The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, and now it holds the videographic oral history from University of Washington Bothell Chancellor Emeritus and professor, Warren W. Buck.
Buck was chosen by HistoryMakers, a collection of video oral histories of African Americans who have made significant contributions to their fields, due to his work in physics and other areas.
“I wanted to be a physicist before I knew what physics was about,” Buck said. “My younger brother and I used to always talk about the stars and why they twinkled, why the moon was the way it is, and the sun, how it comes up and down. What really makes this whole thing tick.”
Later, that desire to learn about how the universe ticked developed into a yearning to learn more about mathematics and physics.
“I’m still in love with [physics], it’s the greatest subject in the world,” Buck said. “It’s a great feeling, it’s a feeling that drives lives when you have a passion you can follow.”
His passions have motivated him through a bachelors in math from Morgan State University in Baltimore, Md., a masters in experimental and theoretical plasma physics and a doctorate in theoretical relativistic nuclear physics from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. Though he has always had a passion for more than just science.
“He is an artist as well as a physicist, so he exposes students to the fact that you can look at art and sciences together, and it’s a very positive thing,” said Elaine Scott, Dean of the school of sciences, technology, engineering and math at UW Bothell. “He’s very much helped people look at the whole picture, the whole of humanity, and it isn’t segmented into the sciences or the arts.”
Before coming to the UW Bothell campus, his career took him for a 25,500-mile-long sailing expedition aboard the 64-foot vessel Ocean Watch, with the goal of teaching students of all ages about about how to protect ocean environments and other sailing trips.
With Buck’s unique history, he has fit in very well at the UW Bothell campus, where innovation is encouraged in an interdisciplinary culture.
“Everything is related to each other, and I think he brings that to the table in a very wonderful way,” Scott said.
While Buck is a full time professor at the UW Bothell campus, he is still a student of the world around him.
“Making something happen right where I am, there’s just so much to enjoy around, it is impossible for us to absorb everything so we take what we can,” Buck said. “I like to do things that make me and others feel good.”
And it is because of his yearning to learn, the contributions he’s made thereof, and the positive impacts he’s made to his communities and to society, that the HistoryMakers series chose him as a ScienceMaker.
“[Buck’s] just such a wonderful and huge presence on campus that it provides mentorship in a lot of different ways. Not only the typical student mentorship, but also for our faculty as well,” Scott said. “It’s really, across the board, a positive presence to have on campus.”
To view some of Buck’s artwork, please head to www.faculty.washington.edu/wbuck/art.html or check out his oral history at www.thehistorymakers.com.
