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9Giving HeckShortly, after thewinners of the 2010Nobel Prize for Chemistrywere made publicin October ...Dr. James Thompson, a longtimeAlabama A&M University professorof chemistry walked into thecampus’ public relations office,proclaiming, “The Nobel laureatefor chemistry ... I know him.”American-born Richard F. Heckshares the 2010 Nobel Prize forChemistry with Japanese citizensEi-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki.An elated Thompson went on toexplain that he was Heck’s firstPh.D. student at the University ofDelaware in the mid-1970s, wherethe AAMU professor was apromising young researcher in thespecialty of palladium chemistry.After earning his undergraduatedegree in chemistry from AlabamaState University, Thompson hadearned the master’s degree fromAtlanta University, culminating hisstudies in Newark, Del.“Heck was a really nice guy,”recalled Thompson. “He knewchemistry well and worked us hard,night and day, in the lab.”Thompson said he had read anarticle in an industry publicationlast May that Heck was at the topof the list for the Nobel Prize.“He didn’t talk a lot,” said Dr.Thompson, “but he was a realgood, decent and fair-minded guy”who came to Delaware, said theAAMU professor, on an endowedchair.“We made a lot of new compounds,”Thompson said of histime in Delaware, and whenThompson had completed hisstudies, the Nobel Prize winnergave him “a good recommendation.”by Jerome SaintjonesNormal IndexOnline