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Ben Bernanke’s fish tank

October 10, 2022 Stories

I was a graduate student at Princeton University when Ben Bernanke was the chair of the economics department. I happened to have been in his office the day he was packing and preparing for his move to Washington DC after he had accepted an appointment to become a governor at the Federal Reserve in 2002.

Bernanke had a large (200 litre) fish tank in his office. As I spoke to him that day, he mentioned not knowing what to do with his aquarium. I told him that if he did not care to keep it, that I would be happy to take it over. He agreed to my suggestion, and I went about using a dolly to transport it back to my residence on campus.

I used the aquarium to raise food fish. I bought live fish from the local Asian supermarket and kept them in the tank until it was time for them to be eaten.

I prepared the fish when friends were visiting and usually after we had a few beers. It was always a hilarious experience as I did not have a net to scoop out the fish. What ensued was a long struggle getting the slippery creatures out of the aquarium with my bare hands and/or with whatever implements I could find. My living room would inevitably get wet, and my friends would all be laughing.

For my guests, the recipe did not matter. It was just about having fun. Often this would be done while we watched “Hockey Night in Canada”, thanks to my Montrealer flatmate’s satellite dish, which allowed us to capture Canadian TV channels.

When I left Princeton several years later, I had no choice but to give away the fish tank to another graduate student.

In 2006, when I was living in Singapore, Ben Bernanke assumed the position as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. My first reaction upon hearing the news was to inquire with my erstwhile classmate about the fish tank. He had apparently moved since I gave him the tank and had passed it on to someone else, and since then I have no clue what has become of it.

Sixteen years later (i.e. in 2022), the fish tank’s value appreciated again when Ben Bernanke was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics.

I often wonder if the tank is still around or if it has been tossed away by a subsequent owner? If only I had managed to keep hold of that aquarium. It surely would be worth a fortune on eBay!

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