LARS ONSAGER - The National Academies Press

LARS ONSAGER 219
he had discussed from time to time over the years, with
Manfred Eigen.
During the last few years of his life, Onsager took much
interest in biophysics and regularly attended the meetings of
the Neurosciences Research Program, of which he was an
Associate. (He was a regular attender at conferences of all
sorts, but his interventions were few and far between; he preferred
listening, usually with his eyes closed, to holding
forth.) But he never underestimated the task of understanding
the brain; of the electroencephalogram he once remarked:
"It is like trying to discover how the telephone system
works by measuring the fluctuations in the electric power
used by the telephone company."
Joseph Hubbard, who first met Onsager at Yale as a postdoctoral
fellow in 1971 and accompanied him to Coral Gables,
has given us a number of personal glimpses of the last
few years. On first setting eyes on his new postdoc, Lars embraced
him in Russian style and took him to his office to show
him a reprint. There was chaos on every surface, including
the floor. Suddenly Lars disappeared, and Hubbard found
him underneath the desk, where he had located the reprint
(which turned out to be a 400-page thesis) and a two-monthold
paycheck. Observing Onsager's contortions, Hubbard
thought to himself: "Here's a fellow who scratches his left ear
by reaching round the back of his head with his right hand.
I wonder how he ties his shoes!"
Lars had a number of strong opinions on the way to do
research. "There's a time to soar like an eagle and a time to
burrow like a worm. It takes a pretty sharp cookie to know
when to shed the feathers and" (long pause) "to begin
munching the humus!" (characteristic Onsager giggle).
About a certain Belgian theoretical chemist: "He's a bright
fellow. But there are a lot of folks, some quite talented, who
arm themselves with methods and then go hunting for vul-