Part 3: An Army Lieutenant Doing Mathematical Physics 1/31/2021

by Dr. Jim Herod

When I applied for Advanced ROTC, I had been warned that my vision was too poor to serve in a combat situation. Further, the Department of Defense allowed me to delay going on active duty in order to earn a PhD in mathematics. Information gets lost, however. I know because as I finished my first six weeks of officer’s orientation, the company commander of the unit to which I had been assigned called. The company was preparing to be deployed. When he learned I had a PhD in mathematics, he said I had been assigned to the wrong place.

We were still doing underground testing when I was reassigned to the Defense Atomic Support Agency on Sandia Base, New Mexico. The first requirement with this Joint Forces Unit was to upgrade my clearance. While waiting for that, I started reading a collection of journals and technical reports selected by the Marine Major who was my immediate commanding officer. When sufficient clearance came through and I could go behind the gate of the second row of guards, I began to learn what my fellow officers in the building were doing. Only in looking back, do I realize what the Major must have understood. DOD should use me for doing analysis, instead of supervising contracts with civilian corporations who were doing the analysis.

I was assigned to a working group with four goals. Develop the mathematical equations and explanations to understand particles moving through the Earth’s magnetic field and colliding with atmosphere. Write programs with techniques from numerical analysis to represent those theoretical equations. Gather and organize observed data from high altitude tests. Compare the observed data with the numerical predictions as a check on the validity of the derived equations associated with the scattering. Finally, the results would be presented in classified technical reports and the mathematical analysis would be presented to the scientific community.

I worked with outstanding scientists: Air Force Physicists Ralph Pennington and Jack Welch, Geo-Physicist Juan G. Roderer, Goddard Space Flight Center numerical analyst Glinnis Chinnery, and future student of Roderer Air Force Lieutenant Frank Barish.

An important observation from this: Frank Barish recognized that Juan Roderer could be an important person in his future education. He asked and was accepted by Roderer as a future thesis student. Lt. Barish and I took note of people working in our area of interest, created contacts, and developed professional relationships. Finally, let me say that I still have correspondence with Professor Juan G. Roderer in Boulder, Colorado.

Dr. Jim Herod served in the Army from 1964-1966, was a visiting professor at the United States Military Academy from 1981-1982, and is a professor emeritus at Georgia Tech.