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This & that: A quake; a new Juneteenth; remembering a Purdue Nobel winner

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This & that: A quake; a new Juneteenth; remembering a Purdue Nobel winner

A little of this, a little of that on a Saturday morning …

Dave Bangert
Jun 19, 2021
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This & that: A quake; a new Juneteenth; remembering a Purdue Nobel winner

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A little of this, a little of that on a Saturday morning …

A new Juneteenth celebration in Greater Lafayette

A Juneteenth celebration Saturday moves from Columbian Park in Lafayette last year to Tapawingo Park and the John T. Myers Pedestrian Bridge in West Lafayette.

Your hosts for the community event – the first as an official national holiday – will be the Student Baptist Foundation at Purdue.

Opening ceremonies, with speakers and performances, start at 10 a.m. Music, exhibits and more continue until 6 p.m.

Juneteenth marks the day, on June 19, 1865, when word of the Emancipation Proclamation was delivered to Galveston, Texas. President Abraham Lincoln had proclaimed the emancipation of slaves as of Jan. 1, 1863, more than two years earlier. Texas was the last Confederate state to have the proclamation announced.

On Thursday, President Joe Biden signed a bill that named Juneteenth a federal holiday, ending years of pushing to get that done.

Deanna McMillan, one of the coordinators of Saturday’s event in West Lafayette, said she was excited about that news. She said she hoped Americans took it as a day to reflect on what the day means.

“I hope it's not an excuse for another barbecue,” McMillan said.

For a full lineup Saturday, here you go.


The rumble felt in Lafayette

How did everyone out there survive the great quake of 2021?

The U.S. Geological Service recorded a 3.8 magnitude earthquake from a fault near Montezuma, a town about 65 miles southwest of Lafayette, around 3:18 p.m. Thursday. From here, Montezuma is like going to Shades or Turkey Run state parks and then added another 10 miles.

The U.S. Geological Survey put Thursday’s quake at 3.8 magnitude. (USGS, screenshot)

It was the second I can remember feeling in Lafayette. The other one, I don’t remember the date – and Indiana has had more than a dozen so far this century. But as we were talking about it yesterday, we remember it woke us up and the room felt almost like it was rolling. (It was enough to make us say, Whoa. It was enough for someone we know to start praying, because the Second Coming, it was here.)

This one rumbled a second-floor room I was in, like a big truck was working out front. And it was enough to remind me I need to get a better screw to tighten the lampshade on the side table. It rattled and rattled for a minute or more, it seemed.

The beauty of a low-grade earthquake – yeah, we all heard from plenty of transplanted Californians who were all, like, “meh” – was being able to ask: Did you feel it.

Then, let the thread roll.

Here’s one that builds from here:

Twitter avatar for @davebangert
Dave Bangert @davebangert
Lafayette people: Who else felt that tremor a few minutes ago?
7:26 PM ∙ Jun 17, 2021
41Likes3Retweets
Twitter avatar for @whiskeyseven
🥃7️⃣ @whiskeyseven
@davebangert definitely shook my home office here in Lafayette. tweeted about it and i'm getting replies from people who felt it all over, from Indy all the way to Gary. pretty wild!
7:28 PM ∙ Jun 17, 2021
Twitter avatar for @jscominet
JC-Craig @jscominet
@davebangert We thought it was our dog, but he was curled up in a ball, so nope
7:33 PM ∙ Jun 17, 2021
Twitter avatar for @amriley_
amriley @amriley_
@davebangert First I've ever felt, and I lived in SoCal for 2 years! My sister felt it in Nappanee too.
7:58 PM ∙ Jun 17, 2021
Twitter avatar for @WriteLeungWrite
Brian--just add flower--Leung @WriteLeungWrite
@davebangert From a Californian to a Hoosier, meh.
7:31 PM ∙ Jun 17, 2021
Twitter avatar for @NushPowell
Seasonal Allergies Dr. Professor Powell @NushPowell
@WriteLeungWrite @davebangert 3.8 is an earthshrug.
7:36 PM ∙ Jun 17, 2021
Twitter avatar for @HeatherKMaddox
Heather K Maddox @HeatherKMaddox
@davebangert I felt it! I thought it was someone’s loud car music shaking the house-I grumbled about it. Said out loud “Now come on-that’s ridiculous!” Lol.
9:41 PM ∙ Jun 17, 2021
Twitter avatar for @Benjamin_Madrid
Benjamin Madrid @Benjamin_Madrid
@davebangert Even if I did I wouldn't mention it until someone started calling it the 'MADRID' fault, and not 'MAAAAADRID'.
7:45 PM ∙ Jun 17, 2021
Twitter avatar for @MrsAbbyLaufman
Abby McClure Laufman @MrsAbbyLaufman
@davebangert We felt it on campus. Young Hall shook! 🤯
7:34 PM ∙ Jun 17, 2021
Twitter avatar for @kymoffitt
Kyla Moffitt @kymoffitt
@davebangert wow, I honestly just thought that my brakes weren’t working right
8:14 PM ∙ Jun 17, 2021
Twitter avatar for @davebangert
Dave Bangert @davebangert
@kymoffitt You still might want to have that checked.
8:18 PM ∙ Jun 17, 2021

Tribute to a ‘rock star’ Purdue Nobel Prize winner

Speaking of great threads, Eric Weddle, a Lafayette J&C alum now with WFYI in Indianapolis, posted a terrific series, remembering his time with Ei-ichi Negishi, when the Purdue professor went to Stockholm to accept the 2010 Nobel Prize in chemistry.

Negishi died June 6 at age 85, news the university announced this week. Negishi was a huge star on campus and in his field, winning a Nobel for his work to create – as Purdue put it – “a method to build complex organic molecules necessary for numerous purposes — from pharmaceutical manufacturing to electronics.”

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I say, “as Purdue put it,” because in that incredible time of reporting on Negishi’s win and his work, it was all any of us at the paper could do to really understand how the chemistry really worked. Weddle and then J&C projects editor David Smith – now proprietor of the great Smittybread on Fourth Street – did much of the heavy lifting. (Even then, when bringing in some of Negishi’s students to make sure graphics and stories were on point, Smitty wondered aloud if they even understood …)

Ei-ichi Negishi, a Nobel Prize winning chemist from Purdue, died June 7. (Photo: Purdue University)

Weddle initially was denied credentials for Negishi’s Nobel trip to Sweden. Until he took it up with Negishi, who welcomed the hometown paper’s reporter to go with him. Weddle’s work was outstanding, from everything I remember. And Negishi proved to be an entertaining, captivating subject worth daily coverage.

As Weddle wrote after Negishi’s death: “I’m no Nobel expert, but it seems most science laureates are outwardly humble. Yet Negishi declared his own excellence and became a rock star in Stockholm for his glee of winning. It was contagious. Local and Japanese media followed his every move. He loved it.”

What a time.

Weddle tells more. Here’s the thread.

Twitter avatar for @ericweddle
Eric Weddle @ericweddle
It was a thrill to get to know Ei-ichi Negishi & report on him, his family & the groundbreaking chemistry that won him a @NobelPrize. Negishi’s students revered and at times feared him for an absolute expectation of perfection. He was beyond kind to me…
purdue.eduEi-ichi Negishi, one of 2 Nobel Prize winners from Purdue University, diesPurdue University chemist Ei-ichi Negishi, whose work in creating a method to build complex organic molecules necessary for numerous purposes — from pharmaceutical manufacturing to electronics — led to a Nobel Prize in Chemistry, died Sunday (June 6) in Indianapolis. He was 85.
3:41 PM ∙ Jun 16, 2021
Twitter avatar for @ericweddle
Eric Weddle @ericweddle
Hard to believe now, but @jconline and my editors incl @davebangert backed a plan for me to cover Negishi at the 2010 Nobel Prize week in Stockholm with daily articles, videos, a blog…then the Noble media office denied my credentials…
3:42 PM ∙ Jun 16, 2021
Twitter avatar for @ericweddle
Eric Weddle @ericweddle
Seeking advice from @SteveHinnefeld who covered IU’s late Nobel Elinor Ostrom, he said the only way to truly report in Sweden was to be in Negishi’s private party. Seriously? I’d spent some time w/ Negishi at this point but this seemed too much an ask...
3:43 PM ∙ Jun 16, 2021
Twitter avatar for @ericweddle
Eric Weddle @ericweddle
…yet Negishi, without much discussion, put me in his party, w/ his wife, children, long-time friends. He wanted to share the prize and his “eternal optimism” w/ the community — the intimate newspaper coverage was how to do it....
3:44 PM ∙ Jun 16, 2021
Twitter avatar for @ericweddle
Eric Weddle @ericweddle
I got to follow him to events, dinners, talks, private parties and gatherings at his 5 star Grand Hotel...then walked across the Värtan strait to my hostel to file stories for the night...
3:45 PM ∙ Jun 16, 2021
Twitter avatar for @ericweddle
Eric Weddle @ericweddle
When the Nobel announced Negishi won— Purdue was totally caught off guard. The 75-year-old just had his lab reduced. But Negishi had been waiting patiently for it (“eternal optimism”)- he knew one day it would happen, as it had to his mentor Herbert C. Brown in ’79.
3:46 PM ∙ Jun 16, 2021
Twitter avatar for @ericweddle
Eric Weddle @ericweddle
I’m no Nobel expert, but it seems most science laureates are outwardly humble. Yet Negishi declared his own excellence and became a rockstar in Stockholm for his glee of winning. It was contagious. Local and Japanese media followed his every move. He loved it.
Image
3:47 PM ∙ Jun 16, 2021
Twitter avatar for @ericweddle
Eric Weddle @ericweddle
Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria totally dug it too, and wound up walking arm-in-arm with Negishi into the Nobel Banquet. The next morning, it was they were the top photo on at least one newspaper...
Image
3:48 PM ∙ Jun 16, 2021
Twitter avatar for @ericweddle
Eric Weddle @ericweddle
At one event, Negishi was asked if he really made his students cry. Yes, he said, crying is natural -- and academics is similar to sports. “You need to be the best to succeed and a coach has to be tough on his players sometimes,” he said in Japanese. RIP.
3:49 PM ∙ Jun 16, 2021
Twitter avatar for @ericweddle
Eric Weddle @ericweddle
And why Negishi win? Had to re-read this...it was challenging at the time to understand & report simply: "He is well known for discovering Palladium-catalysed cross coupling reactions, better known as the ‘Negishi coupling’." He shared prize w/ 2 others.
nobelprize.orgThe Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2010The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2010 was awarded jointly to Richard F. Heck, Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki “for palladium-catalyzed cross couplings in organic synthesis”.
3:54 PM ∙ Jun 16, 2021

FOR MORE: Here’s Purdue’s obit of Negishi, including tidbits about how he woke up to the Nobel win and then excused himself to go teach a class: Ei-ichi Negishi, one of 2 Nobel Prize winners from Purdue University, dies

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And here was another from the Washington Post, which took a deep dive into Negishi’s influence, including this passage that puts his work into context:

While Dr. Negishi’s name is little known outside of chemistry, his research proved crucial to the creation of compounds used in everything from fungicides to organic light-emitting diodes, which are used to make razor-thin television and computer screens. “If you make molecules, you know his work,” said James Tour, a Rice University chemistry professor.

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This & that: A quake; a new Juneteenth; remembering a Purdue Nobel winner

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