June 2015, Tom wrote:
SCIENCE AT DCHS AND BEYOND  

     Carl Hays asked me to write about Science at Dallas Center High School in the 1950’s and how it led to my career.  In Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary the 1^st definition of science is “possession of knowledge as distinguished from ignorance or misunderstanding.”
A later definition is “knowledge covering general truths or the operation of general laws esp. as obtained and tested through scientific method.”  If you give these definitions thought, every course we took involved science.  Yes, even Civics (science of governing), Homemaking (science of food, clothing, etc.) English (science of language) and History (science of past observations).
 
     Many of us at DCHS were fascinated by hard science (Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Mathematics).  My interest started at the early age of about 12.  Dad bought me a “Gilbert Chemistry Set.”  My interest was not academic level experiments, but experiments that made rockets and invisible ink.  I can still remember breaking into a dinner party at the house with a blue hand and a request for medical advice.  Gun powder + powdered zinc did not shoot out the window as planned.
 
     In Junior High science was rolled into one course, “Health.”  Parts of it were interesting and I will leave it at that.
 
     The formal science courses (Chemistry by our Ag teacher) (Physics by our Math teacher), (Algebra, Geometry and Trigonometry by our Math teacher) came in high school.  I remember learning about fertilizers, watching Sodium metal explode when it was placed on water, and purchasing the Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. Biology was taught by Mr. Meyers, but I cannot remember taking it, even though I claimed it was my favorite class in the Mustang Review.
 
     After graduating from High School I enrolled at Grinnell College only to find out that I was way behind my classmates in Science.  Fortunately, my DCHS class was very competitive (academically) and athletics taught me to never give up.  I caught up, graduated from Grinnell and earned a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Iowa University.  I never regretted not having the advanced high school science courses that were available in other schools.  At DCHS I participated in many activities and gained a broad overview of science.  In other words, I am able to see the forest and not get lost among the trees. 
 
     After graduate school I worked for two different employers (Midwest Research Institute) and (Zeneca).  I ran a research laboratory for both organizations.  This is where I recognized the importance of DCHS background.  My motto was “Never let the facts get in the way of your imagination.”  For my first employer, this approach yielded a very unique system for screening the toxicity of new anti-cancer drugs and a novel explanation for narcotic analgesic tolerance.  For my second employer, my staff and I saved a large series of herbicides (1,500+) by identifying their toxic mechanism in mammals. We showed that the same biochemistry existed in weeds and that the information could be used to screen for new herbicides.  We also expanded these observations to identify a molecule that has saved the lives of children stricken with Tyrosinemia Type I.  This genetic abnormality, although rare, leads to certain death by the age of two.  Facts suggested this “corn herbicide” would not work.  Imagination won!
 
     I owe my success in science to my DCHS background.  Had I taken advanced Science courses in high school, I would have developed a narrow focus and dismissed many of these discoveries.