William H. Dobelle - Education and Youth

Education and Youth

William graduated high school at the age of 14 to attend college at Vanderbilt University. After taking time off to travel, he transferred to Johns Hopkins University and quickly immersed himself in Hopkin's leading science community. Throughout his undergraduate career, Dobelle maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA in all of his classes except for French, which he failed, twice. He earned his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in biophysics at Johns Hopkins University where he worked on the development of medical tests. He finished his Ph.D. in neurophysiology at the University of Utah. Throughout his youth, he frequently took time off from his studies to explore other areas of interest. When being interviewed for Dobelle's obituary, a former representative of the Explorers Club in New York City, which Dobelle was a long-time member of, claimed that Dobelle had travelled to all 7 continents, at least 125 countries and all 50 U.S. States. The representative also explained that Dobelle is remembered for occasionally bringing his young children to the lavish banquets. He recalls a night in the early 1990s in which Dobelle brought his very young son to indulge alongside his father in crocodile meat, Dobelle's favorite. On several occasions throughout his 20's, Dobelle left to travel the world for months at a time, occasionally sending home a postcard from a distant country. Two of his most notable expeditions to were to South America, one of which was responsible for tracking the original route of Vasco Núñez de Balboa. He spent one week in Antarctica on this same journey. In his youth, Dobelle had briefly worked on a whaling boat and as a Porsche mechanic. When he was last tested, his IQ (Intelligence Quotient) was measured to be 168. Dobelle was known to be a staunch Atheist.