Former SJSU physics professor dead at 80

By: Kate Taylor

Posted: 1/23/08

Friends and family gathered Monday in Reno, Nev., to say goodbye to Dr. Fred Holmstrom, a former SJSU physics professor, department chair and do-it-yourself man blessed with a talent for research and invention

Holmstrom died Monday, Jan. 14, at the age of 80.

Frederick Edward Holmstrom was born and raised in Salt Lake City.

After starting college at the University of Utah to study engineering, he decided to switch to physics. He earned his doctorate in physics in 1958.

The University of Utah gave him the opportunity to work with the U.S. Navy in California, where he helped build the first Doppler radar.

In 1963, he began as the physical sciences department chair at SJSU, where he had previously worked part time.

"Fred was a lively fellow. He told jokes and would spin things humorously. He was very popular as a professor," said Gareth Williams, a former SJSU professor of biology and Holmstrom's colleague.

"He was the first physicist who was chairman of the department," said Don Strandburg, a former SJSU physics professor.

"He had to work hard to get lecture rooms, offices for faculty, research spaces for faculty. He did a good job," Strandburg said.

While serving 16 years as chairman he tried to convince SJSU to buy its first laser, and when they refused, he built it himself.

In the 1970s, he and Daniel Nepala, a chemist at IBM, became interested in the aerodynamics of golf balls - even though neither were golfers.

They designed and patented the Polara golf ball, with shallower dimples at each pole, which changed recreational golf by reducing hooks and slices by 75 percent.

During the 1980s, Holmstrom worked with John Churchill and the linear accelerator at Lawrence Livermore Labs to show that our universe has at least 12 dimensions and that every surface is an expression of wave motion.

Before retiring from teaching in 1997.

Holmstrom was a deeply religious man and wrote books about the parallels between modern scientific findings and the Bible.

He tried to prove in all his research that God works with the natural laws of the universe, said his daughter Linda Keesling. "He always said 'truth is truth no matter the context.'"

"The physics community at large has lost a very bright star," she said.

A eulogy written by Holmstrom's daughter is featured online at www.thespartandaily.com.