Gordon Conferences | John A. Wood

Group photo of the attendees at the Gordon Conference in Milton, New Hampshire in 1962.

Fig 26. Attendees at the 1962 Gordon Conference in Tilton, New Hampshire.

A zoomed in section of a group photo showing John A. Wood and Ed Anders at the Gordon Conference in Milton, New Hampshire.

Fig 27. Detail from the group shot that shows Ed Anders on the left and me center right.

Gordon Research Conferences are a group of international scientific conferences organized by a non-profit organization of the same name, since 1931 covering frontier research in the chemical, and physical and later biological, sciences, and their related technologies.

This particular Conference, or cycle of Conferences, as they would turn out to be, was organized by A. G. W. Cameron (Fig. 28), a Canadian astrophysicist with an interest in the origin of the chemical elements. He and like-minded scientists met this July day at the Tilton School, a prep school in Tilton N.H., which would otherwise be empty in the summer months.

A section of a group photo that shows A.G.W. Cameron, who organized the Gordon Conferences.

Fig 28. Detail from the group shot that shows A.G.W. Cameron.

The full Gordon Conference schedule and program, titled "Gordon Research Conference Chemistry and Physics of Space".

Fig 29. Conference Program.

Besides the heavy-duty science we talked about (Fig. 29), there were pleasurable distractions (Fig. 30). A pond for swimming (I think all the Gordon Conference sites had one), nearby mountain hiking and bird watching, and a farewell banquet where a bit of New England lobster was served to all (Fig. 31). Imbibing was carefully controlled. The bottle you brought to the conference had to be checked in and stored until the official drinking hour. I remember having a bottle of Dubonnet with me.

A few of the conference attendees relaxing in the basement of the auditorium building after an evening session.

Fig 30. Society in the basement of the auditorium building at the Tilton School where conferees repaired after the evening sessions. George Wetherill in the foreground, Pat Roemer in the background (photographed by me).

A goofy photo of Georgia Wood as a child standing on a swimming raft and pulling her two pigtails at the Gordon Conference site.

Fig 31. Georgia Wood on the swimming raft.