Newsletter of the Department of Physics, University of Arkansas

Following 40 years of service to the department, Paul retired in 1982 at the age of 68. Sixty-eight was the mandatory retirement age at that time. Paul was not ready to retire at all. He had too much energy. He wanted to continue, but University policies did not allow him to continue. In fact, Paul could not even be employed on a temporary basis after retirement.

Paul loved this department. It was a major part of his life. He just could not stay away even 15 years after his retirement. In fact, if I did not see him for a few weeks, I got concerned about him. In an effort to channel his energies to the department's advantage, in 1989, I asked him to write a history of the department. He was very interested in this subject, and had already done some work on it in the early eighties. Paul was thrilled, and approached the project with great enthusiasm. Little did I know that this project would take seven years to complete, partly because he was so meticulous. It bothered him a great deal if he was not absolutely sure about things, and he also worried about the history having his personal bias.

The history book was published just a few weeks before he passed away. We all are indeed gratified that he was able to see the fruits of his labor before his death. No one else could have done this project. It wasn't simply that he had personally witnessed the history of the department for over half a century, or that he had played a major role in its development, but was rather his deep love for this department. This project was truly a labor of love.

Paul was born in Jamesport, Missouri on October 31, 1914. Jamesport is a small town in northern part of Missouri with a 1990 population of 570. He once told me, with some satisfaction, that he was from the Unionist part of the state. Paul received his AB degree from William Jewell College in Liberty Missouri in 1936. He was married the same year to Cordelia Randall. They had two children, Ronald and Paula. Paul went to Brown University for graduate studies in 1936 but returned to Missouri in 1937. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Missouri in 1942 with a dissertation on x-ray diffraction of liquids under the guidance of Professor Newell Gingerich. While a graduate student at University of Missouri, he was also an instructor at his alma matter, William Jewell College, from 1938 to 1940, where he taught physics and mathematics.

Immediately after graduation in 1942 Paul joined our department as an Assistant Professor. As far as I can tell there were only two full-time teachers in the department at that time, Lloyd Ham and Paul Sharrah. Let's look back: 1942--the middle of World War II! Although the regular student population was down because most young males were in the military, the University was heavily involved in training cadets. The teaching loads were up to 21 credit hours/semester, and still they did some research during spare time! In that period most physicists were involved in the war effort in one way or the other. Paul was no exception. He worked at the Navy Ordinance Laboratory in Washington, D.C., from 1944 to 1946, on developing torpedo steering mechanisms.

Paul was promoted to Associate Professor in 1947 and to full professor in 1955. His research interest remained x-ray diffraction, mostly in liquids. He spent the 1954-55 academic year and all summers from 1951 to 1956 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory where he did research in neutron diffraction. In some of his publications, he has combined the results of neutron diffraction at Oak Ridge with the x-ray diffraction work done at the University of Arkansas.

In 1957 Paul became the first chairman of the Physics Department. (This was the time of the change from the head to the chairman system of governance). Paul was to remain chairman for 12 years, until 1969. This was the period of rapid growth for the department. The department grew from 3 or 4 faculty in 1957 to 11 in 1969, in spite of the difficulty in recruiting in that post-sputnik era. Most significantly, the department developed the Ph.D. program during this period.

While research in the Department flourished, Paul's own interest shifted to teaching. From 1963 to 1971 he directed summer institutes for science teachers on the campus. He would bring 20 science teachers to the campus for six week courses. These institutes were funded jointly by the National Science Foundation and Atomic Energy Commission. These institutes began to get national attention. Paul even carried this work outside the country. He spent the summer of 1967 at an institute for training high school physics teachers at Sardar Patel University in the state of Gujarat, India. The Institute was funded jointly by the Government of India, NSF, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Paul maintained a deep and abiding interest in teaching throughout his career. He was a founding member of Arkansas-Oklahoma-Kansas Section of the AAPT.

Paul developed interest in teaching astronomy, and took over teaching it in 1967. He was the original member of the committee that recommended the purchase of a planetarium 1950, and the Planetarium was set up in 1951. Originally it was located between the Union and the Library. Paul became Planetarium Director in 1967 and continued until his retirement. The Planetarium was moved to the physics building in 1972, and was dismantled in 1992 to make way for our renovation. Several thousand school children used to visit the planetarium shows each year. Paul served as president of the Southwest Association of Planetariums.

Most people when they reach retirement age are afraid of new technologies. It was just the opposite with Paul. He loved new technologies. Soon after scientific calculators came on the market Paul offered a course on calculator physics. As soon as personal computers became available, he got heavily involved in it.

Last July, my family and I were going to Atlanta to watch some of the Olympic games. We were going to be there during the 2nd week of the games, and were leaving on a Saturday morning. Paul knew that we were going to the Olympics but did not know exactly when and for how long. I believe that it was Thursday when he walked into my office and said abruptly, "How come you are still here? Haven't you heard, Olympics have already started?" Those in the audience who knew him will recognize that this was Paul's characteristic style. After a short conversation, he left wishing me a good trip. On that Sunday, Dr. Singh reached me in Atlanta to inform me that Paul had passed away. On my return I kept feeling that one of these days Paul is going to walk into my office and in his characteristic style would ask, "Did you win any medals?"

Paul once told me "I want to go standing up." Nature was indeed very kind to him and granted him his wish.

Based on comments given by
Rajendra Gupta, Professor of Physics,
at the Paul Sharrah memorial colloquium

Throughout his long career at Arkansas, Paul did much to shape the development of the Physics Department. He was a master of the concept described in managerial seminars as "delegation of responsibility." He had the uncanny ability to convince his faculty colleagues that it was in their best professional and personal interest to give the third grade class from Washington Elementary School a tour of their research laboratories, to rearrange the chairs in the planetarium for a public showing to the Bella Vista Astronomy Club, or even to paint the table tops in the elementary physics laboratories to conserve precious physics maintenance-fund dollars. Faculty responded to his requests because they realized that whatever he asked was ultimately in the best interests of the department and its students. Paul taught not only physics principles, but also the importance of the human relationships that are necessary for any teacher to succeed in their chosen profession. I sincerely hope that this important legacy will continue to be transmitted to all future students and faculty of the Arkansas Physics Department as it has been transmitted to me by Dr. Paul C. Sharrah.

Excerpted from a letter from
Richard J. Anderson
Head, Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research
National Science Foundation
(Dr. Anderson is a former member of the Physics faculty.)