Tributes to Professor Barney Webb

So what’s your favorite image? I have a million. In the classroom taking off his jacket and hanging it over some utility line? In the lab, tripping over lines to the mercury diffusion pump? In his office? Reviewing data or write-up? Hurrying down the hall, looking for someone to sell him a cigarette for a quarter? My favorite might be: Barney at the helm of Half-Hitch on Lake Superior. Pure joy!  

Max Lagally, Bill Weber and I were the second group of students that Barney took on around 1965, at roughly the same time. He bemoaned more than once that taking on so many students at the same time was going to be tough. The work I did with Barney was perhaps the best of my career. His physical insight was phenomenal. He would tell me what the results of my experiments meant and leave it up to me to work out some mathematical framework or model. Those were the only two things I do a little better than Barney — mathematics and spelling. I really liked Barney and will miss him very much. I was planning to visit him last summer during a trip to the US (I now live in Munich in retirement), Madison in particular where I also have a son Paul and two grandsons. Covid nixed those plans — maybe next summer.

I agree with what you all said.  He will be missed. One of many things he taught me was how much one could get out of a simple diagram. Nothing much more than a circle.  You know which one. Incidentally, I was able to speak with him the day before he passed. He said he felt fine. He was still sharp, and when I told him that I was retiring he was very kind in his comment. I am not sure what triggered this memory but — When we were leaving Vietnam, near the last moments, Barney realized that Tran could be in danger. He was terribly worried and called everyone he knew. I don’t know the details and perhaps Dan Gelatt’s father was involved. I think it was the result of his extraordinary efforts that Tran was able to leave. (Maybe Max and Dan know more.)  [Tran Ngoc got his Ph.D. with Barney in 1982.  He passed away in 2014 (ed.)] I don’t know more other than he was on the last plane out, and he described to us how he went to the roof of some building — embassy maybe — and the helicopter got him and his family.  (Max Lagally)

I probably would not have made it through grad school without Barney’s patience and persistence. He also had the good sense to push me along when I started to get too comfortable at Madison. A few memories:

• Barney comes into my office, flips over a waste basket to use as a stool, lights up a smoke, and proceeds to talk about physics or wood working
• Learning that writing a paper was best done in free hand on a yellow pad with your feet up on the desk
• Sharing long drives with Barney and other grad students to conferences. Learned some about his past experiences at GE and the Navy. On the way home he’d clarify what was presented as well as give candid opinions of the presenters.

I stayed in touch with Barney over the years, using the American Birkebeiner Ski Race and swims across Lake Mendota as excuses to visit with him. One of the many things that struck me was his generosity with his time. A few years ago, we were having lunch on the Memorial Union Terrace after a lake swim, and he suddenly looked at his watch, and said: “I’ve got to go — I have a meeting with the Dean.” This was 20 years after his (nominal) retirement. Another time we were in his office in Chamberlin Hall and there was a knock on the door: a white-haired professor said to him, “Now Barney, don’t forget you promised to talk to us about the recent gravity wave experiments.”  He hadn’t forgotten. He had a talent for putting students at ease, talking about whatever we wanted. Although he had strong opinions (especially about science), he was always reasonable in his approach — walking away from conversations that “generated more heat than light.” I also remember him helping me to practice my first conference talk — he was at least as nervous as me. I could tell I was making progress when upon finishing I could see the floor under all the cigarette butts. In 1990 or so I remember giving an invited talk at the APS March Meeting along with other of his former students. He wasn’t allowed to smoke and pointed out, “this isn’t fair,” clearly in need of a smoke. By the way, his son Richard tells me he got in one last cigarette a couple of days before passing, and passed peacefully in his sleep. I agree with Ed Conrad; he was like a second father to me. I’ll miss his wise counsel.

He really created my passion for physics more than anyone!  

Franz Himpsel

Here is a link to Barney’s citation for the Davisson-Germer Prize, one of the top prizes of the American Physical Society: https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/prizes/prizerecipient.cfm?last_nm=Webb&first_nm=Maurice&year=1987 It is particularly notable that during Barney’s career the big industrial research labs (Bell Labs, IBM, Xerox,…) dominated at the cutting edge of research in condensed matter and surface physics — Barney’s specialties. Compared to a university professor, their research staff members had vast resources available — not only financially but also via interactions with expert in-house colleagues. Despite the odds, Barney kept up with them by devising clever experiments and building most of his equipment together with his students. It probably helped that he was already part of that club at the General Electric Labs before joining UW–Madison.

Bob Joynt

I probably had lunch with Barney 4000 times over 30 years, the last time when he was 92 and still coming in pretty much every day.  He was the same age as my father.  However, he was not a mentor but a protector.  He shielded me every day from everything that is boring in life – he was a person always interested in everything and approached it all with the most lively intellect.  I never remember a moment in his company that was not absorbing and fun.

Pupa Gilbert

I would like to add, to what all others have brilliantly said, that Barney had a terrific sense of humor and was an intrepid cyclist for most of his life. As he aged, he said that uphill roads “got steeper and steeper” so he stopped biking on them.

Mark Eriksson

Barney was a great mentor and role model in so many ways.  Always understated about his own accomplishments, and always willing to offer advice when asked.  This was certainly true throughout my time on the faculty since 1999, when Barney was supportive and encouraging from day one.  But it was true for me far earlier than that.  At 9am on February 28, 1987 I met with Professor Webb in his office.  He had agreed to talk to my father and me about choosing an undergraduate college, since I was interested in physics.  I was a 17 year old high school junior from Madison LaFollette.  Barney didn’t know either my father or me, and the 28^th was a Saturday.  None of that mattered, and he was happy to take the time to talk with us.  When I joined the faculty years later, I of course remembered that conversation, and — I now know it should not have surprised me — so did he.

Dick Dexter

I am one of the earliest members of the department to know of Barney’s value. Although younger than old-timers like Haeberli (or Barney himself) I can say farewell and sleep in peace.

Lou Bruch

Just want to add a few remarks. Barney was a very good counselor on university affairs. He also was a competitive gardener, for instance on the question of first ripe tomatoes and last ripe strawberries. He will be missed.

Duncan Carlsmith

Sad news! Barney will be missed by those here who knew him.

Willy Haeberli

Yes, a very nice colleague, so even tempered, a good scientist. Even a year younger than I am!

Aimee Lefkow

Barney was such a sweet fellow.