More than one week after a letter containing a white powdery substance was mailed to the University, it is still unknown as to why a physics professor was targeted.
The letter Bernd Crasemann received Nov. 18, postmarked from Malaysia and containing a harmless powdery substance and a few phrases in English such as “death to the oppressors,” has left everyone in the physics department scratching their heads.
Crasemann, an emeritus professor of physics, earned his master’s degree in physics from the University of California at Berkeley. He came to Eugene in 1953 and immediately took a teaching position at the University.
Coworkers and contemporaries describe the 77-year-old as friendly and helpful. He is active in scientific circles, is chairman of the Northwest section of the American Physical Society and edits the science journal Physical Review A. His specialty is the study of inner-shell atomic physics, a branch of subatomic physics.
Dietrich Belitz, head of the physics department at the University of Oregon, said Crasemann is one of the nicest people he’s ever met.
“It’s inconceivable to me that anyone would wish to cause him harm,” Belitz said.
John Drumheller, who will take over as APS Northwest section chairman when Crasemann steps down next year, said he doesn’t “have any idea why someone would have cause to threaten Bernd.”
Crasemann himself said he has no idea why he received such a letter. He said it was most likely a random mailing, because his name appears only on the envelope in which the letter was sent and not on the letter itself.
He thought it extremely unlikely that the letter was sent by an upset student, because he has not taught classes in nearly 10 years and would not suspect his students. And although he turns down nearly 1,200 submissions per year worldwide as the editor of Physical Review A, he said he has never received a letter even expressing discontent and would not expect one from the people in the scientific community.
“I would hope that people do not speculate too much or make something out of this that it’s not,” Crasemann said. “I think it’s just a random thing.”
Crasemann is not the first to receive such a letter from Malaysia, however. The Microsoft licensing office in Reno, Nev., also received a letter from Malaysia in mid-October that contained a white powdery substance. The letter that arrived at the Microsoft office contained pornographic magazine clippings, but no writing.
As Crasemann’s case is ongoing, the FBI would not comment on whether the white powdery substance he received was the same as the substance in the Microsoft letter. However, in both cases, the FBI later determined the substance was harmless.
Belitz said he has never heard of an angry letter being sent in response to a submission rejection, but that with the emotions involved in these rejections, such a reaction is not impossible.
“If you edit a journal, of course you’re going to have people upset at you,” Belitz said. “Sometimes you have to deal with controversial issues, and you have to turn people down who want to have their part heard.
“Quite frankly, we’re just hoping this is just a really bad joke,” Belitz said.