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.cb REMINISCENCES OF MARGARET YOUNG

.CB by Emma Duchane

	I met Margaret around 1955 when we were both undergraduates at M.I.T.
She had just decided to switch to a physics major from chemistry and we
began to be in many classes together. (Margaret graduated with degrees
in both physics and chemistry.)

	Some of you may remember what society was like 25 years ago, and most
relevant, what was expected of females.  To be "feminine" was to be pretty,
less intelligent than any male who happened to be in your presence, and above
all else, to devote all your time to catching a husband.  Even at M.I.T., most
women willingly accepted this role.  Margaret did not.  She was an
unusually independent and creative person.

	Margaret had many interests.
At the time, she was naturally most involved with 
the study of physics, but she loved the world and exploring it and often
found time to go sailing, swimming, kayaking, hiking,
flying and rock climbing.
Folk dancing was a great passion of hers.  Margaret was a fine craftsman
and among other things was noted for being an especially skilled glassblower.

	She had an outlook on life that I think is typical of M.I.T.
She believed
in control of emotion, in the application of reason to all phases of
existence, to the sophisticated use of technology, to solving problems, and
she loved
science.  She could always be relied on to be in full control in dangerous
situations - like when we began to be surrounded by thunderheads when flying
in a small plane.  I have a problem with vertigo and tend to avoid heights, but
at Margaret's urging, I went rock climbing with her.  I had full confidence
that if Margaret chose the equipment, tied the knots and held the rope,
everything would be in order and safe if she said it was.

	Margaret and I shared many things at a sensitive time in our lives.
I learned to rely on and trust her strength and control.  I think in me and her
other friends at M.I.T. she found understanding.