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I’ve never started a thread on here before for some reason (never needed to) but I felt this was a good way to break out.
My Grandpa is 101 years old. He was born on February 29th so he only gets a real birthday every 4 years
. I’ll be flying back to the East Coast later this month for his birthday party which will be a big production.
Grandpa has a PhD in Chemistry from Wisconsin. He had a great career as a chemical engineer. He discovered some critical properties of how DNA behaves in solution more than 70 years ago. In WWII he developed de-icing agents for fighter plane windshields. He has numerous patents including one for carboxymethyl cellulose which is widely used in the food industry and has developed advanced nanotechnology synthesis protocols for producing carbon filaments (that have huge potential for the future). At various points of his life he has spent time with Amelia Earhart, Martin Luther King, and Linus Pauling
Grandpa is still wicked sharp; he does free consulting for the company he used to work for and loves to launch into complicated ad hoc chemistry lessons on things like the relative merits of different conductive metals in batteries, similar to how Belichick will go off on the history of a particular Special Teams formation. He has a martini every day at 5pm, a tradition that has spread through the rest of the family.
Here’s an article about him in the Philadelphia Inquirer a few years back from when he hit the young age of 96:
Happy 96th to a science standout - Philly
Why am I posting a thread about Grandpa, you may ask? Well, he’s also a HUGE Eagles fan. He has watched every Eagles game that has been played at least since I was born (37 years ago). My first football memories are watching the Eagles with him when I would come visit (usually having just been kicked off the TV from playing video games). He isn’t very mobile anymore but he still hauls himself down to the basement to watch them once a week in the Fall. When they’re not playing he reads everything he can about them. I lived in Philly for a while and I can tell you that all the caricatures of Eagles fans being absolutely insane are almost all true, and sometimes worse. Grandpa isn’t *quite* that bad, but even though he is rational in all other aspects of his life, he is incredibly passionate about his football team. He is as happy as we’ve seen him in a while about their run to the Super Bowl.
Grandpa doesn’t like the Patriots very much after we beat the Eagles in 2004. I think he is a bit flabbergasted that one branch of his family tree grew up in Maine and are maniacal Pats fans, including his new Great Granddaughter who was born three days before we raised banner #5.
I’m very happy for Grandpa that the Eagles have done so well and hope that he gets a chance to see the Eagles win the Super Bowl. Maybe it will happen next year. Sorry Grandpa!
My Grandpa is 101 years old. He was born on February 29th so he only gets a real birthday every 4 years
. I’ll be flying back to the East Coast later this month for his birthday party which will be a big production.Grandpa has a PhD in Chemistry from Wisconsin. He had a great career as a chemical engineer. He discovered some critical properties of how DNA behaves in solution more than 70 years ago. In WWII he developed de-icing agents for fighter plane windshields. He has numerous patents including one for carboxymethyl cellulose which is widely used in the food industry and has developed advanced nanotechnology synthesis protocols for producing carbon filaments (that have huge potential for the future). At various points of his life he has spent time with Amelia Earhart, Martin Luther King, and Linus Pauling
Grandpa is still wicked sharp; he does free consulting for the company he used to work for and loves to launch into complicated ad hoc chemistry lessons on things like the relative merits of different conductive metals in batteries, similar to how Belichick will go off on the history of a particular Special Teams formation. He has a martini every day at 5pm, a tradition that has spread through the rest of the family.
Here’s an article about him in the Philadelphia Inquirer a few years back from when he hit the young age of 96:
Happy 96th to a science standout - Philly
Why am I posting a thread about Grandpa, you may ask? Well, he’s also a HUGE Eagles fan. He has watched every Eagles game that has been played at least since I was born (37 years ago). My first football memories are watching the Eagles with him when I would come visit (usually having just been kicked off the TV from playing video games). He isn’t very mobile anymore but he still hauls himself down to the basement to watch them once a week in the Fall. When they’re not playing he reads everything he can about them. I lived in Philly for a while and I can tell you that all the caricatures of Eagles fans being absolutely insane are almost all true, and sometimes worse. Grandpa isn’t *quite* that bad, but even though he is rational in all other aspects of his life, he is incredibly passionate about his football team. He is as happy as we’ve seen him in a while about their run to the Super Bowl.
Grandpa doesn’t like the Patriots very much after we beat the Eagles in 2004. I think he is a bit flabbergasted that one branch of his family tree grew up in Maine and are maniacal Pats fans, including his new Great Granddaughter who was born three days before we raised banner #5.
I’m very happy for Grandpa that the Eagles have done so well and hope that he gets a chance to see the Eagles win the Super Bowl. Maybe it will happen next year. Sorry Grandpa!
