Early Life and Career
Poindexter was born in Washington, Indiana, the son of Ellen (Sommers) and Marlan G. Poindexter. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1958, where he was first in his class, and among his fellow graduates were Bruce McCandless II who graduated second and Senator John McCain. National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane graduated the following year. From 1961 to 1964, Poindexter studied as a graduate student and earned his M.S. in 1961 and his Ph.D. in 1964 from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Nuclear Physics. For his PhD, he conducted laboratory research to further develop a model for understanding the Mössbauer effect with Nobel Laureate Rudolf Mössbauer.
Read more about this topic: John Poindexter
Famous quotes containing the words early, life and/or career:
“Mormon colonization south of this point in early times was characterized as “going over the Rim,” and in colloquial usage the same phrase came to connote violent death.”
—State of Utah, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“My life I never held but as a pawn
To wage against thine enemies’ nor fear to lose it,
Thy safety being motive.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Each of the professions means a prejudice. The necessity for a career forces every one to take sides. We live in the age of the overworked, and the under-educated; the age in which people are so industrious that they become absolutely stupid.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)