Overtures

University of Bremen mathematician Hans-Otto Peitgen knew Rice mathematics professor Raymond O. (“Ronny”) Wells—both shared an interest in transferring the newest ideas in mathematics to the secondary-school teachers and thereby improving math education. Peitgen also had lectured at Rice University, where he had been so impressed by the students, the campus, the college system, and the general atmosphere that he had tried to persuade his own daughter to at tend Rice. Subsequently he had invited Wells in 1995–96 to serve as a visiting professor of mathematics at the University of Bremen. And there were a couple of other pertinent things Peitgen knew about Wells. Not only was Wells fluent in German, but his wife, Rena, was both a native of Bremen and a member of one of the city’s most famous families: her great-great-great-grandfather had been perhaps the city’s greatest mayor. Peitgen, then, had good reason to believe that Wells would see the potential of the situation and be instantly interested in pursuing the matter.

Shortly before 11:00 a.m. on October 22, 1997, the telephone rang in Wells’s Rice office. Peitgen was on the line and told him, dramatically, “I’m making only one phone call, and it is to you because I think you’re crazy enough to take the idea seriously.” Then Peitgen briefly outlined the project: some kind of branch campus in partnership with the University of Bremen, with ready-built facilities and approximately $100 million from the state to begin the program! Wells was both stunned and thrilled. He immediately called Rice president Malcolm Gillis’s office, and as luck would have it, Gillis had a cancellation and hence an opening at 4:30 that afternoon.

Wells could hardly wait the five hours, and as soon as he began talking, Gillis became equally excited. Gillis had long believed that Germany would once again emerge as the cultural, economic, and political center of Europe—he had even tried to get Duke University to establish a German presence 10 years before—and he knew that the local political and academic environment in Bremen was propitious for such a project. Within 15 minutes, Gillis had called in Provost David Auston, telephoned chairman of the board E. William Barnett, and decided to send a high-level Rice delegation to Bremen to investigate the prospects. Gillis asked Dean of Natural Sciences James L. Kinsey and Professor Sidney Burrus, director of the Computer and Information Technology Institute, to join Auston and Wells in the reconnaissance to Bremen.

When Wells called Peitgen back the next morning to report the turn of events, it was Peitgen’s turn to be stunned. Telephone calls to other universities had turned up some interest but nothing like this. The Bremen officials put everyone else on hold and made preparations for the arrival of the Rice delegation. They never invited another university.