MICHAEL HORNE Obituary

HORNE, Michael Of Dorchester died on January 19, 2019, a day after his 76th birthday. He was born and raised in Gulfport, Mississippi and attended the University of Mississippi, where he met his wife, Carole. After receiving his B.S. in 1965, he studied at Boston University with Abner Shimony, where he completed his Ph.D. in Physics in 1970. That fall he joined the faculty of Stonehill College where he taught until his death. He loved teaching, especially courses for non-Physics majors. One such course was Quantum Mechanics and Relativity, where he took joy in revealing the beauty and simplicity of physics to this broader community. When he received Stonehill's Distinguished Faculty Award in 2001, the title of his address to the College was "Quantum Mechanics for Everyone." From his dissertation on, he was interested in the foundations of physics, especially of quantum mechanics. He first became known for his work in developing the CHSH (Clauser, Horne, Shimony, Holt) Inequality, an empirically testable form of a theorem by the Scottish physicist, John Bell. Bell's work countered arguments by Albert Einstein and others that "hidden variables" were required to explain the apparently strange predictions of quantum mechanics. Throughout his career, he collaborated with leading physicists in America and Europe – especially at Boston University, M.I.T (in Clifford Shull's lab), CCNY (with Daniel Greenberger), and the University of Vienna (with Anton Zeilinger) – exploring the mysteries of quantum entanglement and challenging Einstein's contention that what happens to one object could not be linked with what happens to another object at a distance. The term GHZ (Greenberger, Horne, Zeilinger) is now a standard designation for the fundamental entangled state of three quantum particles that is often cited in quantum mechanics textbooks. This research was described in the widely-praised book, "The Age of Entanglement: When Quantum Physics Was Reborn" by Louisa Gilder. Mike had a lifelong passion for music, especially jazz, and from his high school days he played jazz drums. He also loved cooking, movies, especially classic movies, and traveling. He is survived by his wife, Carole Horne, his sister Miriam Northrop of Memphis; his brother-in-law Paul Robinson, the widower of his sister Patsy Robinson, of Culman, AL; his sisters and brother-in-law Lynda (Hank) Thompson of Birmingham; Jennifer McKeown (Alice Defler); Larry McKeown (Paula Bright); Kate McKeown (Michael Bills), all of Boulder, CO; along with many nieces and nephews. There will be a private gathering at a later date. Donations in his memory can be made to The Jazz Foundation of America's program, The Cause, helping jazz musicians in need of services: jazzfoundation.org/the-cause For online condolences: www.dolanfuneral.com Photo by: Geoffrey G. Why

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Published by Boston Globe from Feb. 26 to Mar. 3, 2019.

Memories and Condolences
for MICHAEL HORNE

2 Entries

Roger Whiting

February 12, 2021

I was prompted to add another memory of Mike... and I am glad to do so. I remember taking Physics for life science majors and I was taking it as a requirement for graduation. I had seen this tall long haired guy "shuffling" around campus sometimes lugging a telescope. He looked like what we would describe as a computer geek today. He was always dressed in corduroy pants that looked big enough to fit two of him inside. He always looked like he just changed the oil in his car. He had no style other than "practical. " It was fun thinking he was some sort of bumbler... and he could pass as Ted Kazinskis brother. Enough of the phenotype.... now his class. He would explain some kind of phenomenon such as rotational kinematics and he loved using a fly on a teacup rim as the example. He would start writing mathematical formulas on the blackboard right out of his head. By the time the 50 minute class ended the ENTIRE 20 foot blackboard was 100percent covered in equations and formulas. He had no idea how much of a genius he was. I always compared him to Richard Fineman who is similarly brilliant. To make a long story longer... he ALWAYS left the blackboard unerased. My favorite thing to watch was the non science majors come into the now vacant room for a scheduled class. Just about EVERY student of the new class sat there with their jaws hanging open trying to imagine what all the math on the still filled blackboard actually meant. It made me feel quite smart as I left the room... all those students imagining I comprehended it all. Little did they know... I didnt. Guys like Mike Horne look at these math scrawled blackboards and immediately make sense of it. He was one in ten million guy and he loved explaining things to students. He gave me the only C+ I ever got at Stonehill. I liked him anyway.... I knew it had been a privilege to be taught by him.

Roger Whiting

December 8, 2019

Mike as his students called him was a classic genius. I learned that fact while taking his class as a Biology major in 1975. He had an understanding for things that seemed impossible to understand for me. It came easily to him. He was vastly approachable and delighted in hearing a new way to pronounce a word... his southern accent was VERY obvious. I remember a class sitting together trying to figure out what he was saying when he used the word "hoop." He delighted in his defense of his pronunciation of the word. His classes were ridiculously hard to understand. He didnt grade easily either. I remember a guy that did everything HIS way. I would have loved becoming friends. I see that he taught until his death and I am not surprised. He always wanted to explain his complicated world. I hope he lives in the stars now. He was fascinated with them. I am thankful to know him.

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