Christopher1955-2015 Henley

Henley, Christopher

1955-2015

Christopher L. Henley, Professor of Physics at Cornell University, died on June 29, 2015, after over a year of struggle with brain cancer. He was born in Washington, DC September 24, 1955, to Norman F. and Nancy M. Henley. His father was a Slavic language cataloguer at the Library of Congress and his mother was a college student. He attended school in Baltimore, MD, and graduated from Baltimore Polytechnic High. His undergraduate studies were at California Institute of Technology (Caltech). He received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1983 and held postdoctoral research positions at Bell Laboratories and Cornell University. After two years as an Assistant Professor at Boston University (1987-89), he joined the Cornell faculty, where he remained until his death. At Cornell, Chris pursued research in condensed matter physics. He was named a Fellow of the American Physics Society in 1996 for "theoretical contributions to the understanding of the structure and physics of quasicrystals and related crystalline structures." He was known not only for a sharp mind and wit, but also for scrupulous honesty, a trait not always appreciated by those who did not know him. He maintained a clear and active mind and kept up his research nearly to the end. In adulthood he ran, swam, or bicycled every day, and ate a mostly vegetarian diet. For leisure he enjoyed hiking, reading, contra dancing, classical music, and Scrabble, among other things. He lived rather spartanly, spending little on himself but helping out relatives and donating generously to charities, particularly those concerned with environmental issues and with poverty and disease. There was no viewing or formal service; he was given a green (natural) burial in Chesterfield, MA. Christopher is survived by his mother, of Cockeysville, MD, his son, Christopher King, of Worcester, MA, his aunt, Edith Anderson, of Roswell, GA, and cousins in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Massachusetts, Georgia, and Florida.