New stamp honors UI professor, inventor Bardeen

By Greg Kline

John Bardeen never ran for six touchdowns against Michigan.

Then again, Red Grange never won two Nobel Prizes nor invented anything like the transistor, the linchpin of the modern electronic age.

Which is why the late UI physics professor will join the Illini football legend Thursday as the latest person with local connections to end up on a commemorative stamp from the U.S. Postal Service. Grange was honored in 2003.

"It's the first time any of us have been involved in this type of event," Urbana Postmaster Kathleen Burr said. "It's very exciting to be able to recognize someone who has contributed so much, to the world actually, and it happened right here in our community."

That makes the first day the Bardeen stamp will go on sale an occasion for local postal officials, stamp aficionados and UI officials alike.

"It's not every day that the United States Postal Service issues a stamp in honor of somebody in your community," said Louise Toft of the Champaign-Urbana Stamp Club.

A U.S. Postal Service stamp commemorating the late UI physics Prof. John Bardeen, inventor of the transistor and a two-time Nobel Prize winner. By The News-Gazette

The stamp will be officially issued at the Postage Stamp Mega-Event, a "World Series of Philately" (that is, stamp collecting) starting Thursday in New York's Madison Square Garden, sponsored by the Postal Service, the American Stamp Dealers Association and the America Philatelic Society.

But its "first day of sale" will be marked at 12:15 p.m. Thursday in Room 144 of Loomis Lab, at the corner of Green Street and Goodwin Avenue, where the UI Physics Department is housed.

Local and UI officials will attend the ceremony, which is sponsored by the stamp club, the Urbana Post Office and the physics department, along with members of Mr. Bardeen's family. Burr is to cancel the first commemorative stamp and present it to Mr. Bardeen's son William, a noted physicist in his own right.

The stamp club has commissioned a special commemorative envelope, done by local artist Jason Pankoke, and the Urbana Post Office will cancel Bardeen stamps on the envelopes with a special first-day ink cancellation stamp.

The Bardeen stamp is one of four being issued in a distinguished American Scientists series. The other honorees include chemist Linus Pauling, another multi-Nobel winner, astronomer Edwin Hubble, after whom the space telescope is named, and biochemist Gerty Cori, who explained how the body uses starch from sugar as fuel.

Frank Sinatra, Bette Davis (and her eyes) and the art of Walt Disney also are getting commemorative stamp treatment from the postal service this year, among other subjects.
Bardeen, who died in 1991, developed the transistor with Walter Brattain and William Shockley at Bell Labs prior to joining the UI faculty in 1951. They won the Nobel Prize in 1956 for the invention, which enabled miniaturized radios, personal computers, cell phones and a host of other devices.

While at the UI, Bardeen and UI researchers Leon Cooper and John Schrieffer developed their BCS Theory explaining superconductivity, a state in which electricity flows without resistance, which won the Nobel in 1972.

The UI scientist was named one of the "100 Most Influential Americans of the Century" by Life magazine in 1990.

Dale Van Harlingen, the head of the UI Physics Department, noted that May 23 will mark the centennial of Mr. Bardeen's birth, another thing making the issuance of the commemorative stamp special.

For people who can't attend the ceremony Thursday, the stamps, envelopes and cancellations will be available by mail through the Champaign-Urbana Stamp Club, P.O. Box 6615, Champaign, IL, 61826-6615. The price is $3 and a self-addressed, stamped envelope size 10 or larger.

Stephanie Salter's eyes for Bette Davis’ new postage stamp

By Stephanie Salter
The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE — For several years, as he watched the U.S. Postal Service roll out one Legend of Hollywood stamp after another, retired Indiana State University literature professor James Misenheimer waited.

Through Marilyn Monroe … James Dean …Lucille Ball … Cary Grant … Audrey Hepburn … Henry Fonda … Stamps rose from 32 cents to 33, 34, 37 then 39 cents for Legend No. 13, James Stewart.

Where, in heaven's name, was Bette Davis???

Misenheimer, a cinephile and all-around aficionado of the theater arts, wondered if there was anyone left inside the great postal service bureaucracy who had a clue about what constitutes a Hollywood legend.

And he was not alone. He had fomented "a wide agitation for at least five years or longer" among his fellow Davis admirers around the country. Politely, but firmly, they kept the cards and letters coming to the U.S. postmaster general, each and every one lobbying for a Davis stamp.

"We always received the postcard, a response to the effect — 'We receive so many requests every year for special stamps. Your request will be taken into account.' You know what that means," he said.

At last, a few months ago, word arrived that the postal service had come to its senses. The two-time Academy Award winner (also nominated 10 times) would receive her own commemorative stamp. On April 5, the 100th anniversary of her birth, Bette Davis will become the 14th Legend of Hollywood.

The first-class, 41-cent stamp depicts Davis in her 1950 "All About Eve" incarnation. Her blue eyes catch the sparkle of diamond earrings, and her light-brown hair rides luxuriously atop the collar of a fabulous fur coat.

One glaring omission, easily spotted by any Davis fan, is the absence of a cigarette between the actress' gloved fingers. It has been air-brushed or Photo-shopped away.

"Thank goodness they did not include that," said Misenheimer, a non-smoker who wants no one to be encouraged to light up.

Not that he ever would have let the heavy-smoking Miss Davis know his feelings, which he could have done — in person.

Nearly 40 years ago, Misenheimer was blessed with two hours in the presence of the screen icon. Just Jim and Bette, drinking tea in the sitting room of her Westport, Conn., home.

"It was, for me, a sublime time," he said, his native Texas lilt weaving like a bright ribbon through descriptive memories.

Davis' address still inspires great delight as he recites it: "One Crooked Lane. Is that not perfect for her?"

Misenheimer, who taught for 21 years at ISU — everything from Shakespeare and Chekhov to freshman composition — had made the trip to Westport while still on the faculty of North Texas State University. Most of her screen career behind her, Davis occasionally presented memoir lectures at colleges at that time. Misenheimer had been dispatched to invite her down to Denton.

Alas, she could not grant the university's wish, but "she agreed to receive me anyway," Misenheimer said. "Her assistant — his name was Vic — answered the door and ushered me in. She called from the sitting room, 'Dr. Misenheimer. Have you arrived?' You know that voice."

Indeed. In fact, Jim Misenheimer does an excellent imitation of Davis' unmistakable cadence and delivery.

Rather than talk about herself, he said, the actress wanted to know about Misenheimer's students and what he and the programs at North Texas offered them.

"I am still so touched. She was sincere," he said. "It was a very precious visit. She could not have been more gracious."

Quality time with great thespians seems to follow Misenheimer and his wife, Carolyn (also a retired professor), like a covey of guardian angels. They have met and chatted with many luminaries and become friends with several. The walls of one small room in their gorgeous but understated Farrington's Grove home are lined with autographed photos of stage and film stars.

About a decade ago, the Misenheimers made the acquaintance of Dame Judi Dench, the British, Oscar-winning actress who has taken over the role of M in recent James Bond films. A warm friendship has grown, with visits to London for the Terre Haute residents and amusing, newsy letters from Dench.

Come spring, Misenheimer might wish he had a bit of Bond's or M's clout with government bureaucracies. As happy as he is about the overdue issuance of a Bette Davis stamp is how unhappy he is about the very short shelf life the stamp will possess.

"The postal service is raising the price of a first-class stamp by one cent — on May 12!" he said. "Barely a month, and Miss Davis' stamp will be out of date. What kind of a postal service do we have?"

Fortunately, the Misenheimers belong to a philatelic organization that will make the stamps available earlier than at the post office.

"Carolyn and I are figuring out how many sheets we are going to buy," said Misenheimer. "It will be many."

Stephanie Salter can be reached at (812) 231-4229 or stephanie.salter@tribstar.com.