A man with a passion for history will soon make some of his own.
Professor Frederick Gregory, 66, will retire at the end of this semester after teaching for 31 years at UF. Gregory, a history of science professor, is also a former president of the History of Science Society and former chairman of UF’s history department, according to his UF Web site.
His scant white hair belies a youthful enthusiasm that readily shows itself through conversation.
Looking like something between the aftermath of an earthquake and a garage sale, Gregory’s office mirrors his current state of limbo between teaching and retirement. Half-empty bookshelves and boxes surround a desk carpeted by papers, books and a lone Einstein figurine peeping out of the jumble.
Weeks from retirement, Gregory hasn’t stopped working and hardly seems to be slowing down. He recently finished writing a textbook, “Natural Science in Western History,” and just returned from a speaking engagement in Ireland.
Even in retirement, endless hours of lounging and TV-watching are not in Gregory’s plan. His wife, Patricia, a wellness coach, had him make a list of 30 possible activities for a typical day in his retirement.
At the top of the list is playing handball, a sport he took up as a graduate student at Harvard University 35 years ago. Camping, reading to his wife and volunteering also made the list.
Gregory said he would miss teaching and giving lectures at UF the most.
“The students are what keep you young,” he said.
He admitted feeling guilty about no longer working but smiled as he spoke about the possibility of leisurely reading the newspaper in the morning and getting to his desk at home by 10 a.m., both of which he called “unfathomable” until retirement.
Gregory also said he plans to continue giving lectures and reviewing literature for other scholars, and he sees himself writing an intellectual biography of German philosopher Jakob Fries — but at his pace, not the school’s.
Gregory, who was born in a small Pennsylvania town, began teaching at UF in 1978 after teaching at the now-defunct Eisenhower College in Seneca Falls, N.Y. After leaving Eisenhower College, he said he received offers to teach at UF and the University of Notre Dame.
Gregory’s enthusiasm for history is as obvious now as it was when he first started teaching. In January of 1976, he said, he took a group of students to Europe for an independent study term, where he arranged a meeting with Werner Heisenberg, a legendary physicist who would die that February.
Gregory said that after the meeting the students pulled him aside and told him, “You were so excited, we were worried you were going to wet your pants.”
