Uncle Eugen

As a young boy my father, Arthur von Hippel, and his family were always taken care of by “Uncle Eugen” von Hippel in medical matters related to the eye. Dad (now 105 years old) was young and not aware at the time of the research Uncle Eugen was doing, but he does clearly remember a particular visit to his lab. Dad had managed to get some glass in his eye from playing ball with his glasses on.

Dad had to wait around for Uncle Eugen to get to the lab, and began to look around for something useful to do. There was a cage of monkeys at the lab for experimental work, and Dad decided that opening the cage door to pet them was just the right activity to fill the time. Once the door was open, the monkeys all rushed out and began to rampage around the lab. Uncle Eugen came in to observe all his precious instruments being scattered, and Dad and the monkeys madly running around.

The next half hour was spent catching monkeys. Dad recalls that Uncle Eugen was “rather displeased and out of breath” at the end of this, but that he also seemed to think it funny. He also recalls that he was not punished - which seemed to him reasonable. After all, he had helped his uncle catch the monkeys!

Dr. Eric von Hippel is a Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, specializing in research and teaching related to innovation.