Isidore and Annie Adler
Isidore Adler was born in Brooklyn, NY on 25 December, 1916 and married Annie in 1941. He obtained his AB from Brooklyn College in 1942, BS from NYU 1944, MS and Ph.D. from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1947 and 1952 respectively. He worked for the US Customs lab and the US Signal Corps during 1937 through 1952, attaining 1st. Lt. rank. He then went to the US Geological Survey for 12 years. In the 60's, the US Space program was beginning to become very promising. Izzy then became a project leader and then a Senior Scientist with NASA in 1964. Izzy attained a PhD in Physical Chemistry. He also had a degree in Metrology. During WWII, Izzy was a meterologist with a bombing group in Italy during WWII. He was a senior scientist with NASA during the entire Apollo (Moon) program and was one of the selected people throughout the world to analyze the first "moon rocks". He sent experiments with the Apollo 15 and 16 which for the first time in mankind's history did a chemical analysis of the back of the Moon. By the way, this is a picture of Izzy at camp in 1978 after his lecture on the exploration of the Moon. Izzy wrote and published three books:
Izzy published roughly 100 scientific articles over his career, was recipient of many awards for his scientific accomplishments, acted as and associate editor on two scientific jounals, a tour lecturer for the American Chemical Society as well as numerous invited lectures, Faculty member at the Institute on Man and Science and a Visiting lecturer/resident at the National Youth Science Camp. Izzy loved teaching and being with young people. The University of Maryland offered him a full professorship with Tenure after the moon landing. Izzy assumed the position of Head of the Geochemistry Division. He retired from NASA and then spent thirteen years imparting his knowledge, humor, and ideologies to his adoring and eager students. The Public Television Series "The World of Chemistry" was directed by Izzy. With a team of distinguished scientists, it was funded by the Annenberg Foundation at the University of Maryland. It first aired in September of 1990, only six months after he succumbed on 26 March, 1990 to the cancer diagnosed four and a half years earlier as terminal within two years. All the income from the sales of this series goes to U. of Md. and the Annenberg Foundation. Annie has a Masters Degree in Education and taught special education to the orthopedically handicapped (challenged) in Montgomery County, Maryland for 22 years. She learned and taught some of the crafts while attending the summer camp sessions throughout the years at NYSC. The young people relaxed, had fun, and made gifts to take home with them. Annie truly enjoyed the NYSC as a contributor and volunteer to its programs along with Izzy. At Camp: When Izzy first went to the National Youth Science Camp as a visiting lecturer, he stayed only for a day. The next year, he decided more time was necessary and ended up residing in the Conservation building for about a week. The next year, Annie joined him for the week. After a few more years, their visit had extended to the majority of the Camp period and thier pet Scottie, " " was also an honorary delegate from the state of "Beltway" in honor of their activites at the University of Maryland. Those that were in camp from the 70's and 80's will remember Izzy as the Scientist and philosopher and Annie as both skillfull in the Art Shack and a comfort to this new separation from home some of the delegates were first experiencing. The Adlers invited others to share their talents through attending as lecturers and directed studies associates. One particularly interesting lecture was the demonstration of the Lixoscope. This device utilizes a nuclear decay source to permit a highly portable viewing system to observe the inner workings of metal cased devices. A detailed discussion on the Mariner activies was another. Izzy and Annie also helped make the visiting scientists feel welcome. Izzy and Annie gave much to the National Youth Science Camp. Izzy's work with NASA helped the frontier of extraterrestial science open. Annie's work with the challenged children of Montomery County gave opportunity to many. Isaac Asimov's Dedication to the Adlers Issac Asimov, a personal friend of the Adlers, said it best in a dedication to them in his book:
It is for these reasons and more that we are pleased to name the Endowment Fund for the National Youth Science Camp the Izzy and Annie Adler Endowment Fund. Charter Founding Members:
If you have stories about Izzy and Annie, photos, or other items to add, feel free to send them to David Hackleman (Oregon 1969) at nysf@attglobal.net. |
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