Bloomington, Ilinois is in McLean county, a coincidence that would manifest itself several years later. I had
taken a one-year position in the Chemistry department of
Illinois Wesleyan University, a private college set amidst large
fields of corn (below) and soybeans. When I was in middle school, I used to earn two cents a pound picking string beans.
Consequently, the flat, featureless landscape, home to State Farm Insurance and nearby Caterpillar, Inc., was not
totally unfamiliar.
Teaching in the United States was vastly different from most of my
previous experience, and not always on the plus side. IWU was a good
school but, from a teaching perspective, I had been a bit spoiled living overseas.
One thing that the IWU campus had that I really liked was an observatory, with a 20-inch reflector. Astronomy is one of
my favorite subjects, an avocation only, but more than a hobby. This small observatory gave me some memorable sights.
I'll never forget my first view of the planet Mercury or, especially, that of my all-time favorite, M13 (below), in the
constellation Hercules.
No initiate in the mysteries of the physical sciences can help but be impressed by this image. Not only is the real thing
one of the most spectacular sights ever seen by human beings but, in its appearance alone, it constitutes a visual
synopsis of the foundations of science. Newton would have loved it!
My one year was up all too quickly and soon I was standing in front of another class, at another campus, on the shores of the Ohio river -- in Indiana.