Howard Bryant

Howard Carnes Bryant

Howard Carnes Bryant passed away on January 9, 2026.

He was born July 9, 1933 in Fresno, CA, to Leslie and Beryl Bryant and was the eldest of four brothers, Jeffrey and Steve of Saratoga, CA, and Austin (deceased).

He is survived by his wife, Mona Bryant and children Matthew, Clifford and Susannah, his grandson Carl Schnitker, and son-in-law Jurgen Schnitker.

Howard graduated from Vallejo High School (1951), the University of CA at Berkeley (BS in Physics 1955, Phi Beta Kappa), and the University of Michigan (MS 1957 and PhD 1960), under Dr. Donald Glaser studying the lambda hyperon, a then recently discovered subatomic particle.

He was a Professor of Physics at the University of New Mexico from 1960 to 1997 where his research and teaching covered a large field of interests including water droplets, negative ion of hydrogen, atomic and meteorological physics, contributions to elementary and nuclear particles, solar energy, color vision in birds, use of magnetic nanoparticles particles in medicine.

He shared his passion for physics by collaborating with colleagues, lecturing, mentoring and supervising undergraduate, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows. Much of his research was at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Stanford Linear Accelerator, England (Rutherford Lab, University London), University of Innsbruck, and Senior Scientific, LLC in Albuquerque.

Howard's career awarded him with a Fulbright Fellowship (Innsbruck, Austria 1982-83) and the 30th Faculty Research Lectureship at the University of New Mexico (1985). He was also a Fellow of the American Physical Society.

Drawing and sketching were a lifelong pleasure for Howard and he took up watercolor painting as an adult. His playfulness and humor came through in his cartoons to illustrate his physics tests and sketching caricatures of fellow faculty during department meetings. He found time to hike, ski, fossil hunt with family, and friends and to travel extensively for work or pleasure.

Howard touched so many lives. He will be deeply missed.

In lieu of flowers, the family invites donations in his name to the The American Physical Society, the New Mexico Autism Society, or the charity of your choice.