Scientists in Princeton, New Jersey

So far in our story, Malcolm Merrill

• Grew up in Richmond, Utah, where he graduated from 8th grade and finished high school a year early, 
• was concertmaster in the Utah Agricultural College orchestra, 
• graduated with a B.S. (as valedictorian) in 1925, 
• went to medical school for a year before coming back to marry Thelma in August 1926,
• returned with Thelma to St. Louis, where he got a master's degree in bacteriology in 1927,
• and got his M.D. in 1932.

Don and Bruce were also born during their time in St. Louis.

Malcolm, Bruce, Thelma and Don Merrill.

Princeton, New Jersey

After receiving his medical degree, Malcolm was offered a job doing research with the Rockefeller Institute in Princeton, New Jersey, so they moved there.

Malcolm, Bruce, Don and Thelma Merrill, hitting the road.

Bruce, Malcolm and Don Merrill. Princeton, New Jersey.

Bruce, Thelma and Don. Princeton, New Jersey.

While they lived in Princeton, they attended a tiny branch of the LDS church. Malcolm served in the branch presidency with Henry Eyring, an internationally famous LDS chemist, and the father of Henry B. Eyring, who is currently in the first presidency of the LDS church. (Henry B. Eyring was born in 1933, and so would have been about three years old when the Merrills moved away). I believe they met for church in the Eyring's living room.

Henry and Henry B. Eyring

Below is a photo from February 1933 of the New Bedford Sunday school class, featuring Don Merrill (left), Joan Bean, Alwyn Sessions, and Edward M. "Teddy" Eyring (top right), who is the oldest son of Henry Eyring (and oldest brother of Henry B. Eyring).

While there, Malcolm did research that helped to identify the eastern strain of the equine encephalomyelitis virus. Thelma said that Malcolm "went down to the swamps and got the mosquitoes and fed them to the little guinea pigs" and so on.

Malcolm reported:

I was, with my boss, involved in the identification of a new strain of the encephalomyelitis virus—the eastern strain. The western strain was already identified. There was some question about how the disease was transmitted. It was suspected that it was mosquitoes, but nobody had ever proved that it was. But we were able to prove that mosquitoes were the vectors that transmitted the virus from one agent to another....The most important thing I figured out while I was there was the fact that the virus actually multiplies in the mosquitoes. It had been known for many years that yellow fever was transmitted by mosquitoes—that was demonstrated back in 1898 and 1899, in the Cuba days. But they never knew whether the mosquito was simply a transmitter from one person to another, or whether the virus actually multiplied in the mosquito. They suspected it did, but no one had ever been able to demonstrate that. And by a very simple technique I was able to prove that the virus multiplies very rapidly in the mosquito. That is, the encephalitis virus did, and then the presumption was that the same phenomenon carried on with other viruses.

Thelma recalled:

I remember sitting one time at the dinner table and he was thinking and thinking.  He was lost and then suddenly he said – That’s it!  And he got up and he went to the laboratory, and that’s when he had decided about the transmission of the equine encephalomyelitis. Horse sleeping sickness – in case you wonder what that is.  And he is internationally known for that work.

Malcolm H. Merrill. Princeton, New Jersey.

You can read his 1934 article on the subject.

Meanwhile, the family enjoyed their time growing up on the east coast.

Don and Thelma Merrill.

Don and Bruce Merrill.

Don Merrill. Princeton, New Jersey.

Bruce, Malcolm and Don Merrill. Princeton, New Jersey.

Malcolm and Thelma Merrill, 1933.

Don and Bruce Merrill, Christmas 1935, Princeton, New Jersey.

Don, Thelma, Bruce, Malcolm Merrill. Christmas 1935, Princeton, New Jersey.

Don Merrill.

And here are a couple of letters Thelma wrote home with pictures of Don and Bruce.

Don and Bruce Merrill.

Don and Bruce Merrill, with identical twin cousins, Erma and Elma Merrill.

A Brush with Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein developed the theory of relativity, the mass-energy equivalence formula (E=mc²), and received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921. In 1933 he visited the United States, and when Hilter rose to power, he realized that he could not return to Germany.

And so it was that in October 1933 he took up a position at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.

This was almost the last thing he did! For, one day, Thelma Merrill was driving across campus in Princeton when a man walked out in front of her car and she had to slam on the brakes. When the man looked up, it was Albert Einstein! Grandma almost ran him over!

Albert's wife Elsa once told Charlie Chaplin about the time Einstein conceived his theory of relativity. During breakfast one morning, he seemed lost in thought and ignored his food. She asked him if something was bothering him. He sat down at his piano and started playing. He continued playing and writing notes for half an hour, then went upstairs to his study, where he remained for two weeks, with Elsa bringing up his food. At the end of the two weeks he came downstairs with two sheets of paper bearing his theory.

Einstein also played the violin quite nicely.

I thought it was interesting that Malcolm Merrill and Albert Einstein both played the violin, and both made some of their big discoveries while lost in thought during a meal. And then, of course, it was hilarious that Thelma almost ran him over!

In the next episode, we travel all the way across the country to San Francisco.