Prof. Bob Rose came to MIT as a freshman in the fall of 1954, as what he terms “a mistake.” He characteristically leaves it to the listener to decide whether it was his mistake or the Institute’s. For nearly half a century he has enriched us with his wit, creativity, teaching skill, and irreverence for pomp and circumstance.
Bob was influenced strongly by John Wulff, a crusty and irreverent master teacher and Professor of Metallurgy who was Bob’s freshman advisor, mentor, and thesis advisor. In the 1950’s, vacuum metallurgy was new, as were dislocations in crystals, predicted some twenty years earlier, but just then coming under the control of experimentalists, as opposed to theoreticians. Bob’s doctoral thesis was on dislocations in single crystal tungsten, a material he fabricated using a Korean War surplus radar power supply to electron beam melt the purest tungsten ever produced.
After graduating, Bob was hired as an assistant professor under a Ford Foundation grant for development of new curricula. He assisted in writing two of the four volumes of the “Wulff Series,” which defined Materials Science (as opposed to metallurgy) as a discipline for the first time. He also changed from researching dislocations in tungsten to the emerging engineering of superconductors for high field magnets.
Bob’s incredibly broad research and teaching experience includes mechanical metallurgy of dislocations in tungsten, processing and solid state physics of high field superconducting cables, corrosion of medical implants, wear of ultra high molecular weight polyethylene in total hip replacement prostheses, development of alternative freshman educational programs, etc. He worked more broadly in each decade of his career than most faculty do in a lifetime. For the past two decades, half of Bob’s effort has been dedicated to educating freshmen, primarily through Concourse which he continues to lead and thus enriches the experience of freshmen, as John Wulff enriched Bob’s first year at MIT.
While John Wulff taught Bob disdain for the status quo, Prof. Jerry Lettvin of Electrical Engineering was another force in shaping his professional development. John taught Bob things which are “unprintable” and Jerry taught Bob things which were “unbelievable.” If you ask Bob about these unprintable and unbelievable insights, he will launch into a stream of entertaining and amusing anecdotes, jokes, and life lessons.
Alongside his life at MIT, Bob has been a devoted husband to Martha, the only person who could contain him and cajole him. They have raised three fine children; they enjoy their grandchildren, and they enjoy sailing Martha’s yacht.
As one meets MIT alumni around the country, there are a few faculty about whom all alumni enquire. Bob is one of these. Not only has he had a tremendous impact on his family, but has also influenced hundreds of students who have learned the principles of integrity, hard work, concern for others, humor, and empathy from observing Bob. He always has time to speak with, to help, and to inspire others.
Bob is a part of MIT and MIT is a part of Bob. If one of our goals is to leave the Institute and the world a better place for everyone, then Bob has succeeded admirably.
by Prof. Tom Eagar