Dr. Nikolai Eberhardt

1930 - 2014

Eberhardt, Dr. Nikolai Dr. Prof. Nikolai Eberhardt passed away at home in Bethlehem on 24 July. He was born in Estonia on July 2, 1930 to Dr. Adolf and Sinaida (b. Bogoslavskaja) Eberhardt. He received a PhD in physics from the Institute of Technology in Munich in 1962, during which time he married Erika (b. Nitzsche). Dr. Eberhardt brought his family to the US and settled in Bethlehem as Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Lehigh University. As a student he was known for his practical jokes and lampoons of teachers. He carried this lightheartedness to Lehigh, along with a deep respect for the institution of education and the pursuit of scientific knowledge, until retiring in 1995. Divorced from Erika, Dr. Eberhardt married Latvian emigre Zigrida (b. Karklis) in 1984. Dr. Eberhardt was a constant inventor, and in addition to scientific publications has nine patents to his credit. His creativity extended into the arts, including painting, sculpture, and design and construction of much of the family home. In the last decades of his life Dr. Eberhardt turned to writing, combining research into a number of disciplines to explain the workings of the human brain and creation of culture. Through two books, he added to our understanding of how humanity both creates and destroy itself. He was a scientist, a teacher, an artist and a writer, but most important to him was his family. He is loved and missed by his children: Silvio, Maja, Karin, Ariane, Krista and Arvid; granchildren: Alanna Kelsey Tritt, Karlan Eberhardt, Christopher Tritt; several daughters-and sons-in-law; nephew Johan-Wilhelm von Krause and niece Juliane von Krause. Predeceased by sister Valentine von Krause and half-brother Viktor Eberhardt. A private service was held on 28 July, and the deceased is laid to rest at Nisky Hill Cemetery in Bethlehem.