Learning More About a Private Lady

Chemists Get the Credit
Your June 30 story "Bucky's Very Large Dome" on Buckminster Fuller stated that "physicists discovered the soccer-ball-shaped carbon C60 molecule" and named it "buckminsterfullerene" for its resemblance to Fuller's geodesic domes. This statement is incorrect. In actuality, chemists discovered this molecule, which gave birth to the ongoing scientific revolution in nanotechnology. Three of those chemists shared the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for this discovery. As president of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society, I am concerned that the public often overlooks chemistry's contributions. With the credit for great innovations like nanotechnology going to physics, biology, medicine and other fields, chemistry's role in making everyday life longer, healthier and happier takes on a cloak of invisibility.
Bruce E. Bursten, Dean
College of Arts and Sciences
The University of Tennessee
Knoxville, Tenn.

Drivers Using Radar Detectors
Let's be realistic ("Reinventing the Fuzzbuster," June 30). These radar detectors are for one thing only: allowing irresponsible drivers to break the law and lessen their chances of getting caught. Cobra Electronics' Sally Washlow tries to put a spin on using these devices by stating Cobra is considering adding a GPS-enabled function to alert drivers when they're in a school zone. If you own one of these detectors, should you rely on it to warn you of impending danger, such as entering a school zone, or let you know an emergency vehicle is approaching? Absolutely not. How about taking responsibility for your actions and not relying on some electronic marvel plugged into your cigarette lighter? If you are a young and reckless or an old and reckless driver, devices like this will provide only more excuses to break the law and put the rest of us in danger. Perhaps someone can invent an electronic warning device to protect the safe drivers and warn us when fuzzbuster-equipped drivers are approaching us.
Barry E. Sanders
Boca Raton, Fla.

GIs Who Don ' t Belong in the Army
Dan Ephron laments the death of Pvt. David Dietrich, a soldier who some believed was mentally unfit for military duty (" 'He Should Never Have Gone to Iraq,' " June 30). Loss of life is always regrettable, but the societal issues at stake in this situation are larger than the mental capacity of one patriot. Our society cannot relegate military service to the lower portion of its social spectrum and then decry that not every enlistee is a "poster boy." The goal of the U.S. military will always be to accomplish the mission that it has been tasked with using the assets it has been provided with. So, if you want to support our troops, put a magnet on your bumper and leave the professional men and women of our armed forces to accomplish their mission in the best manner possible. And if you don't want to see "borderline" troops on the front lines, encourage the finest young Americans that you know to enlist. Finally, if you respect those in uniform, don't politicize the tragic death of an American who volunteered to serve, especially by implying that he was too stupid for the job.
Jeff Alderdice
Twentynine Palms, Calif.

Supreme Court Judges ' Reign
"The High Court: A User's Guide" (June 30) is right on the mark. An American president can be in office, at most, for 10 years. This is not so with the Supreme Court justices. I'm aware that my vote for president will affect the highest court because he will likely seat several justices who will then have the ability to control the direction of the country for decades to come.
Lori A. Sherwood
Buffalo Grove, Ill.

Bossy Kids
Kathleen Deveny's suggestion that bossiness is a trait that should be fostered in young girls and tolerated in female employers reminded me of my least favorite workplaces ("We're Bossy—And Proud of It," June 30). As she states, the compulsion of some boys to push others around is effectively curbed on the playground, physically, among boys. But the peer punishment a bossy girl will receive in place of a pummeling is far less instructive, despite seeming more desirable than bruises: a bossy girl will simply find herself left out. That isolated, intelligent, lonely girl may never know why people do not like her. A "good boss" makes workers feel empowered rather than subjugated, and if he or she is called "bossy," it's because someone is treating people like a herd of cows.
Laura Nisbet
Efland, N.C.

My 6-year-old daughter was labeled "bossy" by her teachers when she was just in prekindergarten. I've sat through unpleasant parent-teacher conferences where her bossiness was the only topic covered. I have even had parents of her friends mention to me that my daughter "took charge" of playdates. I've been apologizing for her behavior while thinking to myself that this is the type of woman I want her to become—outgoing, strong and independent. If that means she is labeled "bossy" in the meantime, then so be it. I'm keeping this article in my purse, so the next time someone complains about my daughter's assertiveness, I will have Kathleen Deveny's essay as proof that bossy isn't such a bad thing to be.
Kristi Leonard
Oklahoma City, Okla.