Daniel Baxter
Illustrations: Daniel Baxter.
Yan Phou Lee married twice and had four children during his half century in the United States. The maps behind the faces in this family tree represent some of the places they lived. Lee’s first wife, Elizabeth Jerome, was born and lived most of her life in New Haven. Their daughter, Jennie Jerome, spent four important years at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. And their son, Gilbert Jerome ’10S, died in World War I when his plane was shot down in France.
Lee met his second wife, Sophie Bolles, when he was working in her hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. Their older son, Clarence Lee, studied and later taught at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Their younger son, Louis Lee ’27S, raised his family in New Canaan, Connecticut. Louis’s daughter, Penny Winfield, now lives in Seattle, Washington. Her brother, Richard Lee ’60, ’64MD, raised his family in Orchard Park, New York. And Richard’s son, Be
Among the more influential truisms about science today is that it is essential for technological and thus economic progress. It is fitting, then, that the apparent slowing of American innovation has fueled a debate about the importance of science and the need for the federal government to support it.
Indeed, there is growing interest across the political spectrum in revitalizing American innovation, raising questions about how best to allocate scarce resources. What kinds of research should we support? Who should decide government or industry or the scientific community? Should we emphasize science or technology? Should we steer research toward solving practical problems or simply leave science free to pursue its own aims?