I was at the NIMH for three month, in 1962, taking a paid leave of absence from Syntex, while the Company was being established in Palo Alto, California. I filled in for Stephen Szara, who offered me his place while on sabbatical leave. It was an interesting and productive period, enjoying unusually mild summer weather in the Nation's capital. I got acquainted there, besides Joel Elkes, with Salmoiraghi and Hans Weil Malherbe, and also with Julius Axelrod, and all of them impressed me. I met Bernard Brodie a few times and I have to disagree with Fridolin Sulser (INHN. Profiles, October 24, 2013) in his opinion that Brodie well deserved a Nobel Prize. Rather, Brodie was grabbing a new field, metabolic pharmacology, at the right time and with his tenacity and even arrogance exploited it. No wonder he was a noted boxer in his younger years. Mainly he was riding on the accomplishments of his junior associates; he was also highly opinionated, and I believe, sometimes unkind.

Laszlo Gyermek

October 8, 2015