Early Life, Education and Career
Born in Pipestone, Minnesota, Ehlers attended Calvin College in Grand Rapids for three years before transferring to the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned an undergraduate degree in physics and, in 1960, a Ph.D. in nuclear physics. His doctoral dissertation "The nuclear spins and moments of several radioactive gallium isotopes" is available from University Microfilms International as document number 0227304. After six years of teaching and research at Berkeley, he moved back to Michigan and took employment at Calvin College in 1966 where he taught physics for 16 years and later served as chairman of the Physics Department.
Ehlers began his political career in 1974 while still at Calvin, when he was elected to the Kent County board of commissioners where he served four terms.
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