deepest level and because of that were likely doomed to fail. (I'm reminded of Steven Weinberg's statement: 'The effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things that lifts human life a little above the level of farce, and gives it some of the grace of tragedy.')” Frederick chose to do an experimental thesis, however his grad school had no opportunity for an experimental thesis, so they allowed him to do it at NASA. After his Ph.D. Frederick stayed on at NASA for a post doc. After that, Frederick was offered another post doc at a prestigious Ivy League school, not in theoretical physics but in experimental infra-red astronomy. “Although I still considered myself a theoretician, I found myself 'type cast' as an experimentalist. And that, I think, was a large part of the problem I would have in fitting in.” “...I definitely needed more and better guidance. I must admit though, that I wasn't the easiest person to guide. I like to think I've mellowed now. (No. Now that I think about it, I'd like to think I haven't mellowed.)” In graduate school, Frederick wrote a very well received paper, 'Stochastic Space-time and Quantum Mechanics' that appeared in The Physical Review (a highly prestigious venue). “I'd have thought my department chairman would have been happy for me, but instead he became enraged. On my explaining that I'd spent a day or so a week doing quantum mechanics, he said I'd have to make up the time. And he forbad me from doing any more work that was not directly related to my position as a post doc in experimental far infra-red astronomy.” To be fair, Frederick was not as productive as he should have been in the department. Shortly after, Frederick's contract was not renewed and he left the department. Frederick moved to Ithaca, New York, where he started a computer consultancy company which later expanded to do contract engineering. Return to physics “In November 2013, I was roughing out a hard SF story where the protagonist was a physicist. As I worked on the ideas in the story, I realized I was not so much working on fiction as I was actually doing physics, and theoretical physics at that. Almost as an epiphany, I realized that the time had come; I should be working on physics again. I had the time and freedom. And if