Nobel Laureate Refuses to Memorize Periodic Table

In memory of William N. Lipscomb, Jr., Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, dead at 91

“Well, son, probably not best to follow in my footsteps

in that way” he chuckled as he leaned back in his rocking chair

caressing his granddaughter’s cheek as she slept.

“Didn’t like me much, he didn’t and can’t say I blame him

after all that.  I was a young whipper-snapper too busy to

waste my time on his priorities” his eyes were starting to

droop just a bit like Clara’s, his coffee long gone cold.  

I watched a smile spread across his face, “The old man, though,

hopefully smiled from above when I was in Sweden,

knowing that eventually I must have committed the

periodic table to memory”