Howard Dintzis and Renee Dintzis were both longtime faculty members in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Department of Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry. The husband and wife scientists first met in graduate school at Harvard. Prior to coming to Hopkins, their work brought them to Yale University, Cambridge University, the California Institute of Technology, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In this oral history, Howard and Renee Dintzis discuss their life's work as scientists and some of their notable colleagues and students, including Francis Crick. Renee Dintzis also discusses balancing motherhood with her scientific career and the experience of being a woman in a male-dominated field. This oral history is part of the Hopkins Retrospective oral histories series.

This program originates from the ballroom of the Lord Baltimore Hotel where alumni are celebrating the 77th anniversary of the Johns Hopkins University. Lynn Poole opens the program by paying special tribute to Elmer V. McCollum, who discovered vitamins A and B, and John Lee Pratt, who donated money to establish the McCollum Pratt Institute of the University. Using a periodic table, Dr. McElroy points out the macronutrients (nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, magnesium, sulfur, calcium, and sodium) and the micronutrients or trace elements (copper, manganese, iron, and zinc). In addition to these, animals need cobalt and iodine to thrive and plants need boron and molybdenum. Both a diagram and an animation show how a nutrient deficiency in the soil may not affect plant health but won't be passed on to humans or animals and therefore could adversely affect them (e.g., lack of iodine in the soil may result in goiter in a human).

Seven Johns Hopkins scholars predict what the audience might expect in 1968 in various fields of science. Dr. Dayton Carritt, assistant director of the Chesapeake Bay Institute, considers the future of earth sciences: rockets will orbit the earth and send back weather information, nuclear power will be developed, and ocean circulation will be studied for possible food production. In the area of life sciences, biology professor William McElroy discusses nutritional requirements to relieve diseases, trapping solar energy, the physiology of space travel, insights on aging, and other possibilities in a "golden age of medicine." Professor of microbiology Thomas B. Turner predicts space medicine, electronic equipment for the handicapped, public protection against radioactivity, better surgical methods for transplants, and the reduction or elimination of heart disease, polio, and cancer. Professor Charles Singleton maintains that the humanities will continue to survive as long as we ask "What is a man?" and "What does it mean to be where we are?" In communications, chemistry professor Donald Hatch predicts the extension of television networks as well as 3-D television programs and programs on demand. Professor of physics Theodore Berlin lists future energy issues such as control of thermonuclear fusion reactions, problems with radioactive wastes, application of atomic energy (but not in homes or vehicles), transformation of devices to control energy, and development of solid fuels and solar energy. According to Francis Clauser, professor of aeronautics, in the realm of space travel, commercial airlines will fly at supersonic speeds; guided missiles and anti-missile devices will be the backbone of defense; the U.S. will enjoy peaceful space travel with the Russians; and a rocket will go to the moon. To reinforce this view, Wernher von Braun, in a taped segment, predicts that the U.S. will launch a man into outer space, he will orbit and return to earth. He says an unmanned rocket will also land on Mars. Milton S. Eisenhower, the president of Johns Hopkins University, sums up their findings by pointing out the importance of education in all these endeavors.