Career Cleanup

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My Office BEFORE (07 Aug 2013) and AFTER (23 Aug 2013) Cleanup

Jess H. Brewer

In July 2011 I officially retired from the University of British Columbia (UBC) after a 38-year career in Physics, the last 34 of which I spent as various types of Professor. As a new Professor Emeritus, I enjoyed free parking for the first time (one of the most intelligent decisions of the UBC Administration) and was able to keep my old office for several more years, thanks to my brilliant strategy of accepting the very worst office in the Department long ago.

But eventually the Department hired more new faculty than they had room for, and I received the dreaded Email requesting me to vacate my ancient den. This meant sorting out and removing four decades' worth of accumulated treasures and unfinished business. I expected to be in shock at the prospect, since I am by nature a hoarder; but to my surprise I rather looked forward to it.

I retired, you see, because I wanted to get on with the career I had postponed since 1971, when I was seduced by the idea of using muons to study "ordinary" matter -- a science fiction idea if there ever was one. The main reason I went to graduate school at Berkeley in the first place was to obtain a PhD in Physics, certifying my credibility as a SF writer. But now here was a chance to actually play a character in my own SF novel in real life. So I did. And it went very well. Much better than I had any right to expect, in fact, and by the time I published my first SF short story in 2007 I had over 300 publications in scientific journals -- a clear case of "credibility overkill". It was time to get serious.

This explains the new Quip I coined for the occasion:

"You can't start a new career while clutching the bones of an old one."