[1] Goos attended the Johanneum Gymnasium in Hamburg, from where he graduated with a high school diploma in March 1902.
In the following winter semester, he continued his studies in Berlin, but in April 1906 went back to Bonn, where he earned a doctorate degree in astronomy in 1908.
[3] As an adjunct professor at the University of Hamburg, Goos worked in the area of optical spectroscopy.
[4][5] At the end of 1912, he discovered a systematic dependence of the wavelengths in the spectrum of an arc on its length and its electrical parameters such as the current used.
[9][10] In 1933 Goos signed the Vow of allegiance of the Professors of the German Universities and High-Schools to Adolf Hitler and the National Socialistic State.