The University of Queensland promotes “lifelong learning” and Dr Gary Tuck is proof.
The UQ senior lecturer in physics, who retires at the end of July, has spent almost a lifetime at the University, having studied here in the 1960s before spending a further 43 years as an academic.
Dr Tuck said one of his greatest achievements following his PhD in geophysics was studying Newton’s gravitational constant, when physicists worldwide were debating the theory.
Together with former UQ Professor Frank Stacey and other academics, their research made a major contribution to eventually showing that the constant was indeed “constant”, a breakthrough in physics.
“That was a really exciting period… We had a wonderful opportunity to interact with colleagues both here in Australia and overseas with our research work,” Dr Tuck said
One of Dr Tuck’s first jobs at UQ was developing experiments for honours subjects and he will continue being involved in developing and upgrading experiments into his retirement.
During his career, he has been symposium convenor for physics conferences, academic adviser, faculty board member, chair of the physics teaching and learning committee and chair of the Queensland Branch of the Australian Institute of Physics, among many other roles.
Dr Tuck has also focused on improved teaching approaches for first-year students, giving students “clickers” to indicate when they understood a concept, thus engaging them in active discussions.
“It is particularly pleasing to see some of my colleagues and some in the BACS faculty now using this teaching approach,” he said.
Dr Tuck first came to UQ in 1960 as a Bundaberg boy fresh out of high school. It was the “Sputnik” era, so the period was a magnet for potential physicists.
“Coming from a regional high school my first impressions of the University left me being quite overwhelmed,” he said.
“At the time it seemed so imposing and grandiose but in another sense it was quite exciting to be going to a place like UQ.”
He spent just a year working away from UQ before returning in 1964 for further study and work.
Looking forward, Dr Tuck, who lives in The Gap, is excited about having more time to indulge his interests in gardening, woodwork, photography and seeing more of Australia with his wife, Beverley.
Media: Dr Tuck on (3365 3426) or Tegan Taylor at UQ Communications (07 3365 2339)
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