Sad News: Stanley Deser
May 8, 2023
Dear Colleagues,
It is with great sadness that I share that Stanley Deser, Professor Emeritus of Physics, passed away in Pasadena, California on April 21, 2023 at the age of 92.
Stanley was born to Jewish parents in Rovno, then in Poland. In 1935, the family emigrated first to Palestine and then to France. As WWII broke out, they fled to the US and eventually settled in Brooklyn. Stanley graduated Summa Cum Laude from Brooklyn College in 1949, and received his PhD at Harvard in 1953 under the supervision of Nobel Laureate Julian Schwinger. After postdoctoral positions at the Institute for Advanced Study (1953-55) and the Niels Bohr Institute (1955-57), and a lectureship at Harvard University (1957-58), he joined the Physics Department at Brandeis in 1958, until retirement in 2008. After moving to a research appointment at Caltech as emeritus professor at Brandeis, he continued research and publication until this year (including an autobiography, Forks in the Road).
A towering figure in theoretical high energy physics, classical gravity, and quantum gravity, Stanley’s work cuts through mathematical complexity with deep insight. His first signature work, the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner (ADM) formalism, gave a Hamiltonian initial value formalism for general relativity. This work is the foundation of precise calculations in inflationary cosmology, to match cosmic microwave background observations, and in numerical relativity calculations, to interpret the results of gravitational wave experiments. He leaves behind a lifetime of work in theoretical physics which remains foundational.
Stanley was an important member of the scientific community. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a foreign member of the Royal Society and the Torino Academy of Sciences; he was awarded the Dannie Heineman Prize in Mathematical Physics and the Einstein Medal, and Guggenheim and Fulbright awards; and he held honorary doctorates from Stockholm University and the Chalmers Institute of Technology.
Stanley will be remembered for his wisdom and ready wit, delight in acquiring languages, love of travel, a deep appreciation for art and literature, and for emails and talks in which every sentence was packed with allusions and jokes.
Stanley was preceded in death by his wife, the artist Elsbeth Deser, and his daughter Eva. He leaves behind three daughters -- retired linguist Toni Deser, theater director Abigail Deser, and atmospheric scientist (and fellow NAS member) Clara Deser—and grandchildren Ursula, Oscar, Louise, and Simon.
I am grateful to Albion Lawrence and Gabriella Sciolla from the Department of Physics for their contributions to this memoriam.
Sincerely,
Carol A. Fierke
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs