Guest Book for Robert Finkelstein
Name: Stephen Gasiorowicz
Comment: Stimulated by the official celebration of your 100th birthday at UCLA, I have been thinking about the impact that you
have had on my whole scientific career. Your entry into particle physics came through your clarification of the structure of
their weak interactions, work which brought into the field students like Mal Ruderman, Peter Kaus, and others. I was going
in a slightly different direction. I did my research on a classical model of the pion as a bound state of a nucleon and
anti-nucleon, an idea first proposed by Fermi. This became the thesis on which I earned my doctorate under your supervision.
Since then, I have probably spent more time on writing physics books than on pure research but when writing these books I
always had your influence in mind. I would ask myself, "Would Bob approve of my formulating this or that concept?" This
is a testament the impact you had on me as a person. And here you are, still writing papers about topics that are difficult
for me to follow any more. This is a testament to your clarity of thought. My best wishes to you and your family. - Steve
Name: Helmut Satz
Comment: Dear Bob, happy birthday and most sincere congratulations on successfully completing your first 100 years,
and all the best for the next. I would love to be there, but somehow our travel range seems to shrink with age. I
do remember with great pleasure our joint dinner some three or four years ago, and both Karin and I send warm
regards to you and to Norma. I hope my little package managed to reach you in time. Have a great celebration. - Helmut
Name: Seth Putterman
Comment: Dear Bob! Seth Putterman is expressing his admiration for your role model of success in physics with a capital P.
Your productive focus on physics for so many years is an inspiration to us all. And I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for
your faith in me. And thanks again for the use of your house in Santa Monica Canyon when I arrived at UCLA as an Assistant Professor.
Good luck and Congratulations! - Seth
Name: Jean-Luc Margot
Comment: Dear Bob, Happy Birthday! I am very much looking forward to the party this Saturday and to my future conversations with you and
Norma at Palisades Park. - Jean-Luc
Name: Bill and Marilyn Slater
Comment: Dear Bob, congratulations on your first century. Truly remarkable. Missed you at the last Music Guild concert! - Marilyn and Bill
Name: Lisa Schlein
Comment: Dear Bob, Happy Birthday! Congratulations on your centenary celebration at UCLA. I am sure it will be a fabulous event
and I am so sorry not to be there to celebrate with you. I would love to see you blow out 101 candles. I’m sure you can do it. After
all, you have all that great wind stored up in your lungs from your life-long health-giving jogging routine. I honor you and your
many accomplishments—both humane and scientific. I feel privileged to know you and to have passed many fine moments with you and
your wonderful wife, Norma. My very best wishes to you and to Norma. - Lisa
Name: Steve Moszkowski (UCLA)
Comment: Congratulations, Bob, on your 100th birthday! I recall first meeting you in 1946 in Chicago, where you taught me about Einstein
and Debye crystals. A few years later, At UCLA, we coauthored a paper on beta-decay coupling constants. Another fond memory is of your
showing me around Los Angeles rentals which were $75 per month (in 1953). Best wishes to you and your family and many happy returns!
- Steve and Esther
Name: Claudio Pellegrini (UCLA)
Comment: Dear Bob, my best wishes and congratulations for your anniversary. You have contributed a lot to physics and UCLA. I am
very grateful for it. I am sorry I cannot be at UCLA to celebrate your anniversary, but hope to join you for the next one. - Claudio
Name: Alexander Kusenko (UCLA)
Comment: Your first century was a good start! Keep up working and publishing, and inspiring the younger people, i.e., the rest
of us! It is wonderful to have you as a colleague and a friend. I am very happy to celebrate your 100th birthday (especially
because, when you turn 200, I probably won't be around). - Alex
Name: Sergio Ferrara (CERN)
Comment: Congratulations for your special anniversary Bob, a fine physicist,a great man and my closest friend and colleague at
UCLA. - Sergio
Name: Y. Jack Ng (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Julian Schwinger Foundation for Physics Research)
Comment: Dear Bob, you are truly an inspiration to all of us! I have started making my research plan for
the next 30+ years. I will likely move to live close to my younger son in Santa Monica after my retirement.
Then I can talk physics and may even collaborate with you. That would be fun. Hearty congratulations to you
and your family. Happy 100th Birthday! I wish you many happy returns. - Jack Ng
Name: Harold Ticho
Comment: On your 100th birthday I send you my congratulations and my best wishes. I wish I could join the festivities,
but sadly, age 94, travel has become onerous. The two of us, along with Dave, Reg, Ken, Izzy, Byron, and to be sure
Alfredo, all of us arrived at UCLA within just a few years after WWII. We joined a department that was somnolent and
we made something of it. After all these years, we can look back with pride, but even more, cherish the memory of
friendships forged in those long gone times. - Harold
Name: Chun Wa
Comment: Dear Bob, wishing you a very happy 100th, and many more birthdays to come! - Chun Wa