'In the fall of 1989, Rob Pike met Penn Jillette, of the comedy/magic team of Penn and Teller.

The introduction and initial conversations were through e-mail, and the mutual acquaintance who started things off was Mike Hawley, now enmeshed at the Media Lab at MIT.

After a series of electronic letters, Rob attended one of Penn's Friday movie nights, which was just as described by Calvin Trillin in his recent New Yorker profile of P&T.

(Meet in the Times Square HoJo's.

Rob wondered, `How will I know you?' and Penn said, `I have samurai hair and I'll be at the back.')

Penn's interest in visiting Bell Labs had already been piqued not only by Hawley, but also by Ron Graham (BTL mathematician/juggler), another mutual acquaintance.

By the time Rob met Penn, thoughts of something more than a mere see-the-sights visit began to stir: there was the possibility of pulling off a great trick.

Who should be tricked, and what should happen? There was only one possible target--Arno Penzias.

He satisfied simultaneously all the desirable criteria: stature (Nobel prize laureate and Vice President of the Bell Labs Research area); ability to be tricked (he trusted us and liked technology); challenge (he's smart); and, we hoped, appreciation of the effect.

It was known through Graham that Arno was a great Penn and Teller fan, and it was worth gambling that he would feel flattered rather than anguished at being fooled.'