Elizabeth Weber Handwerker

Her name was Anita Meinhardt Straus Weber. She died before I could have met her, but I want her remembered, too.

I read accounts of my grandfather's work, and how it shaped the development of his field (several have been published) and can't help wondering how things would have been different--not just for my family, but for the development of his field--if my grandmother had lived.

A thread, on what would have been my Grandpa Joe's 100th birthday. Others have been writing about him, but I have something to say. So:

@susanjfeingold @JannaLevin My father (Joe's oldest son) remembers the Weber family visit to the Townes family on their return drive from the Electron Tube conference in Canada. But none of the historians ever interview my father!

@JannaLevin re: Wikip. Joe Weber was considered for the Nobel along with Townes. It said that Townes asked for a hardcopy of his presentation. & Townes "said" that the maser "was an epiphany". My then finance was a student of Townes, so T is not an abstract person to me.

@brainpicker Those who are interested in reading more about Joe Weber would do well to read the memoir written by his assistant of many years, Darrell Gretz, published by the American Physical Society at aps.org/units/fhp/news…

"Science is a self-correcting process, but not necessarily in one’s own lifetime." The story of the forgotten pioneer who died scorned but paved the way for the most thrilling astrophysical discovery since Galileo, which just won Nobel Prize in Physics brainpickings.org/2016/04/25/bla…