Topics discussed by William Gordon include: the Waynick Memorial Lecture; Gordon's dissertation work on radio propagation and scattering; the theoretical foundation for the conception of the Arecibo Ionospheric Observatory, its design, the search for project funding which led to the adoption of a parabolic antenna design devised by researchers at the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories. Gordon discusses the addition of radar and radio astronomy to the Arecibo instrument's research agenda, and a number of problems he encountered after completion of the facility: the conflict with Gold, difficulties with the reed and the need for Gregorian optics, the friction with the National Science Foundation and ARPA. He also mentions his reasons for taking a position at Rice University. He concludes with a review of the current Arecibo upgrades and sketches of his former Cornell colleagues.