Preface for the Web Site Version

There are sadistic scientists who hurry to hunt down error instead of establishing the truth. - Marie Curie

For the rest of my life, I will reflect on what light is. - Albert Einstein

In my retirement talk to be reproduced here, I included the story that we had pointed out gross "errors" in the "reflection" (backscattering) coefficients of electrons measured by the American physicist Ralph Dressel. I also used the word "reflection" to mean "thinking carefully" what I have done in research on the occasion of retirement. To amazing synchronicity, it happened that the above two quotations appeared in the "Quoteworthy Science" column of the April 1999 issue of "APS News" (see the full copy of the column on the web site of IDEA). Marie Curie's words include "error," and Albert Einstein's quote uses the word "reflect" by meaning "think" and giving an association with the behavior of light. I wish that our finding of the errors was not such a sadistic performance as Curie mentioned.

Talk Part I

Reflection of Electrons
Reflection of Ions

[See the slides of Part I (2.9 MB PDF file)]

Talk Part II

Detour Factors of Electrons
Further Study of Reflection: Mirror Puzzle
Detours in My Research Life
Reflection on My Research Life

[See the slides of Part II (2.6 MB PDF file)]