Professional Legacy George Horton Professor II of physics at Rutgers University left a legacy in a variety of areas during his long career.
George received his Ph D in 1949 at Birmingham University in the UK under Sir Rudolph Peierls. After doing a post-doc in Zurich he moved to the University of Alberta in Canada in 1951. In 1960 he came to Rutgers as chair of the physics department at Douglass college. The spring semester 2010 would have been his 100th semester at Rutgers.
George was a theoretical condensed matter theorist with a specialization in lattice dynamics particularly in strongly anharmonic crystals. As late as in 2003 he still published on this subject. He authored over 100 scientific papers, books and chapters.
He had a long and lasting impact on the department and on Rutgers. He was a popular and loved teacher and did important work related to the teaching of physics both locally and nationally. He created the Physics Learning Center (now the Math and Science Learning Center) the Gateway program and was very active in forming the AAUP chapter at Rutgers. He was also the central figure in establishing an HMO at Rutgers which very significantly improved the health benefits for all his colleagues here. He received many honors for his work such as the Georgina Smith Award from the AAUP "For Creative and Distinguished Leadership" the presidential Award for Distinguished Public Service the Sussman Award for Excellence in Teaching Best Teacher of the Year Award and several more.
In all that George acheived in his life he will forever be remembered for his heart of gold. Many students and colleagues turned to George when they needed help most because they knew he could help and wouldn't stop until he succeeded. His perseverant iron fist wore a velvet glove - a combination that gave him the unique ability to bring about meaningful change for the benefit of all. |