Thomas Greenlee

Academics Faculty

Thomas Greenlee

Email: gretom@bethel.edu

Job Title

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Dr. Greenlee received his bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Michigan Technological University and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physics from the California Institute of Technology. His doctoral dissertation was in experimental atomic spectroscopy applied to the determination of the solar abundance of manganese. Since coming to Bethel, he has had grants from 3M for laser interferometry to measure roughness of surfaces and temperatures of gases. Dr. Greenlee was awarded two summer research fellowships in temperature measurement by infrared pyrometry at NASA--Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. His other professional interests are connections between science and Christianity and chaos theory. He was Associate Director of NASA's Minnesota Space Grant Consortium and served 3 years on the Editorial Board of Physics Resource Letters of the American Journal of Physics and 6 years as secretary of the Minnesota Area Association of Physics Teachers. In 2005, Dr. Greenlee also gave 3 presentations at Wuhan University in China on relativity, quantum mechanics, and possible implications for Christianity. Dr. Greenlee now teaches as an adjunct at Bethel during the three years of the phased retirement program.

Started at Bethel

1979

Education

  • Michigan Technological University - B.S. in Chemistry, 1970
  • California Institute of Technology - M.S. in Physics, 1973
  • California Institute of Technology - Ph.D. in Physics, 1978

Research interests

Dr. Greenlee received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physics from the California Institute of Technology. His doctoral dissertation was in experimental atomic spectroscopy applied to the determination of the solar abundance of manganese. Since coming to Bethel, he has had grants from 3M for laser interferometry to measure roughness of surfaces and temperatures of gases. In 1993 and 1994, Dr. Greenlee was awarded a summer research fellowship in temperature measurement by infrared pyrometry at NASA--Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. His other professional interests are connections between science and Christianity and chaos theory. He is Associate Director of NASA's Minnesota Space Grant Consortium and served 3 years on the Editorial Board of Physics Resource Letters of the American Journal of Physics and 6 years as secretary of the Minnesota Area Association of Physics Teachers. In 2005, Dr. Greenlee also gave 3 presentations at Wuhan University in China on relativity, quantum mechanics, and possible implications for Christianity.

Quote

Psalm 30:11-12 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.