Dr. Ralph A. Zingaro

My father was a blue-collar worker and could not have afforded to send me to a tuition-paying school. Two chemistry professors at CCNY made an impression on me, the late Benjamin Harrow and Barnet Naiman. Benjamin Harrow was an Englishman, who at the time taught my class. He was a pleasant person who cared about his students. I thought he was an enchanting gentleman, who was an excellent teacher. He was my idol and made me want to be like him, which helped me become a chemist. Barnet Naiman was the most understanding, tolerable, and pleasant individual. I showed him an experiment I did with my chemistry set at home. He asked me to show it to him, which I did. He told me that I was misinterpreting what I was doing. He told me to not ever get discouraged and keep playing around with my chemistry set. In life we all make mistakes, and I appreciated his nice, pleasant character. I went on to earn a PhD in Chemistry at the University of Kansas. I joined the faculty of Texas A&M University in 1954, and am now a professor emeritus at Texas A&M.