By Rebecca MartinStaff Writer

At 73 years old, physics professor Richard Morris is still goingstrong.

He is one of the oldest professors at San Diego State. He hastaught at the college for 45 years.

“I think the reason I continue to stick with it is because I runinto interesting students so often,” Morris said. “I learn as muchfrom students as they learn from me, and that’s the best possibleexchange.”

Physics senior Karlton Crabtree said he’s learned more aboutphysics from Morris’ lab — advanced physical measurement — than inany lab class he’s taken.

“Hislab is one of the most challenging classes you can ever take, but hewill go out of his way to help you,” physics senior Phillip Poonsaid.

Morris began teaching at SDSU in 1957. He has advised more than 30graduate theses.

“This semester I’ve been here seven days a week,” Morris said. “Idon’t like it that way, but setting up all my students’ lab equipmenttakes time.

“With eight students, I have four lab setups, and it takes meabout two hours for each setup.”

Morris also teaches electromagnetic theory, a graduate-levelcourse.

He said he became a physics instructor because of his father.

“I graduated from Berkeley in the ’50s, and I interviewed atLivermore Radiation Lab as a nuclear physicist,” Morris said.

“At that time, they were heavily into weaponry, and theyguaranteed me that every six weeks I’d be going to the South Pacificand setting off blasts.

“I talked to my father about it and he told me the noblestprofession he could think of was teaching. It was pretty good advice.Although there were many bad features, like that the pay was at leasthalf of what I would earn at Livermore, it was a rewarding decision.”

Morris said he became interested in physics after a high schoolteacher inspired him.

“My high school physics teacher was a nuclear physicist atBerkeley working on his PhD when he got lung cancer,” Morris said.

“He decided that with the time he had left he would teach highschool. So he dropped everything he was doing and taught high schoolphysics, and I was lucky enough to have him. He was a greatinstructor.”

Crabtree said Morris taught both of his parents in college.

“Professor Morris is one of the nicest instructors in thedepartment,” Crabtree said. “He’s not easy, though. He’s infamousamong the undergrads for his lab.”

Morris has been married to his wife Barbara for 46 years. Theyhave two children. His son Bill works on campus.

Morris said he expects a lot from his students.

“I overwork all my students, but I don’t do it because I want themto suffer,” he said. “I do it because they have all this good stuffto learn and there’s only a finite amount of time to learn it in.

“I think those who put the time in are rewarded with an insightinto physics, and that’s all I can hope to give them.”