Since 1974, Ted Goble's work at Union has been research-particularly research involving isotope shift measurement. But he says that his primary concern practically forever” has been teaching, and he is proud of what many of his former students have accomplished.
“It's very satisfying to see the number of students who have developed distinguished careers in physics in both industry and the academic world,” he says, pointing to several alumni who have gone on to be
professors for example, Charles Baltay '58, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics at Yale, and Aron Bernstein '53, professor of physics at MIT.
A native of River Falls, Wis., Alfred “Ted” Goble received his bachelor's degree and Ph.D. in physics from the University of Wisconsin, where he also did postdoctoral research. He joined Union in 1945 for a nine-month position teaching physics for the three on-campus Navy training programs.
“They desperately needed physics teachers,” Goble says. “They even enlisted Helmer Webb, the librarian, to teach physics classes.” As the nine months neared an end, a tenure track position became available, and Goble accepted. “And I've been here ever since,” he says. (Goble was honored at Founders Day in February for his fifty consecutive years of service.)
Goble got involved in isotope shift measurement research during two sabbaticals at Clarendon Laboratory at Oxford University. He continued his research after retiring from teaching in 1974 and began working with Seyfollah Maleki, associate professor of physics, in 1984. Their work on isotope shift measurement in Calcium II has led to three papers and presentations at professional conferences.
Over the past few years, Goble has been looking at the hyperfine structure of the
spectral lines in aluminum. The results from this research were what he had expected. “In science,” he explains, “two things happen. One, you get all the answers right and the theories work. Or two, things come out a little different than expected and that's the exciting part.” He is still analyzing the results of data he collected a year ago and has not planned any new research projects for the immediate future.
Goble was the advisor of W2UC, the predecessor to WRUC, and remains an active ham-an amateur radio operator (he was first licensed as an amateur radio operator in 1924).
He has been a member of Sigma Xi, the American Physical Society, and the American Association of Physics Teachers.