Gaylord ‘Jim’ B. Buck, Jr. #485

After graduating from the University of Denver in 1937 with a BA in chemical engineering, Brother Buck went to work in Cleveland for General Electric. Brother Buck was the lead engineer in the development of fluorescent lamps and night-vision and worked for four years as a technology assistant in the Navy during World War II.

He was assigned to a top secret assignment where he invented an optical device to locate and rescue Navy Seals at night. He made sure American night-vision was ahead of German and Japanese technology and found a way to help the Seals get back to the ships after so many were lost because of enemies, sharks or hypothermia. When in Bethesda, Maryland, he noticed a bridge that had low-voltage reflector buttons and applied it to his project. He pulled together numerous resources and developed an optically-perfect reflector that could be placed on a Seals’ helmet and allow the ship to find the Seal in the water just hours before an attack would commence.

Brother Buck needed the approval of optical guru Dr. Brian O’Brien of the University of Rochester (N.Y.) before taking his idea to the Navy, but Dr. O’Brien was on a fishing vacation in Colorado—Brother Buck’s home state. Brother Buck found the make, color and license plate number of Dr. O’Brien’s car and enlisted the help of Buck’s father, who worked in the Public Service Department of Colorado. With every Public Serviceman on the lookout for Dr. O’Brien’s car, Brother Buck had found his man within 24 hours. Dr. O’Brien ended up approving the project, and Brother Buck got Dr. Harvey White, who had built the largest and most powerful telescope at that time at Mount Palomar in San Diego, to help create a tight infra-red laser light. The project was a huge success.

In 1965, Brother Buck worked with NASA to study atmospheric transmission tests and reflector lights using satellites—a project that would end up being the first equipment placed on the moon when Neal Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin landed in 1969. The device has 100 reflectors, can be seen using a laser-equipped telescope and can calculate the distance between Earth and the Moon—some 250,000 miles—to within a quarter of an inch. After retiring from GE in 1969, Brother Buck moved back to Colorado and was the Director of Planning for Honeywell in Denver. His projects included self-focusing lenses and zoom lenses on cameras.

In the last decade, Brother Buck has worked for The Villager Newspaper Group in Denver as the science editor, where he still occasionally writes columns, and gives talks on astronomy.

His wife, Betty, passed away in 1986. Brother Buck has two children, Gary and Betsy, four grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. His children have taken over businesses he started.

“Being a part of Beta Theta Pi, or any fraternity, rounds out your experience in college, gives you the chance to know your brothers and provides competition with other groups, which I think is helpful,” he says.

In addition to his participation in Beta Theta Pi, Brother Buck was also the captain of the DU ski team.