Recollections of David M. Green

Abstract

In addition to being wickedly smart, David Green had many characteristics that contributed to his great success as a scientist, scholar, mentor, and friend. ERH and family interacted with the Greens over many decades, during sabbatical years, and in travel to exotic places. DM worked with Dave on two major projects—the acoustical reenactment of the JFK assassination, and an NRC committee studying the effects of intense sounds on marine mammals. Recollections will be shared, some true. Dave's work was marked by an unflagging determination to fully understand the problem at hand, and he was amazingly quick at comprehending new information and organizing it into his extraordinary memory. While current and future generations of scientists will remember him for the paradigm shift that his work produced in experimental psychology and neuroscience, those of us who knew him personally will remember an honest, generous, kind, and unpretentious fellow who was just as knowledgeable about sports, art, and current events as about science. We also will not forget that he was a truly fun guy who enjoyed nothing better than a good joke about the world's foibles or about his own notorious frugality.