16
lifelong friends with fraternity brothers Barry Timson, Maine Coastal Geologist and
John Tarbell, New York Financier. Dick also became an avid downhill skier while at
Bowdoin spending most weekends skiing in Maine until he graduated in 1966 with
a BA in Psychology.
After graduating from Bowdoin College, Dick went on to pursue a master’s
degree at Connecticut College in New London, CT. Dick chose Connecticut College
because it was one of the very few schools at that time to offer a degree in
Physiological Psychology. It was during this time that Dick started working on
goldfi sh hearing for his master’s thesis titled “Auditory Sensitivity of the Goldfi sh
within the Nearfi eld.” According to Cathy Fay, one night in the lab at Connecticut
College while Dick was working on determining hearing thresholds in goldfi sh
using a behavioral method that utilized a conditioned suppression of heart rate, Dick
noticed (while carefully observing the fi sh’s behavior) that the goldfi sh was consistently exhibiting a conditioned suppression of respiration to the tones. This behavioral method would later be described in Dick’s thesis and would subsequently be
successfully used by Dick in his research for the next 45 years! While at Connecticut
College Dick met and married classmate, Catherine Hill, who graduated a year
before Dick in 1967. After graduation, Cathy worked as a Research Analyst at the
Stanley Cobb Neuropsychiatric Laboratory at Mass General Hospital in Boston.
During this time, Dick also became a research assistant of Paul Smith at the
U.S. Navy Submarine Base in Groton, CT to continue his studies on goldfi sh hearing. Dick would then later graduate in 1968 with an MA in Physiology Psychology
from Connecticut College and publish his fi rst two papers based on his master’s
thesis work (Fay 1969a, Fay and MacKinnon 1969).
One side note about Dick: he has always had an interest in the history wrought
by old American graveyards, and he spent a great deal of his time in college and
high school visiting the many old New England graveyards and would make delicate “rubbings” of the gravestones. Cathy spent many “dates” rubbing gravestones
with Dick in graveyards around New London CT and she still fondly remembers
Dick’s excitement and enthusiasm about his historic gravestone discoveries. The
Fay children fi nd this aspect of Dick’s life very fascinating and they often marvel
that this was what their dad was doing instead of going out partying or drinking.
After obtaining his master’s degree, Dick decided to pursue a PhD degree at
Princeton University in New Jersey. Dick chose Princeton University because he
wanted to work with Ernest G. Wever who at the time was famous for his two books:
Theories of Hearing (1949) and Physiological Acoustics (co-authored with
M. Lawrence in 1954). While at Princeton, Dick continued his work in Wever’s
Auditory Research Laboratory on hearing in goldfi sh that culminated in a PhD thesis in 1970 titled “Hearing and Frequency Discrimination in the Goldfi sh ( Carassius
auratus ),” which would be the basis for his next three papers (Fay 1969b, Fay
1970a, Fay 1970b). During this time, Dick and Cathy had their fi rst child Christian
Martin Fay who was born in November 1969. After receiving his PhD in 1970, Dick
stayed on at Princeton working with Wever as a postdoc and the Fay family moved
into faculty housing on Lake Carnegie in Princeton, which according to Cathy was
a “beautiful spot.” At Princeton, Dick met and remained lifelong friends with a
J.A. Sisneros
lifelong friends with fraternity brothers Barry Timson, Maine Coastal Geologist and
John Tarbell, New York Financier. Dick also became an avid downhill skier while at
Bowdoin spending most weekends skiing in Maine until he graduated in 1966 with
a BA in Psychology.
After graduating from Bowdoin College, Dick went on to pursue a master’s
degree at Connecticut College in New London, CT. Dick chose Connecticut College
because it was one of the very few schools at that time to offer a degree in
Physiological Psychology. It was during this time that Dick started working on
goldfi sh hearing for his master’s thesis titled “Auditory Sensitivity of the Goldfi sh
within the Nearfi eld.” According to Cathy Fay, one night in the lab at Connecticut
College while Dick was working on determining hearing thresholds in goldfi sh
using a behavioral method that utilized a conditioned suppression of heart rate, Dick
noticed (while carefully observing the fi sh’s behavior) that the goldfi sh was consistently exhibiting a conditioned suppression of respiration to the tones. This behavioral method would later be described in Dick’s thesis and would subsequently be
successfully used by Dick in his research for the next 45 years! While at Connecticut
College Dick met and married classmate, Catherine Hill, who graduated a year
before Dick in 1967. After graduation, Cathy worked as a Research Analyst at the
Stanley Cobb Neuropsychiatric Laboratory at Mass General Hospital in Boston.
During this time, Dick also became a research assistant of Paul Smith at the
U.S. Navy Submarine Base in Groton, CT to continue his studies on goldfi sh hearing. Dick would then later graduate in 1968 with an MA in Physiology Psychology
from Connecticut College and publish his fi rst two papers based on his master’s
thesis work (Fay 1969a, Fay and MacKinnon 1969).
One side note about Dick: he has always had an interest in the history wrought
by old American graveyards, and he spent a great deal of his time in college and
high school visiting the many old New England graveyards and would make delicate “rubbings” of the gravestones. Cathy spent many “dates” rubbing gravestones
with Dick in graveyards around New London CT and she still fondly remembers
Dick’s excitement and enthusiasm about his historic gravestone discoveries. The
Fay children fi nd this aspect of Dick’s life very fascinating and they often marvel
that this was what their dad was doing instead of going out partying or drinking.
After obtaining his master’s degree, Dick decided to pursue a PhD degree at
Princeton University in New Jersey. Dick chose Princeton University because he
wanted to work with Ernest G. Wever who at the time was famous for his two books:
Theories of Hearing (1949) and Physiological Acoustics (co-authored with
M. Lawrence in 1954). While at Princeton, Dick continued his work in Wever’s
Auditory Research Laboratory on hearing in goldfi sh that culminated in a PhD thesis in 1970 titled “Hearing and Frequency Discrimination in the Goldfi sh ( Carassius
auratus ),” which would be the basis for his next three papers (Fay 1969b, Fay
1970a, Fay 1970b). During this time, Dick and Cathy had their fi rst child Christian
Martin Fay who was born in November 1969. After receiving his PhD in 1970, Dick
stayed on at Princeton working with Wever as a postdoc and the Fay family moved
into faculty housing on Lake Carnegie in Princeton, which according to Cathy was
a “beautiful spot.” At Princeton, Dick met and remained lifelong friends with a
J.A. Sisneros