William L. Dimpfl

1973 Earned PhD in Chemistry from UC Berkeley in physical chemistry
1973-74 Post Doc at Max Planck Institut fur Stromungsforschung, Germany
1974-77 Post Doc at MIT
1977 Led expedition up East Buttress of Mt. McKinley
1977-1984 Worked for Chevron Research, Richmond CA
1985-1992 Worked for The Aerospace Corp, El Segundo CA
1992-2000 Worked for Spectral Sciences, Inc, Burlington, MA
2000-present Working for The Aerospace Corp, El Segundo CA
Education in molecular reaction dynamics. Work in gas phase chemical physics, understanding dynamics of chemiluminescent processes at high altitude.
I've enjoyed rock climbing and mountaineering since 1966. Climbed SW face of Half Dome twice since turning 60 to stay young. Got into bicycle racing in early '80s. Won USCF Marin road race my second year. Recently married to Heather, who I met in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and is wonderful. Living in San Pedro and Australia and enjoying getting into sailing, recently restoring an International Tempest. Still struggling to play the violin well. Have dabbled in oil painting and hoping to get back into it.

My life has been an adventure, which is continuing. I married Deborah in ~1971 while in graduate school, expecting to have a family. While I climbed a lot of mountains and traveled, a family didn't happen. We divorced in 1985 as she was finishing her PhD. I married Suzanne (a redhead) in 1986 just after entering the aerospace business and finally started a family. The conflict between science and red hair ended our marriage in 2006, derailing our children's lives. I gained custody of the children between 2010-11 and have been working hard since to get the children's lives back on track. I married Heather in 2013 and we have been supporting one another in recovering from the aftermath of our divorces. My children are finishing college and Heaher's are settling in relationships, with Shelly giving us our first grandchild this year. We travel back and forth, enjoying family and climate in both hemispheres.

I have enjoyed doing high powered science throughout my life, finding the understanding of the universe offered by science stranger and more exciting than science fiction. I have spent countless hours pondering a resolution between the problem solving power of science and the comfort but conflict produced by religion.

I started Redwood in the class of '63 in the fall of 1959 but left before my sophomore year as our family moved to the Middle East for an overseas assignment my dad had taken in his job as a group leader with Chevron Research to start a development lab at the huge Iranian refinery near the tip of the Persian Gulf. Back then Iran was ruled by the Shah. My Freshman year was memorable as Bob Troppmann had coached the varsity football team to win the MCAL championship, with a no loss season. It was great to go to the games an always win!

I lost a year in struggling to continue studies overseas through correspondence courses with the Berkeley University Extension, returning after two and a half years, reentering my Junior year in the class of '64. That year Coach Troppmann's son, Jim, as student body president challenged the school to demonstrate the fitness of American youth to President Kennedy by hiking fifty miles in walking from Redwood to Pt Reyes and back in a day. My legs ceased up with cramps when I sat to rest at Pt. Reyes Station. Many of the students completed the hike and the feat became a craze among US high schools.

Many years later I was visiting my dad's sister, Aunt Judy, who was living on her and Uncle Bob's ranch in Jamestown, near Sonora in the foothills of the Sierras. Her neighbor was an old friend of the Troppmann family and I learned that winning that '59-'60 football season was a major event in Bob Troppmann's life.