Dr. Donald G. Coyne

Dr. Donald G. Coyne, Professor Emeritus of Physics, UC Santa Cruz, who enjoyed a distinguished career in experimental particle physics and astrophysics, died October 1 in Santa Cruz after many years of battling prostate cancer. He was 71 years old.

Professor Coyne was Adjunct Professor of Physics at the University of California, Santa Cruz since 1985. Though he retired from UCSC in October, 2002, he remained intellectually active. His most recent project was helping to establish the Milagro very-high-energy gamma-ray detector near Los Alamos, NM. For this he was the principal investigator of the National Science Foundation-sponsored Milagro subgroup of the Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics SCIPP. His group had major responsibilities in the construction and operation of the Milagro telescope.

Dr. Coyne also made important contributions to other fields in physics, including theoretical physics. He spoke at several conferences on his conceptual scheme to extend the mass of black holes below the Planck Mass, the current theoretical limit, without resorting to extra dimensions. His recently-completed paper with Dr. David Cheng on this subject predicted the detection of low mass black holes in the Large Hadron Collider LHC in Cern, Switzerland. He looked forward to the findings at LHC, but only lived long enough to see the collider start up.

For his lifetime of contributions in physics, Dr. Coyne was honored as a Fellow of the American Physical Society.

Don was born October 28, 1936, in Hutchinson, Kansas. In high school he was interested in art and astronomy, and was a leader on the prize-winning Hutchinson High School debate team. He graduated in 1954 with the Jolliffe, RCA, and Sommerfield scholarships. He went on to the University of Kansas, from where he graduated with a BA in Engineering Physics and a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship. Subsequently, he attended the California Institute of Technology, graduating with a PhD in elementary particle physics in 1967. He had a post-doctoral fellowship at UC Berkeley's Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, after which he worked at the Stanford Linear Accelerator SLAC for a number of years and at Princeton University before joining the University of California, Santa Cruz.

In addition to his research, Don was extraordinarily generous as a teacher and mentor. He actively promoted younger colleagues and never hesitated to stand aside, giving them opportunities for exposure and recognition. In addition to advising several Ph.D. students and post-doctoral fellows, he devoted hundreds of hours to working closely with students on undergraduate theses. Over the course of his career, particle physics and astrophysics evolved from small projects to big science, where there is a risk of losing contact with the motivating science. Don's enthusiasm for the science always came through and inspired those around him.

Don loved science, debating ideas, building things, art, classical music, hiking, rock climbing, and wilderness camping. He designed his home in Bonny Doon, where he participated extensively in community functions, serving for many years as an officer of the Rural Bonny Doon Association. He recently fulfilled a life-long ambition by becoming a licensed pilot so that he could fly his ultra-light aircraft, a powered parachute, which he built himself.

Don is survived by his wife, Dr. Melanie J. Mayer, Professor Emerita, UC Santa Cruz; two daughters from a previous marriage: A. Heather Coyne, Washington D. C. and Laurel Gwendolyn Coyne, Monterey; a sister Juliet Johnson-Cassady, Taylorville, IL, and a brother Dr. Michael Coyne, Ashburn, VA.