Tribute

✍ Scribed by Leslie Brothers

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 21 KB
• Volume: 44
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0275-2565
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-2345(1998)44:3<225::aid-ajp7>3.0.co;2-y

✦ Synopsis

TRIBUTE

I was privileged to work with Arthur Kling at Sepulveda from 1984 until his recent death. Art's understated style belied his passion for research. He did not waste words; his energy showed in his movements, particularly in his quick stride as he moved down the hall that led to the labs.

Art loved to teach, especially when it came to technique. I vividly remember the thrill of standing beside him in the operating room for the first time as he showed me the landmarks he had used for so many years to approach the amygdala. I remember the rapidity and deftness of his surgical technique, and his friendly impatience with my slowness as I tried to emulate him. I recall, on a later occasion, his enthusiasm as he rolled a towel in a special way to stabilize the head of an anesthetized macaque monkey. "Look! This is what we did in the jungle!" he exclaimed as he demonstrated. "We didn't have head holders, you know." As I copied him there in that urban laboratory, I felt momentarily a part of the swashbuckling glory of those jungle days.

But that was an unusual event, for, without specific questioning, he never spoke of his past accomplishments. Instead, he was always intently focused on the work at hand-today's procedure, yesterday's results, this afternoon's analysis. I think he found complete fulfillment in his work. My experiences with Arthur Kling taught me that real science is not a profession; the kind of science that matters, that has life, flows directly from the scientist's own personal vitality. As I write, I hear the characteristic sound of Art's laughter, the signature of his spirited joy in science.