James Kezer Oral History Interview
Where were you born and raised?
I think that the best thing to do is to let you look over the literature that I have provided, is the that okay?
Yes, that is fine.
As I said before, one of the articles tells about the time I was in the park and what led me there. The other one has to do with my research on the salamander chromosomes and the circumstances that led me into this type of research. As a graduate student at Cornell, it turned out to be my Ph.D. thesis. The article tells about the circumstances under which I discovered about how to get at the salamander chromosomes very easily by a squashing process (1).
What brought you to Cornell from your position as a high school teacher? Is it because you just wanted to pursue your research?
Yes, that was the idea. I was teaching high school in Summit, New Jersey. I wanted to continue my education and learn more. Trying to advance myself, you might say. I had known about the program at Cornell and the possibilities the summer school offered me. I went up there and liked it so much that I decided to enroll for a masters degree. I focused on biology and chemistry. After I had completed that degree, I quite the job at Summit High School and enrolled for a Ph.D. All of that is in this literature in some detail.
