by Milton J. Cormier

Dr. Milton Cormier spent a professional lifetime in the research laboratory investigating the mystifying bioluminescent properties of sea creatures. His principal focus, a picture of which is shown on the cover, was the species called Renilla remiformis, commonly called the Sea Pansy. His is perhaps the prototypical story of a scientific investigator, a role that many people, even some students of science, think to be unexciting, uneventful -- and even uninteresting. Dr. Cormier sees it differently. In this autobiographical sketch, he relives and highlights the emotional peaks and valleys that a professor of biochemistry can experience, with particular emphasis on the 'rush' when an apparently tedious series of experiments finally reveals a new fact, a new truth -- a true discovery! Looking back from the vantage point of a number of years of retirement, this former biochemistry professor at the University of Georgia has written a valuable, inspiring book that tells his story in a way that offers to young scientists everywhere a rewarding glimpse of what they may expect from the scientist's life, particularly in these fast-moving times when scientific discovery is occurring with ever-increasing, always surprising frequency. Above all, though, this book is a just plain good read.