Endnotes: Coronavirus Pandemic

How are you coping with the coronavirus pandemic, and how has it changed your life?

I think for those of us who are not doctors or researchers searching for a cure, the best thing we can do is help our friends and family understand the scientific literature and help them educate themselves.

William Woody (BS ’88), Raleigh, NC

I am online tutoring science to students using Zoom.

William Dower (BS ’77), Austin, TX

I live and work on a remote island in Vanuatu [in the South Pacific], one of the few countries without any cases of the virus so far. I am attaching a photo of my son Alex demonstrating a “Tippy Tap” handwashing station. He made it for an awareness talk we gave about the epidemic last month.

Michael Smith (BS ’93), Rah Island, Vanuatu

I am writing my memoirs and relearning how to play my trumpet. Both projects require me to once again be the blowhard that I dreamed of during my student days at Caltech. Alas, I may not be any more successful today than I was then.

William Bloom (BS ’68), Altadena, CA

Many people have realized that we are able to take time for that which is truly important, and I am feeling grateful for wonderful connections and a newfound softness within how we interact with each other.

Louise Wannier (BS ’78), Pasadena, CA

We stocked up on hurricane supplies about a month earlier. Preparing for a pandemic and a hurricane is much the same. The major difference is that this time we didn’t lose utilities.

Frank Matthews (BS ’64), Houston, TX

I videoconference in the mornings to keep in touch with my group and management, but in the afternoons I have time to THINK! Time to pursue my own interests and ideas, to read papers I have long neglected, and to write things I should have years ago. 

John Kitching (PhD ’95), Boulder, CO

As a semiretired poker player, investor, and wannabe theoretical physicist, my life has changed little. Meanwhile, I do what I always do, read The New York Times and Wall Street Journal, follow the markets, and act as community TA for online physics courses. And, of course, try and whittle down my 80 books on advanced theoretical physics.

Mark Weitzman (MS ’90), Las Vegas, NV

I started rereading the Techer’s Bible: The Feynman Lectures on Physics.

Joseph Feng (BS ’69, MS ’71, PhD ’75), San Jose, CA

I am making masks, initially in response to a request from a doctor friend in Seattle but now for friends and family. I’m using bandanas, old sheets, twist ties to make a crimpable nosepiece, and for ear-loops some small-diameter shock cord we happened to have on hand.

Ellen Elliott (PhD ’75), Ellicott City, MD