Occupation: I retired from Schlumberger last year, after 25 years, but still consult for them. I was a principal research scientist and program manager for them, specializing in using optical sensors for deep well oil exploration. I worked in their Ridgefield lab from 1988, and then moved with them to Boston in 2006, where the lab relocated. We had an apartment in Boston and our home Newtown for the last seven years, and I traveled between them. Before that, I worked in Ann Arbor, researching nonfossil fuel energy using laser-induced fusion. I did that for ten years. I also worked for a few years for the US Air Force and the Franklin Institute in Philly studying radio prorogation in Thule, Greenland. I’m currently starting an electronics course through the Newtown library here using littleBits modules.

Family: I’ve been married to Joan Nash for 32 years, who retired this March as a school psychologist in Danbury. We have one daughter, Laura Oggeri, who was married to her middle and high school sweetheart, Peter, in 2012. They live in Boston.

Pets: We had two Shi-Tzu dogs for 14 years, Molly and Cassy, but they both passed away recently. We do have a granddog in Boston, named Charlie.

How long have you lived in Newtown? We’ve lived here since 1988, always in the same house. Laura was born in Ann Arbor, Mich., in February that year, and we moved here that July.

What do you like to do in your free time? I like reading, and I like abstract thought and technology can be happy just reading about new things and ideas. I’m in a walking group on Thursdays and enjoy getting outside for exercise in general. I’m revisiting a lot of my old, favorite hobbies, now that I have more time, like fly fishing and photography. We like movies, either watching at home or going out. I belong to a book club. Joan and I enjoy traveling. We just came back from doing the Grand Circle of National Parks in Utah. It takes you through about eight National Parks. We drove about 1,800 miles on that trip. I’m really loving this phase of life with Joan.

Do you have a favorite book? I just finished Bill Bryson’s One Summer: America 1927. There are some funny substories in it, of famous people. Generally, I like reading nonfiction. I’m reading Tender Is The Night, by F. Scott Fitzgerald now, and in my book group, Once An Eagle, by Anson Myrer.

Do you have a favorite travel destination? My personal favorite is Paris, France. It’s a magical city. I like the art, the museums, the cafés, and I like the people. Joan and I love beach vacations. As a family, we’ve been to Aruba four or five times. This summer, we visited beaches on Cape Cod, the Jersey Shore, and we went to Aruba. I also just came back from Germany, visiting my father’s relatives there.

What is the best thing about Newtown? It’s an amazingly beautiful town. We live near Taunton Lake, which is lovely. It has a great school system and has been a great place to raise a family. I like that I’m close to the Housatonic and Farmington Rivers, very well known for fly fishing, and it’s close to the foothills of the Berkshires, a really scenic area.

Who has been the greatest influence in your life? My mother was a very nonjudgmental and kind person, and so was my father. They accepted everyone. My father loved to take things apart and put them back together. I learned from him not to be afraid to try to understand how things work or of trying to fix things. He was very mechanically minded. In school, I admired and learned from my first physics professor, Dr Mara, about the wonders and excitement in our world. And without question, my wife Joan and daughter Laura form the nexus of who I am.

Do you have a personal philosophy? Wake up every day, and it’s a new day. Secondly, try to understand someone else’s point of view.

Do you have a guilty pleasure? If you mean food I should not have too much of, then that would be a perfectly made latte. It has to have good “crème” on the top. The milk foam has to sit just under the crème, and the best part, is if I find a place that can do latte art in the foam. It just tastes better. I enjoyed those in Boston, but haven’t found any in Newtown, so I’m experimenting on my own. I enjoy that with a piece of cake, especially down by the river in Sandy Hook.