Core polarization, Brown-Rho scaling and a memory of Gerry's Princeton years

Core-polarization (CP) and Brown-Rho (BR) scaling were among Gerry's most favorite topics. In this contribution, we will discuss some of the early history as well as more recent work associated with these two fascinating phenomena. I (TTSK) will begin with some recollections of Princeton, where I met Gerry for the first time in 1964 and worked as his postdoc. Core polarization was in fact the first topic he assigned to me. JWH started working with Gerry at Stony Brook from 2003 and was Gerry's last student in nuclear physics. We three had teamed up well, working closely on both CP and BR scaling, particularly on the latter's connection to the anomalously-long beta-decay lifetime of carbon-14. We shall here briefly review these topics, including a recently developed new Brown-Rho scaling based on a Skyrmion half-Skyrmion two-phase model.