Dr. Gregory Reinemer, Physicist
by Rufus Cone, July 2025
The day that Gregory first showed up in the AJMJ Hall Physics Building and stated that he planned on working for his Ph.D. in our lab is a day I remember. Betsie was with him.
During his graduate career, Gregory took on many tasks exploiting both his physics studies and his broad practical experience from previous activities. His most dramatic previous activity, to me, was as a bridge painter. When our lab group moved into in the new EPS Building in late 1997 and found ourselves in an empty room lacking much of the technology and capabilities we needed, Gregory like the other group members pitched in to return the group to productive operation. Todd Harris had helped a lot with the planning. Gregory, Todd, Charles, and Tom all pitched in with moving our equipment, constructing our new apparatus, and getting new and old equipment going. Gregory’s plumbing skills were repurposed to design and construct our multi-room vacuum systems, with giant 6” valves that he ordered and installed.
Gregory had an interesting Ph.D. project that was of special interest to our
collaboration with Scientific Materials Corporation of Bozeman and its founder Ralph Hutcheson. Ralph had developed a special process for Scientific Materials to use to create the Y 2 O 3 crystal at exceptionally high temperature. That crystal was among the literally dozens of expensive yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) crystals that Ralph provided for Gregory’s thesis project. Gregory and the three other graduate students were helped by Dr. Yongchen Sun, who had completed his degree several years earlier. Gregory’s research was successfully completed, and he went on to several academic positions in Idaho and Washington.
After graduating from MSU, Gregory continued for the rest of his life to teach
Einstein’s relativity, another of his academic interests, to students in MSU’s online Masters of Science in Science Education programs. One of the directors said, “He was a highly valued instructor for the MSSE degree program. He continued to contribute to the success of our graduate students following his retirement. Our students (who are science educators) are so very lucky for the knowledge Gregory shared with them, and they will continue to pass along what they’ve learned to their students.”
Gregory was a gregarious member of the group, and I remember him
enthusiastically playing the piano at gatherings. I was honored and pleased for Gregory and Todd to visit with me in Bozeman in summer 2024. Thank you, Gregory.