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On the heels of UT's recent national championship in football, I am struck by the concept of Volunteers, not only those who roam the football field or glide down the basketball court, but also those who frequent the halls of the physics department. Tina and I attended the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe to see the wonderful victory by the football Vols, while this issue of Cross Sections highlights the accomplishments of two physics Vols. Phil Burt was a UT physics student, received his Ph.D. working here with the now retired Ed Harris, and has spent a career on the faculty at Clemson University. Bob Lide earned his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan (with a football stadium still E bigger than ours) and came here to spend a career on our faculty, extending until his death last year. Both are true Volunteers, and represent many others who roam the field of science and technology.
As the article in this issue explains, Phil Burt grew up in Memphis and attended UT for his degrees in physics. I have seen Phil regularly in recent years, as we both served on the board of trustees for the Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA). Even though it has been over 30 years since Phil finished his doctoral work with Ed Harris, he often speaks highly of his days at UT and his good times working with Ed. Phil does not dress in a conservative manner at SURA meetings, and often is observed to be sporting an orange tie or shirt that looks more UT than Clemson in origin. He is a proud alumnus and has contributed his time and ideas to us on a number of occasions. Bob Lide was an experimental nuclear physicist on our faculty since 1957. He was very kind and helpful to me when I joined the faculty as a young kid in 1971. He made many contributions to our department as a wizard in the instructional laboratories. Even after his retirement in 1991 he continued working as a volunteer in physics, helping Jim Parks in the setup of experiments and maintenance of equipment in the physics labs. He paused in this work for cancer surgery, but returned again to help us in the department. Bob was a true Volunteer up until he died last May. Now we have named in his memory a criteria for excellence for graduate teaching assistants, so that we can prolong the memory of Bob Lide in our department. Phil Burt and Bob Lide are two examples of the many physics Volunteers from the ranks of our former students and faculty. Our physics family is a large one, and one purpose of this newsletter is to re-establish contact with family members with whom we have little current interaction. We want to hear about you, your career and successes, and your ideas for our department. Our Honor's Day occurs each April, and we would love to have former students, faculty and staff join us in that annual celebration. Bill Bugg is starting the arduous task of writing the history of our physics department, and would benefit from getting tidbits of history from you. We need your help, your contact, and your ideas.
The American Physical Society celebrates its centennial in Atlanta during the spring meeting, March 20-26. Our department will participate in the APS Alumni Reunion on March 23, from 6:00 until 8:30 p.m. We will share a reunion booth with our colleagues from Vanderbilt University and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. If you attend the Centennial APS meeting, please come to the reunion to visit us. We want to learn more about the accomplishments of the physics Volunteers spread across the country.
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