Talk:Michio Kaku

20/20
Can anyone recognize the fact that dr.kaku was on 20/20 in the United States on ABC in August 2006 the special was enttitled 7 deadly threats to earth. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Spamcollector14 (talk • contribs) 18:40, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

The Screensavers
Dr. Kaku has also appeared on The Screensavers a few times (G4/TechTV) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.122.130.43 (talk) 03:31, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

American person of Tibetan descent?
Dr. Kaku is listed as belonging to the category "American People of Tibetan descent". This contradicts the biographical information contained in the article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.203.207.66 (talk) 18:22, 17 April 2015 (UTC)

I was Mike's Roommate and the Info about his war service seems wrong.
I knew Michael Kaku very well as we were fellow grad students at U.C. Berkeley. I met him in the Fall of 1968 and knew him until 1971 or so. This information about his war service seems wrong (but hopefully has been updated to be correct): "In 1968 during the Vietnam War Kaku, who was about to be drafted, joined the United States Army, remaining until 1970. He completed his basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia, and advanced infantry training at Fort Lewis, Washington."

In October, 1968, Mike Kaku was a roommate of Daniel A.-another Berkeley Physics grad student but from NYCity--(If you are reading this Mike, Dan has my email address) and lived across the hall from me in a graduate dorm on Haste St. in Berkeley, California. Almost directly across from our grad hall (the top 2 floors of a university dorm) was the famous People's Park. Mike had come from Harvard U. where he probably served in the military through the ROTC program.

In 1969-70, he and I were flatmates (with 2 other grad students) at a two bedroom apartment at 2020 College Way. He was a full-time student in Physics at UC Berkeley. He lived in the same house as me at 106 Ross Circle, North Oakland from 1971-72. I was studying History at Berkeley, also working on my Ph.D.  He's a great guy but I am astonished to hear about his military service because I never saw him in a uniform, and he was a full-time student then at Berkeley, and he never spoke about any military service. In fact, I had to walk through his room in North Oakland to get to my room. Mike had very bad eyesight and wore glasses, when he drove, as thick as an old coke bottle at its base. I cannot imagine him in the military. He was too intelligent to be in military intelligence. He's an extremely bright guy and extremely nice too. Maybe he was in some sort of reserve service but he never talked about it and I never saw him in a uniform, ever. We all were anti-Vietnam War as most students were and most people in the Bay Area too.

By the way (responding to another thread), I believe he is Japanese-American and not of Tibetan descent. His mother and father spoke Japanese when they came to our rental house in North Oakland.

I do not mean to diminish Mike K. and his achievements in any way; maybe someone's recollections are wrong but I'm sure mine are not. I think he graduated from Berkeley with his Ph.D.in only 3 years (very quickly) so I further doubt that allowed any time for the military. His very close friend, Daniel A., a fellow Physics grad student, once told me that Mike had to take a Physics test developed and administered by the Berkeley Physics Department after his first year. The same test had been used for a number of years. Mike received the highest test scores anyone had ever recorded on the test, ever, quite an achievement for a Department full of Nobel Prize winners. Again, Mike is a great person and probably the smartest person I have known. He used to do very long calculations of equations on computer paper that was continuous and folded out from a box; I asked him about this and he told me that the calculations were so long, he couldn't fit them on anything else. He also patiently explained to me (Mike even then had a knack for expaining complicated things in a simple way) that high energy physics was really all math.

By the way, readers will be surprised to know that he studied very little, maybe one or two hours a day, maximum. But when he studied he concentrated unlike anyone I've ever seen: you could march by in a brass band playing Mahler and he wouldn't have noticed. It was like he was in a trance. He's also a terrific humanitarian. I remember while at Berkeley in 1968-69 that Mike would rent out old movies, show them to Berkeley students for the cost of a movie ticket, and then take ALL the money he had earned and give it to poor people working in sweatshops in San Francisco. He has a heart of gold. For recreation, Mike loved to watch "Star Trek", as did the other 2 science students I shared lodgings with (two physicists,one being Michael, and one astronomer/astrophysicist). He watched reruns of it late afternoons; almost every day; this once created a problem with me since I liked to watch the Huntley-Brinkley newscast that aired at roughly the same time.

Years later, after I had shifted into law, and practiced in Honolulu, Hawaii, I regret to say I missed Mike K. giving a talk (maybe on the origins of the Gulf War?). He came to Hawaii to give this anti-war talk (mid 1990's?), and I saw a notice in a legal trade journal or the local newspaper about it but either I was too tired, or too intimidated, or both, to go. I regret that. I had planned on asking Mike: do you remember 106 Ross Circle? and of course, taking him out to dinner and drinks. He's a wonderful person. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2403:6200:8860:6087:1c8b:1f3b:5bf1:818a (talk) 11:14, 20 July 2020 (UTC)


 * I enjoyed reading your charming note here. Thanks! DeepNorth (talk) 23:46, 19 November 2022 (UTC)