous event. Looking back on it, one wonders how many of these students were inspired by that lecture to go into a scientific field for further study or perhaps even as a profession. Never know, never did an analysis. So, late in the afternoon, I drove Dr Hertzberg back along the canal and I said, Dr Hertzberg, that was a remarkable lecture you gave to this enthusiastic student body and so on. It really was very good. And I said, by the way, when was the last time you had an invitation to speak at the high school, Dr Hertzberg? There was a long pause. He said, you know, Dr Davidson, I think the last time I gave a lecture in the high school was when I was at the Yerkes Observatory of the University of Chicago in 1947. So this was close to 40 years after, you know. And I thought, you know, what a shame, you know, that Dr Hertzberg hadn't had the chance of being invited to speak to other groups. You know, what a resource to stimulate students in their formative years to think about a career in science and so on. And I mentioned that I was actually serving for a year at that time as Dr Larkin Kerwin, the president of the National Research Council, in his office as his executive assistant. I'd been pulled out of the laboratory just to help the president. And so I mentioned that evening, went back to the administration building and Dr Kerwin was still there and I said, you know what I've done? I've taken Dr Hertzberg to the collegiate and he gave a tremendous lecture and so on. And this was the only lecture he gave to a high school audience in close to 40 years. And he said, what a waste. It's a great shame that we never really capitalized on that. Anyway, that was a very interesting day that I always cherish, actually. The other interesting thing was that certificate. Years later, I had the office next to Hertzberg's office. I'm talking about 1998 to 2003. And in 1998, when I was in the office, I had my office next to his. Dr Hertzberg no longer came in. He remained at home. Probably in the last year or two of his life, in fact. But Dr Hertzberg's office was in two parts. One was his desk and the blackboard and so on. The other was a kind of anteroom where his secretary had worked and so on. He had scientific journals. But he had also a big folder of about maybe 3 feet by 18 inches with big sleeves into which had been inserted his 36 honorary doctorates. A copy of his Nobel Prize citation. Some other medals and so on. And I was thumbing through it one day. And there in the middle was a certificate from Glead High School thanking him for giving the lecture to the grade 11 and grade 12 students and so on. I thought, isn't that interesting, you know, this juxtaposition. It showed how much he had appreciated that day. Anyway, that's the story of Dr Hertzberg and his famous lecture to Glead Collegiate.