ALLAN SOLOMON, IN MEMORIAM

Transcription

1 ALLAN SOLOMON, IN MEMORIAM Richard Kerner with loving help of Nathalie and Annabel, Allan s daughters Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France 30-th ICGTMP - GROUP-30 Ghent, Belgium, July 17, 2014

2 ALEXANDER ISAAC SOLOMON Glasgow, Watford, Our colleague and friend Allan Solomon passed away in his home in Watford, England, UK, on April 3, 2013, after a long and brave fight with a terrible cancer. 2- Allan was one of the most active members of our Standing Committee, of which he was member until 2009, and Honorary Member until his last days.

3 Alexander Isaac Solomon Allan s photograph displayed on his Blog

4 Allan Solomon s Laudatio Allan s life was successful and exemplary in many ways: He founded a beautiful family, and was a beloved husband, father and grandfather; As a scientist, he was successful as an outstanding researcher in both applied and theoretical physics; He displayed his pedagogical skills in a novel form of popularizing science on radio and TV; He was a respected member of the local Jewish community and a great friend and defender of Israel He was a staunch promotor of academic freedom, international collaboration and tolerance

5 A Tribute to Allan Solomon This presentation is intended as a tribute to Allan: - as a scientist and pedagogue; - as a Colleague and Friend; - as an extraordinary human being, an example of full and accomplished life.

6 Early Years Alexander Isaac Solomon was born in Glasgow on December 11-th, Soon after, his family moved to Belfast where his father worked with Allan s uncle in the family music business. Allan attended primary school in Belfast.

7 Introduction Early Years Meeting Paulette Working abroad Family life Science around the World Allan as a child, circa 1942 Parisian years

8 A family legend, related by Allan s wife Paulette: At the age of 7, in the primary school in Belfast, Allan impressed the lady teacher by his excellent mathematical skills. He could even add fractions! The lady was so glad, that at the end of the day she gave him two pence as a prize. Allan spent the money for sweets on his way back home, and declared that he will become a mathematician when he grows up.

9 Allan as a schoolboy, Dublin, circa 1947.

10 College and University studies Later on, Allan s family moved to Dublin. Allan continued his scholarship at Wesley College, where he has got the high school degree He studied science at the Trinity College of Dublin University, and later on in Cambridge, England

11 Allan s first University degree, Dublin, 1948.

12 In 1956, Allan has got a scholarship from Wesley College, to pursue his studies in Trinity College of Dublin.

13 Allan s scholarly curriculum Allan s studies chronology: - Primary School in Belfast, - High School: Wesley College, Dublin - University Studies: Trinity College, University of Dublin. - Peterhouse College, Cambridge - Sorbonne, Paris.

14 Studies in Dublin and Cambridge The Trinity College in Dublin

15 The student years As a student, Allan had his own Jazz band and was a fine trumpet player. His band toured the country playing at private parties, and many times for the 18th birthdays of young women most often held in stately homes, where Allan was known for his affability Allan always kept up his ties with his first university and as a Trinity College Scholar he particularly enjoyed going to their dinners every 10 years.

16 Allan playing guitar. Israel, With (supposedly) authentic Roman sandals rescued from the tomb of Pontius Pilate.

17 University studies For his postgraduate studies Allan went to Peterhouse Cambridge where he worked on elementary particles and then to France where he obtained a doctorate in Theoretical Physics in It was in Paris that Allan began his lifetime love of all things French and especially a certain appreciation of joie de vivre The same year he married Paulette, who he met in Paris while studying at Sorbonne

18 Studies in Dublin and Cambridge Peterhouse College, Cambridge

19 Studies in Dublin and Cambridge Professors P.A.M. Dirac and D. Sciama, whose lectures Allan followed in Cambridge.

20 Meeting Paulette Paulette Baroukh was born in Tunisia in 1939 In her twenties, Paulette begged her parents, who eventually relented, to go to Paris to join her brother who had already moved. It was around the time of the very first Arab spring and the French Jews were starting to leave Tunisia.

21 It was springtime in Paris, at a Friday night dinner, where Paulette met the dashing, very white-skinned, Irish lad known as Allan - soon to be known as Professor Solomon - who was famed for his intellect and prowess on the ukulele. Paulette was dazzled by Allan s intelligence and Allan thought he d met the most exotic and beautiful woman on earth. Their children describe them as total opposites with something that worked.

22 Allan and Paulette s wedding photograph, 1963.

23 Wedding in Tunisia Allan playing trumpet at his wedding with Paulette, 1963.

24 Paulette Paulette was always a support to Allan, in good times and bad and was fascinated by her husband s academic work. She accompanied him all over the world on his scientific trips, while continuing her own career with people affected by learning difficulties - for which she felt immensely rewarded.

25 Paulette Paulette carried on her teaching skills with her grandchildren, from teaching the alphabet to the little ones to discussing Molière with the teenagers. These are grandchildren who will feel her absence dearly, as she was their ultimate ally and confidant, feeding them excessively, covering up for them and loving them deeply. She really was loved by everyone who knew her

26 Introduction Early Years Meeting Paulette Working abroad Family life Science around the World 48 years after their first meeting in Paris... Parisian years

27 The brain drain It was 1963 ; the time when the Americans were coming to Europe and causing a true brain drain hiring young graduates in scientific and medical fields. Allan was then at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies and was offered a job in the States working in Republic Aviation industry. He set off to the U.S., at first without Paulette who needed security clearance, and worked for N.A.S.A. studying cosmic radiation and its effects on supersonic travel.

28 Allan at the Mount Wilson Astronomical Observatory, 1969.

29 Allan with a friend in San Francisco, 1969.

30 Allan with friends in California, 1972.

31 Back to Academia Although Allan very much enjoyed being in New York and his area of research he pined for academia and accepted a considerably lower paid job teaching at NYU Polytechnic in Brooklyn.

32 Next stop: Tel Aviv University Academic research was confirmed to be Allan s passion and when Yuval Ne eman invited him to work at the recently established Tel Aviv University, he gladly accepted despite a move to the Levant and a further drop in salary!

33 Introduction Early Years Meeting Paulette Working abroad Family life Science around the World Allan in the Tel Aviv University, Israel with Julian Schwinger, Edward Teller, Yuval Ne eman, Nathan Rosen, Yakir Aharonov,... Parisian years

34 Back in Dublin Allan spent two years in Israel as a visiting professor in the Physics Department of Tel Aviv University Then he and Paulette returned to the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies with their baby daughter Nathalie. Here he spent two fruitful years in Dublin working alongside and forging life-long friendships with Professor J.L. Synge and Professor C. Lanczos.

35 Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies J.L. Synge C. Lanczos L. O Raifeartaigh

36 From Ireland to England Allan was later to visit regularly the Institute on many occasions after his stint there in the sixties. His next job was in England, at the newly established Open University and it was there where Allan found his raison d être. After writing numerous textbooks for the OU, Allan went on to make over 150 radio and television broadcasts with the BBC, lecturing to Open University students around the world.

37 The ultimate haven: Open University

38 Radio days An Open University lecture, 1966.

39 Open University TV lectures Allan on a BBC Open University talk, 1969.

40 Allan thoroughly enjoyed making television programmes even if his long hair and flared trousers and horn-rimmed square glasses were to be the inspiration of much laughter in Irish and British comic circles: IN THE MUCH LOVED BRITISH TELEVISION SERIES AUF WIEDERSEHN PET TWO BRITISH BRICKLAYERS DISCUSS THE MERITS OF OPEN UNIVERSITY WHILE ALLAN IS ON TV! ALLAN WAS USED IN AN IRISH GANGSTER MOVIE ( I WENT DOWN ) WHEN A KIDNAPPED MAN IS ONLY TRULY FED UP ABOUT BEING KIDNAPPED WHEN HE IS OBLIGED TO WATCH ALLAN ON OPEN UNIVERSITY.

41 Allan s position at the Open University gave him lots of free time and during his life he was able to pursue research in collaboration with colleagues in Italy, Israel, China, Singapore and France as well as giving lectures in many other places. Allan s collaborators Jacob Katriel and Mario Rasetti.

42 Back to Academia Joseph Birman, Allan s mentor and friend.

43 Many years later, in 1994, Allan edited a Festschrift book commemorating Joe Birman s 65th birthday.

44 Joe Birman in his sixties.

45 Helping Soviet dissidents In the late seventies Allan joined an International group of scientists, headed by Joe Birman and several other eminent Western scholars, and travelled to the former USSR to visit Soviet scientists who were refuseniks who had been kicked out of their universities. Allan and other visiting scientists gave them lectures in their homes, often huddled in small kitchens, to keep their Soviet counterparts up to date with the latest research in their fields.

46 Helping Soviet dissidents Andrei D. Sakharov

47 Joe Birman remembers... Thinking about when Allan and me met is a challenge since somehow I feel that we have always known each other. Realistically though I think we first met - perhaps at the Group Theory Colloquium in the mid 1970 s at Nijmegen or Montreal. In the following decade Allan and me met frequently in New York, Paris, Bures, at the Open University and other places. We deepened our friendship and included family on both sides, Paulette, Joan, my mother-in-law (Joan s mother) and children. It seemed that we had both enlarged our families!

48 Joe Birman remembers... After this decade of work on dynamical symmetry in many condensed matter systems, culminating in our magnum opus on an SU(8) grand unification of superconductivity and various charge and spin density waves we both turned to other work, having contributed around 15 publications. But that was not the end of our meetings which carried on to some few years ago, around Although we did not meet face-to-face after that we kept in touch by and phone. I will always treasure our friendship and collaboration and the sound of Allan s voice on the telephone. I hope this is useful for your remarks. Best Joe

49 Introduction Early Years Meeting Paulette Working abroad Family life Science around the World Family life Allan and Family: Paulette, Nathalie, Annabel Parisian years

50 Nathalie s wedding, 1997.

51 Allan and Paulette with their first granddaughter, 1999.

52 Allan reading a newspaper, (the Times Economy Supplement )

53 Allan and ICGTMP Allan and Paulette came to cherish Allan s colleagues as friends, sharing many good times with us all. He loved meeting with us on all occasions, loved going to our homes and meeting our families. He bonded with all of us in different ways and accompanied us through different stages over 40 years. He was a joyful character and liked to report some of his travels and conferences with humor when he described them in The Times Higher Education Supplement under the column known as Don s Diary.

54 Introduction Early Years Meeting Paulette Working abroad Family life Science around the World Parisian years Don s Diary Allan s travel impressions and comments, witty and wise, are still an excellent reading

55 Allan continued his on the air lectures until his retirement from the Open University

56 Allan playing the trumpet at home.

57 Allan s posterity His good humour and erudite manner was a great source of pride and joy to his 2 daughters, Annabel and Nathalie. Allan was equally proud of his daughters achievements and the 5 beautiful grandchildren that they gave him and he accompanied all family events with either his trumpet, ukulele or piano playing. (Nathalie s children : Candice born 1996, David born 1997, Eliana born 2001 and Frédéric born 2006 and Annabel s son Cassius born 2009). He lives on in their hearts.

58 Introduction Early Years Meeting Paulette Working abroad Family life Science around the World Allan at a scientific congress, Parisian years

59 Introduction Early Years Meeting Paulette Working abroad Family life Science around the World Allan lecturing at the ICGTMP Conference, Seoul, Korea, Parisian years

60 Introduction Early Years Meeting Paulette Working abroad Family life Science around the World With the President of the Open University. Allan helped to create an outlet of OU in Israel. Parisian years

61 Allan in China Allan visited China many times. With Mo-Lin Ge and other friends.

62 Allan with Luis Boya, 2008

63 Allan. with Maia Angelova and Jin-Shuo, New York 2006

64 Allan at the ICGTP conference in New York, 2006

65 Allan with friends in Armenia, 2008

66 Introduction Early Years Meeting Paulette Working abroad Family life Science around the World And always ladies man...armenia, 2008 Parisian years

67 Allan in Paris Allan in Paris, helping to prepare a lecture.

68 Last years in Paris Since his retirement from the Open University (about 2002) Allan became a frequent visitor to the Université Paris-VI, where he collaborated with the group set forth by Karol Penson Allan co-authored a lot of scientific papers with the members of this group, Gérard Duchamp, Andrzej Horzela, Pawel Blasiak, Kasia Górska, and Karol Penson

69 Allan in Paris Allan s Parisian collaborators: Karol Penson, Gérard Duchamp, Pawel Blasiak.

70 Introduction Early Years Meeting Paulette Working abroad Family life Science around the World Parisian years Allan in Paris Allan s Parisian collaborators: A. Horzela, P. Blasiak and J.-P. Gazeau. Krako w, 2007

71 Introduction Early Years Meeting Paulette Working abroad Family life Science around the World Allan in Paris Allan s collaborators: Sonia Schirmer and Kasia Go rska. Parisian years

72 Introduction Early Years Meeting Paulette Working abroad Family life Science around the World Last time in Prague At the QTS meeting in Prague, Parisian years

73 Fatal illness Shortly after the Prague meeting in August 2011, Allan s health rapidly deteriorated. He faught very bravely with terrible disease, and Paulette knocked on all possible doors to find an efficient treatment; unfortunately, to no avail.

74 Allan s grave, Bushey Jewish Cemetery, Hampsteadshire.

75 The image that persists NON OMNIS MORIAR (Horace) The images Allan chose for his blog and for Researchgate.