Pittsburgh (1954-58)

Y.S.Kim's Pittsburgh Page

I came to the United States from Korea in 1954 to become a freshman at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh. After my graduation in 1958, I went to Princeton University to get my PhD degree in 1961. I was able to complete my graduate program in three years thanks to the solid education I received from Carnegie Tech.

During my time (1954-58), Pittsburgh was a steel city set up by Andrew Carnegie from Scotland. This Jones and Laughlin steel plant was within ten kilometers from the city center. Let us look at some other photos.

Greater Pittsburgh Airport. On September 3, 1954, I was on a propeller-driven Northwest plane which touched down at the Greater Pittsburgh Airport.
1. Old terminal building was completely torn down, and the new terminal building was built at the opposite end of the runways. However, the old airplane parking area still exists, and this area is now used as a service base for chartered planes for special people. On September 3, 2004, I went to this area and saw a plane being used by the
2. Kerry-Edwards team for the presidential election of 2004. I was heart-broken to see the old terminal gone, but was happy to see that the area where I stepped down in 1954 is still used for VIPs. John Kerry was the unsuccessful presidential candidate in the 2004 election. George W. Bush was re-elected. John Edwards was Kerry's running mate.
3. New Terminal. When I went to the airport, I went to the new terminal first, and found the environment so strange that I went to the information booth to ask whether I was at the right place. At this booth was this lady who came to Pittsburgh from Germany in 1952, two years before I did. We congratulated each other and produced this photo. With this new building, the airport is now called the "Pittsburgh International Airport."
4. One of the Street Cars in those good old days.
5. Bush Hotel in Seattle. On my way from Seoul to Pittsburgh in 1954, I had to stay at two hotels. One was the Shoto Hotel in Tokyo, and the other was the Bush Hotel in Seattle. In 1995, I was fortunate enough to visit the Bush Hotel in Seattle on Jackson Street. The building was still solid, and the hotel lobby was still well organized. I used this elavator to go to my room on the third floor. The round clock-like floor indicater was still operational. This hotel was originally built and owned a Japanese American. The word "Bush" in Japanese means warrior or Samurai.
6. Watermelon Bank. After my arrival, I had to open an account at a bank called "Mellon National Bank." I thought it has something to do with delicious melons, but it took me more than fifty years to learn about this bank and its founder. Yet, it is still a watermelon bank to me.
Railroad Station. During my time (1954-58), this building was called the Pennsylvania Railroad Station, and more people used railroads than airlines. These days, it is an apartment building called "The Pennsylvanian," and its ground floor is used for an AMTRAK passenger facilities. I used to come to this station to greet my guests. On October 20, 1954, I went to there to greet a very important guest from Korea. See next photo. Here is a photo of this building taken in one of the earlier years when it was serving its original purpose.
Mr. Kim Won-Kyu was the principal of the high school which I attended in Korea. He was a dedicated educator and set many examples for Korea's secondary educational system. He was eager to send his students to the United States to compete in the world stage. On October 21, 1954. He visited Carnegie Tech to meet with the school officials as well as his former students. In 1954, it was impossible for Korean high-school principals to visit the United States, but Mr. Kim produced this miracle. This was also a total surprise to American educators. Indeed, his visit was a major news-making event for Pittsburgh newspapers. In this photo which appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Mr. Kim Won-Kyu is in the middle. On his left is his former student who was one year ahead of me both at his high school and at Carnegie Tech. He came to Pittsburgh one year ahead of me, and was very helpful to me during my first year in the United States.
1. Nine months earlier (January 1954), I was a graduating senior greeting General Maxwell Taylor who visited Mr. Kim's high school in Seoul. Gen. Taylor was the commander of the U.S. Forces in Korea (1953-55), consisting of 350,000 combat-ready American troops. I looked like this in 1954.
2. Passport Photo. I came to the U.S. with a Korean passport containing this photo taken one month after my high-school graduation. I was still wearing the school uniform.
3. In 1996, I wrote an article about Mr. Kim Won-Kyu.
4. Gone with the Wind. This was the first cinema I saw in the United States. This movie was forbidden in Korea (South) at that time because the Northern army won in the American Civil War. Koreans in the South did not want the North to win.
5. Vivien Leigh acted as Scarlett O'Hara in this classic movie. Photos from "The Story of Gone with the Wind" (National Publishers, New York, 1967). Vivien Leigh is still a popular figure, and there are many webpages dedicated to her, such as http://www.vivien-leigh.com.
6. Christmas of 1956. There were not many Koreans in the United States at that time, but there were some in Pittsburgh thanks to the universities and hospitals. They used to get together during manjor holidays.
Letters I wrote to one of my friends in Korea during my first three years in Pittsburgh (written in Korean). Here is a moving story he wrote about himself (in Korean).
Letter I received from one of my friends, 50 years after graduation.
In September 1954, I looked like this. I was a very skinny boy!
1. One year later, in 1955, I became like this.
2. By 1957, I looked like this. This photo is from my Carnegie Tech class album (Class of 1958).
3. In 1958, right before the graduation.
Knees. My coed classmates had to hide their knees (1954-58).
1. When they sat down, they had to cover their knees.
2. Cheer leaders also had to cover their knees. I like to see these ladies again!
3. These days (2004), ladies know how to take care of their knees instead of hiding them. This photo was taken in front of Margaret Morrison-Carnegie Hall, and its entrance is behind the Margaret Morrison Arch (photo taken in 1957). This complex was called Margaret Morrison College, and was dedicated to women's higher education. When I was a student (1954-58), I did not think much of this place because women were still women in college, and it was unthinkable to sit down with girls studying there. At that time, Ivy League universities did not admit women. The Carnegie family had enough foresight to attach women's programs to a male-dominated engineering college. Thanks to those ladies, Carnegie Mellon enjoys first-class liberal arts programs, including literature, education, music, painting, drama, architecture, as well as business and economics.
4. Vibrating Knees. While I was a student there, there was a crazy mixed-up boy. When he was drafted, we were confident that the U.S. Army would straighten him up. Alas, he changed the world. These days, I am so proud to tell everybody that I was born in the same year as Elvis the King came to this world.
Korean Girl with exposed knees, and with covered knees. While at Carnegie, I used to get letters from this Korean girl also studying in the United States. She later became my wife.
The Mall of Carnegie Tech in the spring of 1957.
1. The Mall of Carnegie Mellon University in the summer of 2004. The tall building in the background is the tallest university building in the world. This building, called the Cathedral of Learning, belongs to the University of Pittsburgh.
2. Machinery Hall (1957) is at the western end of the mall.
3. School of Architecture (1957) is at the eastern end of the mall.
4. School of Architecture (2004) still enjoys its excellent reputation.
5. Cyclotron. Carnegie Tech was operating a 450-MeV cyclotron. This was one of the four-biggest cyclotrons in the world when I went to Carnegie Tech in 1954. Because of the radiation danger, it was located at a village called Saxonberg, about 40 miles North of Pittsburgh. I worked at this cyclotron laboratory during the summer of 1957.
6. Laboratory Report. I used this cover to write lab reports.
7. Sputnik. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite around the earth. It was a history-making event, especially to Americans. Why didn't Americans do this first? This was how the NASA was created.
Cathedral of Learning is the main building the University of Pittsburgh, and is the tallest university building in the world. It of course serves as one of Pittsburgh's landmarks.
From the Mount Washington. The Cathedral is so tall that it can be seen from the top of the Mount Washington five miles away. Here is another photo of the Cathedral taken in 1969. Pittsburgh was still a smoky city.
Three Rivers. The city of Pittsburgh was developed on the area between two rivers, namely the Allegheny River (north) and the Monongahela River (south). These two rivers merge at the downtown area to become the Ohio River which eventually goes to the Mississippi River.
1. Fort Pitt. The triangular area behind the bridge is Fort Pitt Park. This area was a strategic point controlling transportation from the East Coast to agricultural lands of Ohio. About ten years before the American Independence, there was a French military post called Fort Duquesne, taking military orders from the headquarters in Quebec. It was taken by the British colonial army after three battles. The place was renamed as Fort Pitt. The key military officer in the British army was George Washington. Indeed, George Washington gained his military background for his historic mission from his Pittsburgh battles. This photo is taken from the top of the Mount Washington in 1969.
2. Sports Complex This photo was also from the Mount Washington (1969).
3. Downtown from the Mount Washington (2004). This photo of downtown was taken at the top of the Mount Washington on the south side of the Monongahela River.
4. Bridges. Pittsburgh is a city of bridges. All the bridges were built from steels produced by nearby steel mills.
5. Hills. There are also many hills and high grounds. This is a reservoir at the High Land Park near the Allegheny River. This reservoir once supplied water to the city of Pittsburgh when I was there (1954-58), but is now used for recreational purposes. It cleans up your heart and mind.
6. In 1969, I was at this reservoir with my family. Livable City. Pittsburgh is now known as one of the most livable cities in the world. Many people come to see the city. I am with high-school students from Michigan on a river cruise (June 2003). Pittsburgh used to be a smoky city during my time (1954-58).
Visit Pittsburgh? Visit this webpage first if you are interested in visiting Pittsburgh.
Aluminium. Pittsburgh was the home of the ALCOA (Aluminium Company of America) and is still the aluminium capital of the world. There are many aluminium buildings. This photo was taken in the summer of 1957.
1. In 2004, these buildings are still there, and there are more (2004).
2. Donner House (2004). There was and still is an aluminium dormitory building at Carnegie, now called Donner House. It was called Donner Hall when I was a student at the Tech. I stayed in this building during my senior year.
3. Entrance to Donner Hall (1958).
4. Room 307 (1958). I was in Room 307 with a roommate named Tom English. In this photo, I am listening to music while studying (1958). What is the black box next to me?
Room 307 (2004). I visited this room in September of 2004, and had a photo with the two occupants of this room.
Chinese Restaurant. This was the first Chinese restaurant I went to in 1954, located on the 3rd Ave. downtown. It was still there when I visited the place 50 years later. The restaurant is now owned by the grandson of the original owner.
Italian Restaurant. There was and still is an Italian restaurant called "Poli" in the Squirrel Hill area which is about two miles away from the campus of Carnegie Tech or Carnegie Mellon University. I used to walk there.
This restaurant was established in 1921, and survived the great depression, World War II, and nearly 50 years of my absence. It is now run by the original owner's grandson. I went in the afternoon of Saturday, September 4, 2004,
I went there with my wife and a Korean lady who now lives in Pittsburgh. She is a research staff member at the Univ. of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Her father had two overlapping years with me in the high school I attended in Korea. She checks this Pittsburgh page carefully and sends me corrections and modifications as needed.
Palomino. In order to conclude the trip to Pittsburgh to celebrate my 50th anniversary of my arrival in Pittsburgh and the United States, I went to a stylish downtown restaurant with my wife for a late dinner. The restaurant is called "Palomino" and is located in the downtown business area called Gateway.
Princeton. In the fall of 1957, I sent my applications to three graduate schools in physics, including Princeton University. On March 12, 1958, I received a letter from the physics department chairman of Princeton telling me that I rank very high among the fifteen applicants selected for the PhD program. I then become a first-year graduate student their in the fall of 1958.
1. In 1958. I looked like this when I went there in June.
2. Cousin. Also in June of 1958, I had a pleasure of making rail-road trips to visit my friends in other parts of the United States. I went to all the way to Rochester, Minnesota to visit my cousin who was visiting Mayo Clinic at that time. This photo was taken in his laboratory. At that time, it was a rare privilege for Koreans to meet their relatives in the United States. Earlier, he visited me in Pittsburgh, and we had a dinner together at my first Chinese restaurant in the United States.
3. By 1960, I became like this. I look somewhat established in this photo.
4. Campus. Princeton has a beautiful campus.
5. P-rades. Princeton University has its unique tradition.
Interesting and Famous. I met there many interesting and famous people.
Andrew Carnegie came to Pittsburgh from Scotland. This webpage is from the the website of America's Library.
1. Emblem. I believe in what he said in the emblem of the Carnegie Institute of Technology.
2. Carnegie Band. Out of their love and respect for Andrew Carnegie, the Tech band men were wearing Scottish costume. There were no women in the band during my period (1954-58).
Scottish Gentlemen. While I was waiting for a KLM flight to Saint Petersburg in August of 2003, I spotted these two gentlemen and told them why I like their costume. One of them told me he came from Carnegie's hometown in Scotland. They were on their routine business trip.
Another Group from Scotland. I met these people in Krakow (Poland 2007).
My Einstein Page. What have I accomplished since I came to Pittsburgh after my high school graduation in 1954?
1. Einstein in 1954. Photo taken by Alan Richards (courtesy of the Institute of Advanced Study). Einstein left us in 1955.
2. Einstein's First Visit to the United States in 1921.
Einstein Photos. Let us look at them.

I like to talk about Pittsburgh!

KDKA. Pittsburgh's KDKA was the first radio broadcasting station in the world and covered the 1920 presidential election.
Westinghouse. Together with Carnegie and Mellon, George Westinghouse's name cannot be separated from Pittsburgh. Who was he?
Dashen-Frautchi Fiasco. After receiving my PhD degree in 1961, I had been struggling to find out the direction in my research life. After straightening up the confusion in the physics community in 1965, commonly known as the Dashen-Fratschi fiasco, I was able to construct my own research line. I was able to do this only because Carnegie Tech gave me a solid base in physics research.
Carnegie Tech Cyclotron and Dirac's polaraized neutrinos.

Who is responsible for this webpage?
Click here for his home page, or click here for his style page.

copyright@2007 by Y. S. Kim, unless otherwise specified.
Some of the balck-white photos are from the Carnegie-Tech Year Book 1958.