Yesterday, I was at the graduate director's office to get his approval for my master's degree presentation. There was an old man waiting before me to meet the graduate director. He was frail and had quite wrinkled skin hanging from different parts of his face. He was having many sheets of paper in his hand and was carrying a fully loaded conference bag. I was wondering why on earth such an old person would want to meet the graduate director! He looked at me and immediately started a conversation.
"Do you know what ECN stands for?", he asked me pointing to an ECN magazine lying on the desk at the office. I didn't know the full form of ECN and I thought I could figure out what it is by looking at it. I quickly flipped through the pages and could not find it. I gave up and replaced the magazine silently back in its place.
He then asked me some questions related to registering for the Systems Analysis graduate course at the ECE department. I figured out that he wanted to do that course and was surprised! I told him to e-mail the instructor and he said, "The instructor will not reply. You know how many e-mails I get per day?"
"No!" I said. "190", he retorted. I asked, "Who sends you those mails?"
"The IEEE," he said. I figured out that he subscribes to a lot of techie stuff online. I was amazed that at this age this guy wants to keep himself updated.
Our conversation drifted off, and he was complaining that the graduate director was not on time to his office. But the director was not very late and this old man went into the director's office and told him he wanted to take the course and got it approved. He showed some transcripts to the grad director, but the director was not interested in seeing that anyways. I wanted to know more about this old man, who at this age wanted to do the systems analysis course. I find it hard to keep myself motivated to do the Ph.D. at this young age!
It was my turn next and got my job done in no time. I wanted to catch hold of this old man and ask him more questions. I came out of the office and saw the old man doddering down the hallway and I ran behind him to talk to him. Here is the conversation between me and the old man, whose name I later found out to be Dirk Plummer:
Me: How old are you?
DP: 78.
Me: Why do you want to do the systems analysis course?
DP: Because I want a Ph.D.
I was puzzled! Why does this old man want a Ph.D. at this age? May be just for fun. I wanted to know more.
Me: Why do you need the Ph.D.?
DP: I want a job at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and they will not hire me if I don't have a Ph.D.
I was taken aback by his answer! "This man really has a goal", I thought. But was he close to getting his Ph.D? Or is he just starting his Ph.D? Man, he is already too old!
Me: How long will you take to finish your Ph.D.?
DP: I will take five years.
I was bowled over by this answer! This guy will be 83 years old if he is alive and everything goes well, by the time he will get his Ph.D. Why will PPPL hire an 83 year old guy? Does he have anything special?
Me: Why do you think you will be hired at PPPL? Why do you want to work there?
DP: Because, the researchers in PPPL are building a nuclear reactor and they think they know how to build it! They don't know and I know how to build it. I wrote a paper that was published by the IEEE in 1995 that showed that you cannot build a reactor with negative slope...
He showed me a lot of math from the paper. Now, there were only two possibilities. Either this guy is an extraordinary person or he is an eccentric guy (because it is hard to believe that people in PPPL are that dumb too.) Nevertheless, he was a great person to meet. I took a picture with this guy and told him he was a great inspiration. But I wanted to know why his ambition in life was to build this better reactor?
Me: Why do you want to build this better nuclear reactor?
DP: Because I have a daughter and I want to do it for her. It will make this world a better place to live.
I didn't have anything to say to his reply! We talked for some more time and he told me that he drives 34 miles to get to the campus. I stay just 3 miles from the campus and don't even feel like going to the campus daily!! He also told me that the toughest thing for him was to get A's in the courses. I felt I am so blessed that I can ace courses easily at my age.
I left the place with a big inspirational lesson. This 78-year old had so much motivation, drive and a single-minded goal. I have the advantage of easily understanding the latest technology as I grew up with it. He seemed to be struggling with getting used to new technology! But the drive in him was so inspiring!
