Pollard describes his early childhood, family, and interest in science; his undergraduate work at the University of Tennessee; his graduate fellowship at Rice University (then Rice Institute) and his dissertation on the Fermi Theory of Beta Decay; his return to the University of Tennessee as an assistant professor with Alvin H. Nielsen and Kenneth L. Hertel; his work in solid state physics; and his development of an engineering physics curriculum. Pollard's interest in nuclear physics was stimulated by the arrival at Tennessee of Katherine Way, who later went to Chicago's metallurgical Laboratory for World War II work. He also discusses his students John W. T. Dabbs, Joseph Fowler, Dale W. Magnuson, Charles D. Moak, Raymond L. Murray, and Robert R. Newton; his move to the SAM Laboratory at Columbia University in 1943; his work on gas kinetics; and his involvement in the formation of the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies. Pollard also makes reference to an article in the New Yorker, which is filed separately, detailing what he calls his --spiritual pilgrimage.