government in Bucharest and set out on the long train journey through war-torn Europe to Bremen, and thence on the steamship “der Flieger ” to New York, where they finally settled in 1922.

Once established in the lower Bronx, Henry made rapid progress in his new language and in school, although he had some startup problems with four-letter words. They were used so frequently by his classmates that he took them to be a normal form of greeting. One day a much bigger kid approached him with a friendly “Hi!,” to which Henry gave a four-letter response. The kid recoiled in astonishment and prepared to slug this insolent, foul-mouthed immigrant; but fortunately for Henry, some other kids realized the problem and saved him from a beating in the nick of time. From that time on he was much more circumspect in his usage of four-letter language.

In high school Henry took an active interest in politics and journalism, becoming editor of the school paper one year and president of his class another. He read widely and had an excellent all-around academic record, ending up as second best student in the entire school. He won scholarships to Columbia and Harvard and opted for the former despite advice from his granduncle to the contrary. In the fall of 1931 Henry began his freshman year at Columbia.

His interests in college were sufficiently broad that he did not become really serious about science until the beginning of his junior year. On entering Columbia he was quickly disabused of early ideas for a career in journalism by his experiences on the college paper, and he gave some thought to the study of literature or philosophy. The interest in philosophy stood Henry in good stead several years later when he interviewed for the Harvard Society of Fellows and was able to hold a lively conversation with the famous philosopher A. N. Whitehead for more than two