[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 52 (Tuesday, April 24, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E620]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 TRIBUTE HONORING DOCTOR GORDON GILBERT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. SCOTT McINNIS

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 24, 2001

  Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take a moment and pay 
special tribute to a very special person. Doctor Gordon Gilbert, a 
professor of physics at Mesa State College for over 20 years who has 
seen and done a lot in his lifetime. It is with this life of service 
that I would now like to recognize.
  After receiving his masters degree from the Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology, Dr. Gilbert went on to work for the Apollo Space Project 
at NASA. He was part of the team involved with the lunar landing. When 
that program finished, he went back to MIT to earn his doctorate. When 
he finished school, the University of Arizona offered him a faculty 
position, where he spent 10 years observing and researching galaxies 
and quasars from the new Kitt Peak National Observatory.
  Dr. Gilbert's dream has always been to teach, and that finally came 
true in 1980, when a small liberal arts college in Colorado hired him 
and a group of distinguished colleagues to build their physics program, 
which today is cutting edge. Dr. Gilbert has an unusual but highly 
successful style in his classes. He has been known to show up as Isaac 
Newton, Galileo, or Albert Einstein.
  Dr. Gilbert has continued to teach and do research while battling 
prostate cancer for the last 10 years. ``I'm told I have about three 
more years. I've been told that every other year since 1992.'' Despite 
all he has accomplished, his greatest gift is being a dad to his three 
kids, Beth, James, and Thomas. ``It may be true. I don't laugh at it. I 
don't take it for granted. But I do know the roses have never smelled 
sweeter.''
  Mr. Speaker, Dr. Gilbert has done a lot for science, space 
exploration and his students. And despite having cancer, he is still 
giving it his all in the classroom and with his family. I applaud, 
Gordon and all that he has accomplished in his lifetime, and I want to 
thank him and wish him all the best in the future.

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