Paul Alton Gohman was born on July 5, 1954 in Windom, MN to Alton and Selma "Sally" (Holt) Gohman. He graduated from Windom Area High School in 1972. Paul was in the Navy six years (August 1972—August 1978) where he achieved the rank of Hospital Corpsman Second Class (E5) with a specialty of Medical Laboratory Technician. His Navy tour started in San Diego where he went through boot camp and attended both Hospital Corpsman School and Medical Laboratory Technician School. The next duty assignment was in Pensacola, FL, where he worked in the Naval Hospital laboratory and moonlighted at Sacred Heart Hospital. He received his next assignment to the Naval Medical Research Unit #5 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and worked in the virology department there. After he spent two months on station, most of the American personnel in Ethiopia were deported for political reasons. His next and last assignment was at the Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory in New London, CT, where he moonlighted at Lawrence Memorial Hospital to save money for college. Paul returned to Minnesota to attend the University of Minnesota for the next five years (September 1978—June 1983). He studied physics and computer science before graduating with a B.A. degree in physics, then entered the U.S. Air Force. Paul was in the Air Force for approximately six years (November 1983—August 1989) where he achieved the rank of Captain (03). He was first assigned to Officer Training School in San Antonio, TX, where he was commissioned after four months. He participated in an engineering conversion program that sent him to Auburn University - where he received a B.E.E. (Bachelors of Electrical Engineering) degree in August 1985. While at Auburn, he wrote a paper on optical computing and became interested in the subject. He requested and was sent to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base where he hoped to work in one of their many research labs. Unfortunately, he was assigned to the Foreign Technology Division and worked as a radar systems analyst. He attended Wright State University part time, researched optical computing technology, and wrote a theoretical thesis on an optical switching device: the colloidal crystal filter. He graduated with an M.S. degree in physics at the same time he left the Air Force to attend the University of Arizona, and there pursued experimental research on the colloidal filter. At the University of Arizona (August 1989—August 1998), he was accepted as a Ph.D. candidate at the Optical Sciences Center. In August 1994, Paul received an M.S. degree in optical sciences. After writing and defending his dissertation, "Theory and Fabrication of Colloidal-Crystal Bragg Filters," he obtained a Ph.D. degree in 1998. Between 1999-2008, Paul was employed by the University of Arizona, teaching and performing lab research. He retired in 2008 and moved back to Windom. Paul passed away on September 28, 2019 at the Sanford Medical Hospital in Sioux Falls, SD, two weeks after suffering a stroke. Survivors include his mother, Sally Gohman of Windom, MN; brothers, David (Patti) Gohman of Orange City, IA; John (Shannon) Gohman of Inver Grove Heights, MN; niece and nephews, Austin Gohman of Madison, WI; Leah Gohman of Inver Grove Heights, MN; Nathaniel Gohman of Orange City, IA; Andrew Gohman of Orange City, IA. Paul is preceded in death by his father, Alton.