With his physics and computer science knowledge, Dr. Gove fit in well with the Nuclear Research Data Project - an effort to fully document all of the known properties of all the known nuclear particles (a body of knowledge that was very much in a state of flux in those years) – based in Washington D.C. and led by Dr. Katherine Way. Through the persuasion of the director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Dr. Alvin Weinberg, this entire project was officially relocated to “the lab” on Jan. 1, 1964.

When that project wound down, Dr. Gove moved to a group called the “math panel” and concentrated on operations research, and this was followed by transitioning to computer science and pioneering the field now known as data science. He stayed in Oak Ridge for the rest of his career, except for a 3- year leave of absence at the International Atomic Energy Agency, in Vienna, Austria.

While still in D.C., on New Year’s Day, 1959, he met Ruth Eleanor Miller, a geologist working for the U.S. Geological Survey, with offices at the Natural History Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. They became engaged and planned to marry on Halloween of that year. But after the arrangements were made, the officiating officer realized that was a Saturday and canceled. Consequently, the couple moved the wedding up a day and were wed at the courthouse, on their lunch breaks, by a federal judge in juvenile court; after the ceremony, they both went back to work. They commemorated their 65th anniversary on October 30, 2024. They raised three sons, David, Alan, and Andrew. Throughout the years, Noddy (as he was often called by family members) and Ruth never had an argument.

Woody (as most of his friends knew him) was a thoughtful, soft-spoken man, but nonetheless he touched many lives in the community. He was an active supporter, frequent performer, occasional director, and once writer at the Oak Ridge Community Playhouse (both junior and senior). He wrote The Little Green Child and Other Poems. He regularly donated his time and expertise at Recording For The Blind, usually reading scientific textbooks requested by aspiring scholars, for which he not only provided accurate pronunciations but gave thorough and vivid descriptions of complex images and diagrams. In later years, he frequently entertained children (and many adults!) with his tall tales and poetry at libraries, story-telling festivals, school classrooms, and other locales. He also developed a talk entitled “Growing up with a Lexicographer” that he delivered at colleges and for the general public. Other favorite activities included hiking and camping, snow skiing, water sports, tennis, table tennis, pickleball, travel, and attending continuing education classes.

Shortly before his passing, while talking with family, Norwood explained, per his lifetime studying physics, the very concept of Truth was an illusion, or worse, a cudgel used to divide people. As he put it, we can observe the universe, and come up with elaborate models for how it works, but there's no fundamental truth to be found, only better models to be created. Asked whether he believed in gravity, he would say that it's a highly successful model for predicting what will happen next, but insisting on "belief" is counter-productive. So maybe it's not 100% true that everyone who knew Woody loved him, but at least in the model we’ve developed from years of observations, it's the most accurate model we have.

Norwood had no ambition to leave behind a monument of any kind. A "vanity", he would call it. He did not want a funeral. If you wish to honor his memory, please go out and volunteer in your community; engage in conversation with people unlike yourself, and really listen to them; always help when you can, comfort when you cannot; and pay attention to the world around you, seeking out observations, especially ones that disagree with your model of the universe, as those are the ones that can make your model better. Norwood is survived by his wife Ruth of Oak Ridge, TN, sister Doris of Knoxville, TN, sons David of Bakersfield, CA, Alan of Chapel Hill, NC, and Andrew of Bainbridge Island, WA, grandchildren Darshan, Sayali, Daniel, and Ella, as well as numerous nephews, nieces, and cousins.

In lieu of flowers or cards, what the family would most like, and be most comforted by in their time of loss, is for anyone who knew him to contribute memories, in words and/or in pictures to Norwood’s memorial page, which is at http://www.gatheringus.com/memorial/norwood-babcock-gove/9777.