Alper Garren

1925 - 2017

Alper Abdy Garren

April 30, 1925 - June 25, 2017

Alper Abdy Garren was born on April 30, 1925 in Oakland, California and died peacefully on June 25, 2017 in Oakland, California.

Al attended the United States Naval Reserve Midshipmen's School, University of Notre Dame in 1945 and served as a Commissioned Lieutenant in the United States Naval Reserve through 1947.    

He received his B.A. and M.A. from University of California, Berkeley (1945-1950) and his Ph.D. in Physics from Carnegie Institute of Technology (1955).

Dr. Garren was a career Particle Physicist at Berkeley Lab, located on the hill above the UC Berkeley campus. He wrote his first paper for what was then the Radiation Laboratory in 1949. He wrote his final paper in 1991 at what had become the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL).

Al was a brilliant scientist. He designed the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) collider lattice. His invention of the "Diamond Bypass," shortening the half-cell length from 114 m to 90 m, modified the utility straight section to permit both beams to be injected and aborted from just one utility straight. His career included work on the Tevatron, the asymmetric B-Factory based on PEP and SYNCH, a computational tool (for which he held a patent) used extensively at Fermilab, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and other laboratories around the world.

He contributed to the design and orbit theory of the following: The Bevatron, Magnetic Mirror Fusion Reactors, 88-inch Cyclotron, Advanced Light Source (ALS), Fermilab Proton Synchrotron, the Large Proton-Proton Storage Rings LSR (CERN), ISABELLE (BNL), and the High Energy Heavy Ion Facility SUMATRAN (Japan). He collaborated with scientists around the world, sharing his ideas with colleagues and mentoring his young students.

Al was a sweet, kind, generous man who made friends easily and kept them for life. His enormous circle of friends included family friends dating back to his childhood, lifelong friendships that began during his University years at the International House Berkeley and thrived for decades through the Wednesday Dinner Group, colleagues at Berkeley Lab and Brookhaven National Laboratory, his sailing partners in the antique vessel "The Vixen," friendships cultivated during his extensive travels, young immigrants from Asia whom he befriended and supported, and many others who were drawn into his orbit. Al was beloved and treasured by all who knew him.

Al loved to travel and was especially drawn to the culture and people of Asia. He loved the performing arts and was a patron to the San Francisco Opera, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. He was a dedicated philanthropist, supporting some 200 environmental, human rights, and performing arts organizations in his later years.

Physicist, teacher, mentor, world traveler, sailor, philanthropist, and above all dear friend, Al enriched many lives during his 92 years.
Al was laid to rest at the Eternal Home Cemetery in Colma, California on June 28, 2017. Plans are pending for a Celebration of Al's Life to be held at the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley. For information, please contact Jon Eisenberg at 707-395-0111 or Tamara Lett at 510-610-9846.