33
2 Our First Paper and Its Descendants
Our fi rst joint project came about as we were leaving a meeting, the topic of which
we cannot recall now. We started to discuss that it had been a some time since fi sh
hearing had been reviewed, and we came up with the idea of doing a critical review
to look at the fi eld at that time (Fig. 2 , left). “Sound Detection and Processing by
Fish: A Critical Review” became our fi rst paper together (Popper and Fay 1973 ). It
appeared in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (a journal for which
both of us ultimately became associate editors). We remember being quite concerned once the paper was accepted that we did not have funds for page charges so
we talked Ian Cooke, then the director of the Békésy lab, into picking up the tab.
In thinking about that paper, two things stand out. First, the ideas expressed in
the paper were hatched spontaneously, and we just fed off each other as ideas came
pouring out about what it should include and the approach to take. This has been
typical of our collaboration, and it is interesting to realize that our ease of collaboration
started so early in our relationship. Second, 20 years after this paper was published,
we had the opportunity to revisit the material in an article, “Sound Detection and
Processing by Fish: Critical Review and Major Research Questions,” in Brain ,
Behavior and Evolution (BBE) (Popper and Fay 1993 ). We recall being quite surprised that the gaps we identifi ed in the literature back in 1973 had still not been
fully fi lled.
Fig. 1 Békésy Laboratory of Sensory Sciences about 1975
It Started in Hawai’i Kai: Reminiscences of 43 Years (and Counting)…
2 Our First Paper and Its Descendants
Our fi rst joint project came about as we were leaving a meeting, the topic of which
we cannot recall now. We started to discuss that it had been a some time since fi sh
hearing had been reviewed, and we came up with the idea of doing a critical review
to look at the fi eld at that time (Fig. 2 , left). “Sound Detection and Processing by
Fish: A Critical Review” became our fi rst paper together (Popper and Fay 1973 ). It
appeared in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (a journal for which
both of us ultimately became associate editors). We remember being quite concerned once the paper was accepted that we did not have funds for page charges so
we talked Ian Cooke, then the director of the Békésy lab, into picking up the tab.
In thinking about that paper, two things stand out. First, the ideas expressed in
the paper were hatched spontaneously, and we just fed off each other as ideas came
pouring out about what it should include and the approach to take. This has been
typical of our collaboration, and it is interesting to realize that our ease of collaboration
started so early in our relationship. Second, 20 years after this paper was published,
we had the opportunity to revisit the material in an article, “Sound Detection and
Processing by Fish: Critical Review and Major Research Questions,” in Brain ,
Behavior and Evolution (BBE) (Popper and Fay 1993 ). We recall being quite surprised that the gaps we identifi ed in the literature back in 1973 had still not been
fully fi lled.
Fig. 1 Békésy Laboratory of Sensory Sciences about 1975
It Started in Hawai’i Kai: Reminiscences of 43 Years (and Counting)…