Thoughts on Professors Tanner, Valk & Ford

submitted by James Hamill (Physics '77)

Out of a constellation of great physics teachers at Tech, I have particularly fond memories of Professors Tanner, Valk, and Ford. Dr. Tanner, my class's first physics prof, respected his students, yet if we answered a question without using units that make sense, we were instantly told about the mistake. Dr. Valk was the guru of quantum mechanics, and a cultured man, a voracious reader.

It was sad to hear about the death, a few years ago, of Dr. Joe Ford, a physics icon in my time at Tech. In thermodynamics classes in 1975 or so, many examples were based on the engine of his Volkswagen. Key points in the lecture notes were highlighted by a pointing finger at the end of a hairy arm with a Mickey Mouse wristwatch. This approach to physics impressed the students. Years later, I heard Dr. Ford give a seminar at Florida State on the subject of chaos. Surely his colleagues miss the great man still.