Does anyone care to guess what this delicious piece of chemical history is?
I’m pretty sure it’s still in use. Maybe one day I’ll get the stugots to go up there and try it out.
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on Monday, July 3rd, 2006 at 4:51 am and is filed under Harvard, Chemistry.
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July 3rd, 2006 at 9:17 am
Must be the legendary E.J.C. “traffic light”?
July 3rd, 2006 at 10:07 am
Yeah, recognized it immediately from the NYT Sunday Mag article, even though I’ve never seen it.
July 3rd, 2006 at 4:12 pm
Holy crap! I assuemed that the “traffic light” was just a legend (ditto for the sifting-through-R.B.’s-trash skit).
Paul, if you ever get a “green light”, I suggest a harmless conversation about a Woodward and Hoffmann’s brilliant work. I’m sure that will put him in a pleasant mood.
July 3rd, 2006 at 7:52 pm
I love the democracy of the Corey light. As far as I know, there’s no camera on the door, so anyone that wants to speak to him has a good shot. From what I’ve heard, now that he’s emeritus/research, he actually wants more grad students to go upstairs and talk chemistry. Maybe someone else (not me) will chat about FMO theory with him.
July 4th, 2006 at 3:02 am
I’ve talked with EJ a few times… I actually had to make an image for one of his papers. He’s always been an extremely nice person, and is always happy to talk to graduate students.
I’ve never had the fortune of trying the light, though… our (brief) conversations have always either been in the Liu Group, or in Pfizer.
July 4th, 2006 at 1:43 pm
I actually got the “light” in January (2006), so I’m positive it’s still functional and in use
July 4th, 2006 at 8:29 pm
Must be a practical and easy way to regulate things in life of an Organic Chemistry Professor. My own one in Berlin (years ago) has done a Post-Doc with Corey, but he never told stories about him that were as bad as of some German Superstars of his time.
July 4th, 2006 at 11:54 pm
[…] Those of you who identified this picture as the famous Corey Traffic Light are right: […]
August 2nd, 2006 at 1:06 am
This isn’t ‘chemical history’. It’s a device that is still used every day in many rooms and offices in Germany and Switzerland. Some of them even have three lights. I was at the ETH and these were all over the place, and I saw them at many other institutions.
August 23rd, 2006 at 10:49 pm
With intent it was installed. Its effectiveness no doubt keeps it fucntioning although not ever seeing it “in use” during my 2+ years of observation whie taking the elevator from the 3rd floor to the basement to take an NMR. I am sure it is was it is living up to the reputation. The mildly interesting story I have on the matter is as follows.
Professor Kishi, a great scientist in his own right and a student of the great Professor Robert Woodward, wanting to chat with professor Corey pounded on the door to E.J.s in the presence of an able, albeit unsuspecting, student found himself standing in front of door with the “red light” signal. I should note that E..J.s office door, painted flat blue if I remember correctly but otherwise unremarkable, looks more like that of an entrance to a service box. The door is unusually flush with the wall with little to no threshold suggesting nothing of significance inhabits the other side, certainly not a Nobel Prize winner. Whether Kishi had specific knowledge that E.J. was in his office or whether he was interested in testing the innate behavior of a Harvard Graduate student is unknown but what followed was certainly consisent with Kishi using the situation to entertain himself. Kishi, perhaps being overly comfortable at identifying and taking advantage of opportunities to run experiments at the expense of others, went to work without hesitation. Kishi pounded on the door in the presence of the unsuspecting student. The light red light flashed. The student already feeling uncomfortable with what he had just observed responded to Kishi’s insolent question of “What is this?” with a quick retort of “That means don’t bother me know, I’m busy”. The student unable to move on at that moment was held in place by a more intense repetition of the action of Professor Kishi. The student was torn between escaping, informing Kishi of the impact of the transgression, and wanting to see what would follow. Again the red light flashed and this time with increased frequency. The student felt obligated to warned Kishi again that E.J. is busy and this means “not now”. Kishi, finding some sense of satisfation on the student’s apparent uneasiness of what had transpired in the past 20 to 30 seconds pounded even louder on the door. The student not understanding what was going on stood there frozen in fear and unable to move while Kishi stepped back against the wall and let the event he set into motion ensue. E.J., clearly upset that the red light was not sufficient in sending his caller away, opened the door ready to let someone, anyone, have it, so to speak. The student was there, feet glued to the floor, awaiting E.J.s onsluaght-a veritable deer in the head lights. Kishi, unable to contain himself began to laugh in his familiar way, wheezing while shaking his head sdie to side (think Precious the dog from Hong Kong Fouey). Immediately E.J. saw Kishi standing there, as well as the ashened faced student. Without hesitation E.J. dimissed the student and graciously invited Kishi into his office, himself realizing some gratification in that the student was shaken.
August 24th, 2006 at 1:09 pm
[…] A commenter, Pete, left the following story in an old thread on the “traffic light” on Corey’s door. Enjoy: […]