Joseph S. Wells
March 19, 1930 – May 26, 2016
Joseph S. Wells of Boulder died on May 26, 2016. He is survived by his devoted wife, Ginny, and their four children and respective families: Gwen Wells and Jeff Inman; Mark and Leah Wells (Haskell and Simon); Kirk Wells and Julie Greene; and Greg and Carol Wells (Laura, Andrew, Vincent, Catherine, and Emma). Joe also leaves behind his brother, Norman, his wife Frances, and their sons and their respective families; and a sister, Lois, her husband, Dennis Nocton, and their daughter, Wende, and her husband, Brendan Gibbs. Two sisters and their husbands preceded Joe in death: Shirley and Karl “Lucky” Hartman, and Sylvia Phillips (Tom Phillips, Darrell Wells). Joe is fondly remembered by his nieces and nephews and their own families: Kurt Hartman; Lisa and Sam Palamaria; Susan Phillips and Mike Brehm; Tom and Cary Phillips; Lori Phillips and Dave Oliver; Tim and Alee Phillips.
Born in Meade, Kansas, Joe was the first child of George R. Wells and Mary Josephine “Josie” Wells (née Reed). The family relocated in 1941 to Mulvane, Kansas, a small town near Wichita. From 1948 to 1950 Joe attended Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas. As a serviceman in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War he spent 30 months in Tokyo, where he took his first courses in physics—the foundation for a long and distinguished career as a research physicist. He continued his studies at Kansas State University in Manhattan, where he met his future wife, Virginia “Ginny” Shepherd at a Methodist church event. They married on March 31, 1956. In 1958 the couple moved with their infant daughter to Colorado, where Joe enrolled in the PhD program in physics at the University of Colorado-Boulder and worked at the National Bureau of Standards. By 1964, when Joe received his PhD diploma, the young Wells family included three sons.
Joe’s research in the Time and Frequency Division of what is now the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) eventually focused on the field of spectroscopy. He was part of the seven-member “speed of light team” that established a fixed value of the speed of light and a new definition of the meter in 1972—work that earned them the Department of Commerce Gold Medal. Joe and Ginny spent a sabbatical year (1977–78) at the government research labs in Gaithersburg, Maryland. After his official retirement from NIST in 1986, Joe founded a consultancy, Phlatirons Photonics, Inc., and continued his government physics work on a contract basis until 2000.
An Alexander von Humboldt Senior Scientist award took Joe and Ginny to Bonn, Germany, in 1991. At the Physics Institute of Bonn University, Joe joined the lab of Professor Wolfgang Urban and supervised a group of young researchers. Several of Professor Urban’s students also came to work in Joe’s lab in Boulder. These German colleagues have remained warm friends ever since.
Demanding though his career was, Joe devoted quality time to family and cultivated non-work interests that included CU football and classical music. The entire family loved hiking and camping in the Rockies, and they set out in their station wagon on rambling vacations to other regions of the United States. Joe and Ginny traveled on their own throughout Europe, and in 1986 they made a celebratory retirement trip to Australia and New Zealand, with a stopover in Hawaii on the way home. Joe was an avid photographer, and his many home improvement projects reflected a unique combination of artistic flair and scientific precision. Among family and close friends, Joe will long be remembered for his sense of humor and occasional pranks.
Family, friends, and colleagues are invited to a celebration of Joe’s life at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 2, 2016, at First United Methodist Church, 1421 Spruce St., Boulder. Any donations in his memory may be sent to the Physics Department (check or MO payable to CU Foundation), University of Colorado UCB, Boulder, CO, 80309–0390; or to the Alzheimer’s Association, Colorado Chapter, 455 Sherman St. #500, Denver, CO, 80203.
March 19, 1930 – May 26, 2016
Joseph S. Wells of Boulder died on May 26, 2016. He is survived by his devoted wife, Ginny, and their four children and respective families: Gwen Wells and Jeff Inman; Mark and Leah Wells (Haskell and Simon); Kirk Wells and Julie Greene; and Greg and Carol Wells (Laura, Andrew, Vincent, Catherine, and Emma). Joe also leaves behind his brother, Norman, his wife Frances, and their sons and their respective families; and a sister, Lois, her husband, Dennis Nocton, and their daughter, Wende, and her husband, Brendan Gibbs. Two sisters and their husbands preceded Joe in death: Shirley and Karl “Lucky” Hartman, and Sylvia Phillips (Tom Phillips, Darrell Wells). Joe is fondly remembered by his nieces and nephews and their own families: Kurt Hartman; Lisa and Sam Palamaria; Susan Phillips and Mike Brehm; Tom and Cary Phillips; Lori Phillips and Dave Oliver; Tim and Alee Phillips.
Born in Meade, Kansas, Joe was the first child of George R. Wells and Mary Josephine “Josie” Wells (née Reed). The family relocated in 1941 to Mulvane, Kansas, a small town near Wichita. From 1948 to 1950 Joe attended Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas. As a serviceman in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War he spent 30 months in Tokyo, where he took his first courses in physics—the foundation for a long and distinguished career as a research physicist. He continued his studies at Kansas State University in Manhattan, where he met his future wife, Virginia “Ginny” Shepherd at a Methodist church event. They married on March 31, 1956. In 1958 the couple moved with their infant daughter to Colorado, where Joe enrolled in the PhD program in physics at the University of Colorado-Boulder and worked at the National Bureau of Standards. By 1964, when Joe received his PhD diploma, the young Wells family included three sons.
Joe’s research in the Time and Frequency Division of what is now the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) eventually focused on the field of spectroscopy. He was part of the seven-member “speed of light team” that established a fixed value of the speed of light and a new definition of the meter in 1972—work that earned them the Department of Commerce Gold Medal. Joe and Ginny spent a sabbatical year (1977–78) at the government research labs in Gaithersburg, Maryland. After his official retirement from NIST in 1986, Joe founded a consultancy, Phlatirons Photonics, Inc., and continued his government physics work on a contract basis until 2000.
An Alexander von Humboldt Senior Scientist award took Joe and Ginny to Bonn, Germany, in 1991. At the Physics Institute of Bonn University, Joe joined the lab of Professor Wolfgang Urban and supervised a group of young researchers. Several of Professor Urban’s students also came to work in Joe’s lab in Boulder. These German colleagues have remained warm friends ever since.
Demanding though his career was, Joe devoted quality time to family and cultivated non-work interests that included CU football and classical music. The entire family loved hiking and camping in the Rockies, and they set out in their station wagon on rambling vacations to other regions of the United States. Joe and Ginny traveled on their own throughout Europe, and in 1986 they made a celebratory retirement trip to Australia and New Zealand, with a stopover in Hawaii on the way home. Joe was an avid photographer, and his many home improvement projects reflected a unique combination of artistic flair and scientific precision. Among family and close friends, Joe will long be remembered for his sense of humor and occasional pranks.
Family, friends, and colleagues are invited to a celebration of Joe’s life at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 2, 2016, at First United Methodist Church, 1421 Spruce St., Boulder. Any donations in his memory may be sent to the Physics Department (check or MO payable to CU Foundation), University of Colorado UCB, Boulder, CO, 80309–0390; or to the Alzheimer’s Association, Colorado Chapter, 455 Sherman St. #500, Denver, CO, 80203.
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