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In Memoriam (Obituaries) Archive

James Wong Sunday, October 4, 2020	Eric Gregory Sunday, August 28, 2016	Sergey Egorov Sunday, March 24, 2013
Rafael Navarro Friday, September 25, 2020	Eddie Man-Wai Leung Monday, August 1, 2016	Kiyoshi Tsukasa Friday, January 25, 2013
John "Jack" F. Mc Donald Friday, February 21, 2020	Helen T. Edwards Tuesday, June 21, 2016	Henry Blosser Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Alvin Tollestrup Sunday, February 9, 2020	Konrad H. Fischer Tuesday, May 3, 2016	Gordon Donaldson Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Archie MacRobert Campbell Thursday, November 21, 2019	Karl Gschneidner Wednesday, April 27, 2016	Michael Wulf Friday, November 16, 2012
Francesco Negrini Tuesday, August 20, 2019	Colmar Hinnrichs Saturday, February 27, 2016	Rob McGrath Wednesday, August 8, 2012
John Robert Schrieffer Saturday, July 27, 2019	William E. "Bill" Keller Thursday, December 31, 2015	Jens Müller Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Kamel Salama Friday, July 12, 2019	Robert John Soulen, Jr. Sunday, November 29, 2015	Carl Henning Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Alan F. Clark Friday, February 1, 2019	Herbert Bousack Friday, November 13, 2015	Akira Tonomura Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Hans-Georg Meyer Tuesday, December 25, 2018	Harry (Henry) Jones Monday, August 24, 2015	Siegfried Wolff Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Kyoji Tachikawa Friday, December 7, 2018	William Brownfield Fowler Sunday, May 3, 2015	Milan Polák Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Roger W. Boom Wednesday, August 8, 2018	Viktor Efimovich Keilin Monday, November 24, 2014	Marty Lubell Monday, January 16, 2012
Fernand D. “Doc” Bedard Thursday, June 21, 2018	Koichi Kitazawa Friday, September 26, 2014	Antonio Barone Sunday, December 4, 2011
Vincenzo (Enzo) Palmieri Friday, March 16, 2018	Werner Weber Thursday, July 3, 2014	Shoji Tanaka Friday, November 11, 2011
Meyer Garber Thursday, December 14, 2017	Hirosi Maeda Saturday, May 24, 2014	Clyde Taylor Sunday, October 16, 2011
James Nordman Tuesday, November 21, 2017	James H. Parker, Jr. Tuesday, April 15, 2014	Per Dahl Saturday, October 1, 2011
Henri Desportes Sunday, September 24, 2017	Olga L. Polushenko Tuesday, March 4, 2014	Ernst-Helmut Brandt Thursday, September 1, 2011
John Alcorn Thursday, September 7, 2017	Hans Hillman Thursday, February 6, 2014	Igot Yanson Monday, July 25, 2011
Edgar A. Edelsack Friday, May 5, 2017	Nicola Sacchetti Saturday, February 1, 2014	Ray Sarwinski Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Alexei Abrikosov Wednesday, March 29, 2017	Leo K. Kovalev Tuesday, January 28, 2014	Hisashi Kado Wednesday, December 22, 2010
David G. Hawksworth Wednesday, March 15, 2017	Alex Shikov Saturday, October 26, 2013	Gert Eilenberger Sunday, November 21, 2010
Peter E. Gifford Sunday, January 29, 2017	Nikolai Kopnin Sunday, October 20, 2013	W. James Carr Jr. Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Carl Leonard Goodzeit Wednesday, January 25, 2017	Jeffrey A. Stern Friday, October 11, 2013	Michael Tinkham Thursday, November 4, 2010
Mauricio (Mau) de Lima Lopes Tuesday, January 3, 2017	Vladimir Pan Friday, September 20, 2013	Praveen Chaudhari Thursday, January 14, 2010
Lev Petrovich Gor'kov Wednesday, December 28, 2016	Øystein Håkon Fischer Thursday, September 19, 2013	Vitaly L. Ginzburg Sunday, November 8, 2009
Peter Komarek Wednesday, November 23, 2016	John Clem Friday, August 2, 2013	Zdenek J. J. Stekly Friday, April 3, 2009
Giovanni Volpini Wednesday, October 12, 2016	Klaus Irgmaier Friday, June 28, 2013	Masaki Suenaga Friday, February 13, 2009
Leszek Motowidlo Wednesday, September 21, 2016	Joe Smith, Jr. Tuesday, May 7, 2013	Hiromi Hirabayashi Friday, April 11, 2008

Hisashi Kado

February 7, 1948 to December 22, 2010

Hisashi Kado (ca 2007)

Hisashi Kado Succumbed to Cancer

December 27, 2010 (PO1). Hisashi Kado, a pioneer of modern biomagnetic SQUID instrumentation in Japan passed away on December 22nd, 2010, after a three-year-long battle with cancer. He left behind his wife and three sons.

Hisahi was born on February 7th, 1948 and graduated from the Department of Biophysical Engineering, faculty of Engineering Science at the Osaka University in 1971. His PhD degree he also obtained from Osaka University, in 1984.

In 1971 Hisashi joined the Electrotechnical Laboratory (ETL) and started his research activity by getting involved in measurements of human hearing system and developing non-invasive methods of functional measurement of biological system. From mid-1980s on, he was developing SQUID and biomagnetic measurement systems at ETL, and eventually joined the Superconducting Sensor Laboratory (SSL), a MITI1 consortium-type project (1990-1996) to develop large, multichannel magnetoencephalography (MEG) systems for human brain research and diagnostics. Hisashi was appointed the Research Director of SSL, a position equivalent to Chief Technical Officer in a company. His SSL activity culminated in the development, commissioning and research use of a 256-channel whole-head MEG system (complete with a special magnetic shielded room) then the largest in the world.

In 1995 Hisashi was appointed Professor at the Kanazawa Institute of Technology (KIT), and organized there the Applied Electronics Laboratory of KIT, which he then headed. The objective of this group has been to develop various measurement technologies for biomagnetism, applied physics and other industrial applications. Hisashi’s and the group’s major success was the completion and industrialization of a 160-channel whole-head MEG system2 for medical research and diagnostics, which found use internationally, both in the US and in Europe.

For his achievements Hisashi received the New Technology Development Award of the “Japan Society of Medical and Biological Engineering, Science News”.

As his close collaborator, Gen Uehara, put it, “at SSL and KIT, Hisashi lead many young common researchers to achieve uncommon results, and eventually educated them to be next generation leaders in biomagnetism.” His premature departure leaves a deep void which will be difficult to fill.

1MITI is the acronym of the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry.

2Spun-off to the Eagle Technology Corporation, Inc., and to the Yokogawa Electric Corp.

Gert Eilenberger

January 1, 1936 to November 21, 2010

Gert Eilenberger (ca. 1980)

Gert Eilenberger Passed away at 74

January 14, 2011 (PO2). German theoretical physicist, Prof. Gert Eilenberger, passed away on November 21st, 2010, after a severe short illness. His rather sudden departure at 74 came as a sad surprise to his colleagues. He has been well-known to the superconductivity community as the originator of Eilenberger equations, which are applicable to BCS-like superconductors. These equations are a simplification of Gor’kov equations and are useful especially for superconducting alloys (1968).

Gert Eilenberger was born in 1936 in Hamburg, got his Ph.D. in 1961 under the well-known Friedrich Hund, and the habilitation (D.Sc.) in 1965, both at Göttingen. Soon after a postdoctoral stint at Cornell (1965-1967) he became affiliated with the Cologne University and was appointed full professor in 1970.

Eilenberger made significant contributions both to superconductivity, and to nonlinear dynamics. For over 30 years he was active in the Research Center Jülich (KFA later FZJ, Jülich, Germany) and founded there the present “Institute of Quantum Theory of Materials”. His activity included not only purely scientific work, but also various leading roles in the FZJ Senate, an advisory role at the DFG, the German equivalent of NSF (the US National Science Foundation), was Chairman of the Board of Europhysics Letters, member of the Academy of Sciences of NRW (Northrhine-Westphalia), etc. As a DFG advisor he was particularly helpful in supporting effective reorganization of science in Dresden, East Germany, after the German reunification. Once officially retired from FZJ, he became also quite active and successful in the communal politics of the City of Jülich.

Gert was a very engaged and passionate colleague with a strong instinct for what is right and beneficial to the community. His colleagues and collaborators appreciated his deep and broad knowledge as well as his warm heart and sense of humor. For this Editor it was a special privilege to know him and be able to interact with, also in matters of FZJ science policy of 1990s.

Alex I. Braginski

W. James Carr Jr.

May 6, 1918 to November 16, 2010

Jim Carr (ca 1980)

W. James Carr Jr. Passed Away at 92

November 23, 2010 (HE52). On November 16th, 2010, Walter James (“Jim”) Carr, Jr., author of the first useful monograph on ac losses in supercondicting composite conductors1 and of many important contributions to the field of magnetism and applied superconductivity, passed away at 92 at home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.

Jim was born on May 6, 1918 in Knob Noster, Missouri. He initially intended to be a journalist, but instead enrolled at the Missouri School of Mines in Rolla (now University of Missouri at Rolla), because of a full-tuition scholarship; in 1940 he graduated there with a BS in engineering. He then entered Stanford University, CA, studied with Frederic Terman and graduated with MSEE in 1942. Upon graduation he was recruited by the Westinghouse Research Laboratories (later R&D Center) in Pittsburgh to join the wartime effort and was involved in defense projects. After the war, Westinghouse sponsored his graduate studies at Carnegie Tech (Now Carnegie-Mellon University) in Pittsburgh, PA. He wanted to study physics to know the "why" behind the engineering. When told he was too valuable to lose from the lab while getting a PhD, he went over his boss's head and was approved for graduate study with the endorsement that this was exactly the reason why he should have been approved and supported. He graduated with a PhD in physics in 1951 under Frederick Seitz.

Jim spent all his active career of 43 years at Westinghouse and attained the highest non managerial rank of Consulting Scientist, a rare distinction in that organization. In 1987 Jim was elevated to the grade of IEEE Fellow for his contributions to theories of magnetism, and for development of the theory of alternating current losses in composite superconductors. He also became Fellow of the American Physical Society. A seminar at the Department of Physics, University of Maryland, features annually a W. James Carr, Jr. memorial lecture.

This Editor first read an important paper on magnetic anisotropy authored by Jim back in 1950s; it strongly influenced my own work at the very beginning of my professional career. I was thus truly awed when meeting him in person and having the privilege of working on his side some twenty plus years later. Those of us who knew Jim well admired equally his sharp mind, impeccably logical reasoning and his most courteous gentle manners. He was a true gentleman. Even after his retirement he remained quite active professionally; his last paper was published only 3 years ago. Until very recently he could be often encountered at various professional conferences. His departure is a big loss; we’ll miss him…

Alex I. Braginski

1W. J. Carr, Jr. AC-loss and Macroscopic Theory of Superconductors, Gordon and Breach, 1983 (second edition in 2001).

Michael Tinkham

February 3, 1928 to November 4, 2010

Michael Tinkham (ca 1998)

Michael Tinkham Passes Away at 82

Broad thinker advanced both the theoretical and

experimental understanding of superconductivity

November 23, 2010 (HE51). Below we reproduce the integral text of the Harvard University obituary included in their press release of November 5, 2010.

Michael "Mike" Tinkham, whose latest appointment was as the Rumford Research Professor of Physics and Gordon McKay Research Professor of Applied Physics at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and the Department of Physics, passed away on November 4, 2010. He was 82 years old.

Born on February 23, 1928 in Green Lake County, Wisconsin, Tinkham earned his undergraduate degree at Ripon College in 1951 and his Master's and Ph.D. degrees, both in physics, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in 1951 and 1954 respectively. He also spent a year at the Clarendon Laboratory of Oxford as a postdoctoral fellow.

He joined the University of California, Berkeley in 1957, rising to full professor, and then left in 1966 for Harvard, where he remained for the rest of his career. Tinkham's research focused primarily on superconductivity, as captured in his classic text, Introduction to Superconductivity.

In his later years he was active in studying the unique properties of materials when sample dimensions are reduced to the nanometer range.

In the Journal of Superconductivity, Tinkham's former student Christopher Lobb '80 (Ph.D., Applied Physics), wrote:

"The opportunity to work with Mike ... was one of the greatest experiences of my life. As a researcher, Mike's rare combination of experimental and theoretical ability has kept him at the top of the field for decades.

As a teacher, Mike worked constantly to make things understandable, and did so with enthusiasm and wit. Any success I've had since leaving his group has largely been due to what I learned from him ..."

Tinkham's awards and honors included election to the National Academy of Sciences; the receipt of the Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize; and the Fred E. Saalfeld Award for Outstanding Lifetime Achievement in Science in 2005.

Praveen Chaudhari

August 1, 1950 to January 14, 2010

Praveen Chaudhari – Short Obituary

January 15, 2010 (HE38). Praveen Chaudhari, the prominent science manager and scientist, long time the IBM Vice-President of Science and lately Director of the Brookhaven National Laboratory, prematurely passed away in the night of 13/14 January 2010. During his long tenure at IBM, he contributed in a major way to superconductivity.

Of his many direct contributions, the seminal and most prominent one is the systematic investigation of critical current dependence upon the grain boundary angle in rare earth cuprates (YBCO). This resulted in thus far the most reliable and broadly used technology of high-Tc Josephson junctions used in SQUIDs, HTS voltage standards, etc. Furthermore, the bicrystal work provided foundation for the experimental confirmation and investigations of d-wave pairing in cuprates.

It also led to the development of the HTS coated conductor technology. Also at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), he supported superconducting materials research and participated in it. The summary of his recent results and thoughts on the grain boundaries in cuprates is given in his plenary EUCAS 2009 talk pre-published in our Issue 11 (to appear in Superconductor Science and Technology 2010). For his achievements, Chaudhari has been honored with a number of awards. He was an APS Fellow and member of the US National Academy of Engineering. We reproduce his photo dating a few years back.

Vitaly L. Ginzburg

January 1, 1916 to November 8, 2009

Vitaly L. Ginzburg. (© The Nobel Foundation, 2003)

Vitaly L. Ginzburg – Brief Obituary

November 10, 2009 (HE36). Vitaly L. Ginzburg, 93, the co-author of the Ginzburg-Landau (GL) phenomenological theory of superconductivity preceding the microscopic BCS theory, died on November 8, 2009, apparently due to cardiac arrest.

Ginzburg, born on October 4th, 1916, in Moscow, Russia, graduated with Ph.D. in 1940 and D. Sc. in 1942. At that time he worked at the Lebedev Physical Institute in Moscow. He made also significant contribution to astrophysics and to nuclear fusion, specifically the Soviet H- bomb. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2003, essentially for the GL theory. Readers interested in Ginzburg’s personal story and his views should refer to his brief autobiography, and an interview he most recently gave the Physics World (IOP). We reproduce his relatively recent photo (2003).

Zdenek J. J. Stekly

October 11, 1933 to April 3, 2009

Zdenek J. J. Stekly, Sc.D

Zdenek J. J. Stekly, Sc.D October 11, 1933-April 3, 2009

WAYLAND: Dr. Zdenek J. J. “John” Stekly, 75, succumbed on April 3, 2009 after a long battle with coronary heart disease.

He was born on October 11, 1933 in Prague, Czechoslovakia, the son of the late Karel A. Stekly and Jindriska (Wolfstahl) Stekly.

Dr. Stekly was the beloved husband of Suzanne Gibbs Stekly of Wayland. He was the loving father of Susan Stekly Williams and her husband Stephen W. Williams of Framingham, Paul F. Stekly and his wife Ashby Free of Cave Creek, AZ and of the late J. Steven Stekly. He leaves 5 grandchildren, a niece and 2 nephews.

After escaping Nazi occupied Czechoslavia, Dr. Stekly relocated temporarily to England before moving to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil where he spent the majority of his youth. Accepted into MIT at the age of sixteen, Dr Stekly completed his studies, the first in his class, receiving a BS in Mechanical Engineering, and a Masters in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering in 1955. In 1959 he received his Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering.

After working for AVCO Everett Research Lab, Dr. Stekly worked as chairman of Magnetic Corporation of America, specializing in the production of superconducting magnets for use in MRI Scanners, Maglev research, Dept of Defense and the Dept of Energy.

A pioneer in superconductivity applications, Dr Stekly developed the ‘Stekly Stability Criterion’ which defines the maximum efficient operating capacity of superconducting wire.

Inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in 1981, Dr. Stekly was also a member of the American Physical Society and the New England Council. He was elected to the Board of Directors of the FSH Society, Inc (Muscular Dystrophy). He belonged to the Phi Kappa Sigma Fraternity.

At the request of the family, there will be no services at this time. Private services will be held for the family at a later date. For those who desire, gifts in his memory may be sent to the FSH Society Inc., 64 Grove St, Watertown, MA 02472. (IEEE CSC)

Masaki Suenaga

January 1, 1938 to February 13, 2009

Masaki Suenaga

Masaki Suenaga - Feb. 13, 2009

Masaki Suenaga of Bellport, a retired award-winning scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory and an adjunct professor at Stony Brook University, died Feb. 13 at age 71.

Dr. Suenaga received the the IEEE COUNCIL ON SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AWARDS FOR CONTRIBUTIONS IN THE FIELD OF APPLIED SUPERCONDUCTIVITYduring the 2008 Applied Superconductivity Conference,, which was held last September in Chicago, IL. After receiving his Award, Dr. Suenaga said, "I feel fortunate that I've been able to do work that I like and that my research has resulted in useful technologies."

Suenaga's study of the superconductor niobium-tin helped to lay the groundwork for the first high-temperature superconductor power transmission cable system. That system, installed last year by the Long Island Power Authority in Holbrook, allows for the use of far less cable to conduct many times more power than more traditional systems.

Born in Shimonoseki, Japan, Suenaga moved to the United States after high school, and attended the University of California at Berkeley. There, he earned a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering in 1962, a master's degree in engineering in 1964, and a doctorate in metallurgy in 1969.

Yoko Suenaga, his wife, said her husband loved reading, studying and researching everything. "For instance," she said, "before we'd go to Italy or Spain, he'd borrow books and study their history and culture ... He was devoted to research, a never-ending job ... his whole life."

Suenaga was diagnosed with leukemia about two years ago, and retired from Brookhaven Lab about that time, his wife said, but he maintained office space at the lab, and continued to work three days a week as a guest scientist.

He first joined Brookhaven Lab in 1969 as an assistant metallurgist, moving up through higher positions over the years until he became senior metallurgist in 1983. He was an adjunct professor of material sciences at Stony Brook, and was honored in November by the lab with the title of Senior Scientist Emeritus.

Diane Greenberg, a lab spokeswoman said in a statement after his death, "The title is given to BNL retired scientists ... who have made particularly noteworthy contributions to the Laboratory's reputation as a world-class scientific institution."

In addition to his wife, of Bellport, he is survived by his mother, Aiko Suenaga of Shimonoseki; two sons, Ken of Yokohoma, Japan, and Ben of Manhattan; and two grandsons.

Suenaga was to be buried in Japan this week.

A memorial service is tentatively planned for next month on Long Island. (IEEE CSC)

Source: Newsday, 21 February 2009

Hiromi Hirabayashi

January 1, 1934 to April 11, 2008

Hiromi Hirabayashi

Hiromi Hirabayashi 1934–2008
http://cerncourier.com/cws/article/cern/35461/2

Hiromi Hirabayashi, a leading figure and professor emeritus of KEK, passed away on 11 April 2008. He was an internationally renowned pioneer in the field of applied superconductivity and cryogenics for high-energy physics.

Hirabayashi was born in Gifu Prefecture, renowned for the Shirakawa-go world heritage site. He was educated in nuclear engineering at the graduate school of Tokyo Institute of Technology, where he gained his PhD in 1966, before becoming a research associate at the Institute of Nuclear Study at the University of Tokyo. He worked on preparations for the National Laboratory for High Energy Physics, or KEK, now the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, in particular in developing a hydrogen bubble chamber, essential for high-energy physics experiments in Japan. At the same time he established cryogenics – the necessary basic engineering – as a new academic discipline in Japan, and contributed to the development of applied superconductivity and cryogenics in collaboration with Japanese industry. (Read complete obituary.) (IEEE CSC)

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In Memoriam (Obituaries) Archive

Hisashi Kado

Gert Eilenberger

W. James Carr Jr.

Michael Tinkham

Praveen Chaudhari

Vitaly L. Ginzburg

Zdenek J. J. Stekly

Masaki Suenaga

Hiromi Hirabayashi

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