Ralph Robert Robbins, Jr, died on December
2, 2005, in Kyle, Texas. His wife, Maria Elena Robbins, his
daughters Julia Robbins Kelso and Stephanie Juarez Balles, son
Matthew Juarez, and five grandchildren survive him. Bob was
on the faculty at the University from 1968 until his retirement
in 2003.
He was born in Wichita, Kansas, on September 2, 1938, the only son of Mildred
and Ralph Robert Robbins, Sr. Guided by his high school's policy to provide a
practical education to children of working-class parents, Bob began high school
with a heavy dose of vocational courses until the results of a test indicated
his special talent in mathematics. He was awarded a full scholarship to Yale
University, graduating magna cum laude in mathematics in 1960. He won the Warner
Prize in Mathematics at Yale that year. He received his Ph.D. in 1966 with a
dissertation entitled "The Triplet Spectrum of Neutral Helium in Expanding
Nebulae" from the University of California at Berkeley. His interest in
college teaching was ignited at this time through summer teaching positions at
San Mateo California Junior College and the Ohio State University. Following
a year at Texas as a McDonald Observatory Post-doctoral Fellow, he taught for
a year in the physics department of the University of Houston before returning
to Austin as an assistant professor in 1968. He was promoted to associate professor
in 1972.
His research in the early 1970s on theoretical studies of helium was of vital
importance to astronomers for over three decades. These pioneering calculations
became vital to observational astronomers in the mid-1990s as interest grew in
the primordial helium produced by the Big Bang.
His interest and influence in education was international in scope. In the summers
of 1968-1970, he was a government consultant in mathematics in East Pakistan
(now Bangladesh). He consulted with the government that was preparing a master
plan for technical education. While teaching all the mathematics instructors
of the polytechnic institutes of the country, he co-authored a textbook,
Polytechnic
Mathematics. Bob was also active for many years in Commission 46 of the
International Astronomical Union, including compiling overviews of educational
materials available in English for over a decade and serving on the organizing
committee for several international meetings.
In the 1970s, Bob and William Jefferys refined their view of how introductory
astronomy should be taught – pioneering a "minds-on, hands-on" approach
that emphasized "learning by doing" even in the non-science majors
courses. This innovative work in astronomy education led to a general-level textbook
(
Discovering Astronomy), a book to accompany upper-division laboratory
courses (
Modern Astronomy: an Activities Approach), and a workbook for
college teachers (
Effective Astronomy Teaching and Student Reasoning Ability).
Bob also popularized self-paced astronomy courses that demanded in-depth understanding
from students as well as requiring observations of the sky and small experiments.
Bob was named a Piper Professor in 1972, a statewide award that recognized his
teaching excellence. For many years Bob served both as an American Astronomical
Society Shapley Visiting Lecturer and as a National Science Foundation Chautauqua
Lecturer, thus bringing his expertise to colleges and college instructors across
the nation.
Bob was fascinated with not only how undergraduate students learn but also how
people of past civilizations learned about astronomy and used it in their lives
and rituals. Bob's colleague Bill Jefferys recalled a 1967 Spring Break trip:
We got into Bob's white and purple Dodge and went to Mexico with a large tent,
big enough for the party of six. We camped on the beach and by the side
of the road, got royally bitten by mosquitoes, suffered a broken spring and flat
tire on the car (both of which were fixed in Mexico, but the tire expired just
as we reentered the US). We also saw many interesting sites, and Bob's interest
in archaeoastronomy may have been kindled or at least renewed on that trip.
In the 1980s, Bob became increasingly interested in archaeoastronomy. Being part
Cherokee, he honored his own ethnic heritage through his studies and the new
courses he developed and taught. His field research covered sites in central
Texas, New Mexico, Mexico, and Central America. He regaled his colleagues with
tales of his travels through guerilla-infested jungles with a platoon of soldiers
as a very essential escort to get to a site of astronomical influence. This interest
grew to publications in archaeoastronomy and extended his teaching from the astronomy
department to offering graduate classes in the Institute for Latin American Studies
on Archeo- and Ethno-Astronomy.
As an involved faculty member, Bob served on education committees of the American
Astronomical Society, the University's Graduate Studies Committee in Math and
Science Education for the College of Education, as well as departmental and college
committees. He served as undergraduate advisor for two years and chair of the
Graduate Admissions Committee for four years for his department. He took special
interest in preparing astronomy graduate students, both in formal courses and
in mentoring situations, to become better teachers.
Bob's final years of teaching were hampered by the onset of Parkinson's and Lewy
Body disease that forced his retirement. He met his disability with courage and
dignity. A gentle person who cared deeply about students and student learning,
his friends and family will miss him.
