Quite a few years ago in Kiev in the Russian Ukraine (now occupied by Germany) three young Russians just out of Alexander I Technical College studied a map of the United States to find a place to spend a summer vacation.

They picked Richmond, Virginia, because they liked the sound of the name in Russian; and shortly afterwards they set sail. They had only been here a little while when all Russia was turned upside down by the Russian Revolution, and so they decided not to go back.

Thus it was that our genial Mr. Peter M. Boolba decided to become an American. He has been here ever since and he has no thought of going back; in fact he intends to continue his travels west after the war.

Boolba lived in New York City for many years, and, although he considers himself a New Yorker, he tries to outgrow it. He plans to move out to the middle west in the future.

While in New York, Boolba worked with Bell Laboratories in the telephone systems development department for over ten years, dealing largely with dial systers. In 1928, long before commercial models appeared, he built his own Fixed Frequency Push-button tuned radio. Unfortunately he neglected to patent his invention, and so what might have been a gold mine slipped through his fingers and fell to someone else.

Later, Boolba developed his own remote control circuit for tuning radios at long distance with push buttons "It's for lazy people," says Boolba, but he has made several large installations, for special purposes. Still, the thought of his unexploited first "lazy man's gadget" rankles him whenever he tunes his own push-button control FM-AM model.

Now most of Boolba's time is spent in the lab, where he explains wide band amplifiers with a longering trace of Russian in his voice. He is also a teaching Fellow in Electronics, instructor in Engineering 270. Nevertheless, Boolba finds time to give attention to his many hobbies, which include painting, writing poetry, playing the piano, vegetarianism, and blondes.

As a vegetarian, he says "it is a good spiritual practise and raises the conscience to a higher level." He scoffs at people who are afraid they won't get enough meat because of rationing.

Since he was six years old, the expert has been painting--water colors, oils, pencil drawings, even etchings--but his favorite is pastel work. He paints things as he sees them, "realistically," he says, and he hates "modern stuff." "Symbols and bright colors don't make a painting," is his comment--"I'd rather have the paint in a tube."

Mr. Boolba's poetry is much different from his painting, completely abstract full of symbols, and generally obscure.