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BORN
1934
DIED
2019
Michael Nauenberg Obituary
December 19, 1934 - July 22, 2019
Santa Cruz
Michael Nauenberg only truly retired on the morning of July 22nd, when he passed away at home with his love of 50 years, Josette Nauenberg, by his side. Michael was born to a Jewish family in Berlin on December 19th, 1934 and escaped to Colombia, South America on the last boat out of Germany during World War II. He went on to study physics at MIT and Cornell, teach at Columbia and Stanford, and eventually join UCSC as a founding faculty member in 1966.
Michael was a world-renowned scholar who made substantial contributions to particle physics, theoretical physics, and the history of science. He was deeply committed to advancing academic excellence at UCSC and cherished interdisciplinary interactions with scholars across campus. In addition to his work in Santa Cruz, he was the deputy director at the Institute for Theoretical Physics at UC Santa Barbara for two years, and he worked at several research institutes abroad, in Geneva (CERN), France, the Netherlands, and Germany. His colleagues will remember him as a larger than life figure who was passionate about his scholarship and stood up for the things he believed in.
His family will always remember his unwavering love and support, his ability to explain Newton's ideas on a paper napkin, and his generosity with his special collection of chocolates (amongst many other things). He thoroughly enjoyed Santa Cruz's natural beauty and could often be found riding his bike up to campus or hiking in the redwood forest around his office while working out a physics problem in his head.
Michael is survived by his wife, Josette Nauenberg, his siblings, Eva Faillace, Uriel Nauenberg, and Lucrecia Sachs, his children, Peter Nauenberg, Maria Neumann, Tanya Nauenberg-Blakeslee, Sander Nauenberg, and Saskia Nauenberg Dunkell, and his many beloved grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, donations to the UCSC Emeriti Association for an annual Michael Nauenberg History of Science Lecture are welcome.
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