Martin Lewis Perl was born in New York City on June 24, 1927. And although Perl won a physics medal when he graduated from high school in 1943, he never considered a career in science. His Russian immigrant family thought a career in engineering would be more profitable than a career in pure science. This was still an unusual career choice for a Jewish boy at the time because there were feelings of anti-Semitism in the engineering field, but it was an area that combined Perl's interest in mechanics, mathematics, and science. He enrolled at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. He has attributed his early interest in chemical engineering to the exciting nature of the chemical field at the time. Chemistry had captured the public imagination by introducing such popular synthetic materials as nylon.

At the start of World War II, Perl wanted to put his education on hold and enter...