Stories about Tom are
throughout my memoir because he had a way of contributing pithy advice whenever
you or he thought you needed it. In summer of 1994, he attended the Organic
Geochemistry Gordon Conference in New Hampshire, when he first noticed that he
had a difficult time opening the screen door of his house on his way to the
airport. That fall, his usually fastidious glassblowing was lopsided, even
sloppy. In late September, he confided in me that he thought something serious
was wrong. A few weeks later, he learned he had an aggressive form of brain
cancer. He went through two surgeries in November and December. He trundled
into the lab a few days that fall, with shaved patches on his scalp and bruises
from numerous IV infusions. By February of 1995, he entered a skilled nursing
facility in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
All of us from the lab
visited every week, but it was clear he was declining fast. One Saturday, he
told my husband Chris to move his “mass spectrometer” out to the patio—he meant
his wheelchair. Tom had declared he was retiring at the end of June 1995. I had
started planning his retirement festschrift to be held at a resort on the
Potomac River in Northern Virginia. Colleagues from around the world were
invited and coming. We held the event in May 1995, but Tom was unable to
attend. It was his wish to continue even though he’d not be sitting in the
front row napping frequently during the scientific talks. People who came from
afar stopped by the nursing home and said goodbye. With colleague Dave Freeman,
a chemistry professor from Univ. of Maryland, I assembled a booklet with
reminiscences from many of his colleagues (see below).
Maxine Singer, President
of the Carnegie at that time, wrote “His enthusiasm for science and sense of
the Carnegie community have been evident in his frequent comments and questions
about modern biology. His broad thinking extended to the constantly changing
borders between biology and geology.” Colleague David Freeman noted about Tom,
“He had big instruments, and worked with big ideas. He also had his own ideas.
The scientific life for Tom is a complex of doors that open to ideas inside—any
one of which might shift a perspective, reveal something new, or lead to a
better question.”
Tom was variously
described by his colleagues as “curmudgeon, impatient, cynical, distinguished,
beloved, friend, generous, scientific marksman, pragmatic, enthusiastically
contagious, loyal, respectful, supportive, fun, remarkably broad, analytically
ingenious, pioneer, butterfly, leader, rigorous, gleeful, and kind”. As he
aged, Tom was a magnet for postdocs who had a tough analytical problem. He
enjoyed swiveling around on his desk chair, propping him feet up, and giving
advice. He was known for folksy phrases:
“It’s more than
tinkering. It’s what I call ‘having hands’.”
“We young people need to
stick together.”
For lab equipment: “You
have to show it who’s boss.”
And “If you don’t run
the machines, they will run you.”
“Shoot first and ask
questions later.”
“Pick five well chosen
samples.”
Abelson and Hoering had
an oft-challenging relationship. When they worked together as colleagues, Tom
complained that Abelson could be sloppy and ask Tom to chase projects he wasn’t
interested in. One year, Abelson asked Tom to take his place at a conference
where Abelson was scheduled to speak, saying he was too busy to attend. Tom
dutifully got on a plane, headed to California, and while giving the
presentation, looked up and saw Abelson sitting in the audience! Every Friday,
Tom’s phone would ring about 2 pm, and Tom would bark, “That will be Abelson!”
As editor of Science
magazine, Phil called Tom for advice while writing his weekly editorial. In
1995, Abelson wrote this about Tom, “Soon after Hoering arrived at the
Geophysical Laboratory, he and I collaborated in a number of experiments. In
the course of these, while we were in daily interactions, I observed his superb
qualities as a rigorous scientist. While he moved quickly and decisively, he
was always cautious about random or systematic errors in his measurements. He
was completely aware of the behavior and capabilities of his equipment and of
possible isotope effects in procedures.”
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