Warren Buck facts for kids

Warren Wesley Buck III (born February 16, 1946) is an American physicist. He is known for helping to create the first PhD program in physics at Hampton University. This was also the very first PhD program of any kind at this historically Black college in Hampton, Virginia.

Dr. Buck was also the first leader, called a chancellor, of the University of Washington-Bothell. He helped this school become a four-year university. His research focused on tiny particles, like those found inside atoms. He studied how particles and anti-particles interact, and what mesons and quarks are.

Growing Up: Early Life and Family

Warren Wesley Buck III was born on February 16, 1946. He was born in Washington, D.C., at Freedman's Hospital. His parents were Warren W. Buck, Jr. and Mildred George Buck. He has one younger brother named Lawrence.

His parents grew up in the Midwest. His father was from St. Louis, Missouri, and his mother was from the Chicago area. Mildred Buck was one of the few Black students at Evanston Township High School.

Warren and Mildred met at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri. They were in a calculus class taught by Walter Richard Talbot. This same teacher later taught Warren Buck III at Morgan State University.

Warren Buck, Jr. was the first Black person hired as a draftsman for the Weather Bureau. This agency later became part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Mildred Buck worked as a director for a daycare center. She was also one of the first teachers for the Head Start program.

All of Dr. Buck's uncles served in World War II. Some of them were Tuskegee Airmen, who were famous Black military pilots.

Learning Journey: Education

Dr. Buck grew up in Washington, D.C.. He went to local schools for his early education. In 1963, he graduated from Spingarn High School. He was on the track team there. Spingarn High School was opened in 1952 as a separate school for Black students in Washington, D.C.

While in school, Dr. Buck was active in the Boy Scouts. He became an Eagle Scout, which is the highest rank. His father started his Cub Scout troop, and his mother was a den mother.

After high school, Dr. Buck went to Lincoln University. This was his parents' old school. He had a scholarship to run on the track team. After two years, he moved to Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland. There, he started studying physics.

Between schools, Dr. Buck worked as a waiter and bartender. He was almost drafted into the military. But he was accepted to Morgan State University, which allowed him to delay his military service.

At Morgan State, he studied with Walter Talbot and Bob Dixon. They encouraged him to continue his studies and get a PhD. He earned his Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in mathematics in 1968.

That same year, he started graduate school at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. In the summer of 1968, he worked at Johns Hopkins University. He studied internal waves in Professor Owen Phillip's lab.

He earned his Master of Science (MSc) degree in plasma physics in 1970. While at William & Mary, Dr. Buck helped start the college's Black Student Organization in 1969. He was also its first president.

After his master's degree, Dr. Buck taught math at Bowie State University in Bowie, Maryland. He also stayed involved in civil rights work. He returned to William & Mary in 1971. He completed his PhD in theoretical relativistic nuclear physics in 1976. His main advisor was Franz Gross. His PhD paper was about "Calculation of deuteron wave functions with relativistic interactions."

Amazing Work: Career

After finishing his PhD, Dr. Buck became a physics instructor at Stony Brook University in Long Island, New York. He taught there for three years. During that time, he also worked on projects at Los Alamos National Laboratory for one month each year.

Next, he worked for a year at the University of Paris in Orsay, France. After living in Paris, he and his wife spent three years living on their boat in the Bahamas. They sailed and sold their artwork. They would travel to Annapolis, Maryland, for work.

Hampton University: A New Path

After three years at sea, Dr. Buck briefly returned to the College of William & Mary. He then talked to Demetrius Venable at Hampton University. He wanted to help bring excellent physics education to Black college students.

Dr. Buck joined Hampton University in 1984 as the fourth physics professor. He became a full professor in 1989. He is known for starting the physics PhD program at Hampton. This was the first doctoral program of any kind at the university. At the time, it was only one of five PhD programs at any historically Black college or university.

Dr. Buck explained his goal for the Hampton program: "Part of my goal when I moved to Hampton University was to get minorities in the door for…you know, to perform world-class physics up front so we don’t have to come at the last minute and say, “How do I fit in?” You start off fitting in. You just start off fitting in, right?"

At Hampton, Dr. Buck started the Hampton University Graduate Studies (HUGS) program. This was a summer program for physics graduate students from other universities. He invited many famous physicists to speak, like Frank Close and Jerry Friedman.

He also created the Undergraduate Institute in Physics/REU, a summer program for undergraduate students. In 1990, he started the Nuclear High Energy Physics Research Center for Excellence (NuHEP). This was a research group based at Hampton. By the time Dr. Buck left Hampton, NuHEP had many researchers and students. He also helped develop the Jefferson Lab.

In 1997, Dr. Buck was featured on the TV show Bill Nye the Science Guy. He appeared in the "Way Cool Scientist" part of an episode about "Atoms and Molecules."

University of Washington-Bothell: Leading a Campus

In June 1999, Dr. Buck became the chancellor and dean of the University of Washington-Bothell. He held this leadership role for six years. During his time, he helped the university become a four-year school. The university also opened its permanent campus in 2000 while he was chancellor.

After being chancellor until June 2005, he began teaching physics at the University of Washington-Seattle. In 2009, he returned to the Bothell campus. He became the director of the university's science and technology program. He is now a chancellor emeritus at UW-Bothell. He taught physics classes until he fully retired in 2013.

Leadership and Other Activities

In 2013, the College of William & Mary gave him an honorary degree. He was also on the university's Board of Visitors from 2016 to 2020. He currently advises President Katherine A. Rowe on fairness in the 21st century.

Dr. Buck has held many important roles throughout his career. From 2007 to 2008, he helped lead a committee for NASA's New Frontiers program. He has also served on committees for the American Physical Society and the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. He was also on the board of directors for the Pacific Science Center.

Awards and Honors

• Fellow of the American Physical Society (1998)
• “Giant in Science,” Quality Education for Minorities Network (2001)
• Strong Men & Women in Virginia History honoree, Library of Virginia and Dominion Energy (2018)
• Hulon Willis Association Impact Award, College of William and Mary

Personal Life and Hobbies

When he was a student at William & Mary, Dr. Buck enjoyed theater. He was part of the Williamsburg Players and the university's theater department. He was even a classmate of the famous actress Glenn Close.

Dr. Buck is a skilled sailor. He is also a watercolor painter. He learned to paint from Nándor Balász, who was Albert Einstein’s assistant. Dr. Buck has even learned to paint underwater during his sailing trips! He has taught classes on this special skill. He also practices Buddhist meditation.

Dr. Buck married his first wife, Francine, when he was in college. They had a son named Eric. His second wife was Linda Horn, and they had one daughter. In 2006, he married his third wife, Cate Buck. Together, they have four adult children and four grandchildren.

Select Publications

• "Family of relativistic deuteron wave functions," Physical Review (1979) - with Franz Gross
• "New constraints on dispersive form factor parameterizations from the timelike region", Physical Review (1998) - with Richard Lebed
• "The pion and kaon charge form factors," Bulletin of the American Physical Society (1993)