Simmons, Ralph O. | University of Illinois Archives

Name: Simmons, Ralph O.

Historical Note: Ralph Oliver Simmons was born on February 19, 1928, in Kensington, Kansas. He received a BA in mathematics from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, in June 1950. He was a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford (Oxford, UK) from October 1950 through June of 1952; he received a BA in physics from Oxford in June 1952. He enrolled as a graduate student in physics at the University of Illinois, Urbana, in September 1952 and received a PhD in physics in June 1957. He stayed on after his PhD as a research associate in the Dept of Physics until September 1, 1959, when he was appointed assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor on September 1, 1961, and to full professor on September 1, 1965. He served as department head from September 1970 to August 1986, when he returned to his professorial duties of teaching and research fulltime. He retired in May 1995.