PAUL C. MARTIN

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Harvard University

PAUL MARTIN Obituary

MARTIN, Paul C. Physicist and former Dean of Harvard University's Division of Applied Sciences, died at home on Sunday, June 19, 2016 at 85 after a long illness with Parkinson's Disease. He was born in New York City and is survived by his wife of 59 years, Ann (Bradley) Martin. He also is survived by his brother Robert and sister-in-law Judith Martin of Washington, DC, son Peter Martin, daughter Stephanie Martin Glennon, son Daniel Martin and daughter-in-law Laurel Pescosolido Martin, and nine grandchildren: Samuel, Noah, Emma, and Suzannah Glennon; Eliot, Elise, and Alex Martin; and Linnea and Davin Martin. He was predeceased by his son-in-law, Dr. James Glennon. By the age of 23, Dr. Martin had earned both an undergraduate degree and a Ph.D in Physics from Harvard University, where at the age of 26 he began teaching Physics. His tenure at Harvard included more six decades of research in theoretical physics, including chaos and turbulence, atomic, and condensed matter physics. He became Chairman of the Physics Department, and in 1977 began more than two decades as Dean of the Division of Applied Sciences, later known as the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. In 1982 he was appointed the first Van Vleck Professor of Physics. Dean Harry Lewis noted Dr. Martin's devotion to every detail of his academic and administrative work: "He did things himself, to make sure everything was done right—every logical flaw was rooted out, every word was written properly, and every argument and viewpoint was taken into account and either incorporated or countered. And yet he was kind and supportive to those of us who couldn't keep up with him." In lieu of flowers, donations in Dr. Martin's memory may be made to the Union of Concerned Scientists, 2 Brattle Square, Cambridge, MA 02138-3780. Details of a fall memorial service in Cambridge will follow.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by Boston Globe from Jun. 24 to Jun. 25, 2016.

Memories and Condolences
for PAUL MARTIN

4 Entries

Kurt Kohn

June 18, 2020

I met Paul during out high school days, when we were members of the Junior Astronomy Club (JAC) that met and had an office in the American Museum of Natural History. We were in a class on calculus Saturday mornings in Rm 129 on the main floor of the museum. The class was toughed by JAC advisor James B. Rothschild, who presented a relatively rigorous account culminating in the equations of celestial mechanics.

We came to Washington DC in 1948 during the Westinghouse Science Talent Search of 1947.

We were then classmates at Harvard College. Paul's extraordinary brilliance became evident during those days.

A close mutual friend of ours in all three of the above was Gerhard Rayna, who became professor of mathematics and computer science at Lehigh University in Bethlehem Pennsylvania.

Kurt Kohn

June 18, 2019

I'm so sorry to hear that Paul has died; my condolences to his all his family. I recall fondly our times together at the Junior Astronomy Club in New York and at Harvard College. Richard LeSchack was in our group; his note describes out gathering around a blackboard mulling over difficult math problems. As he says, this was at the JAC office in the basement of the Museum of Natural History. I knew Paul's younger brother Bob Martin when he was at NIH and later attended with my wife a play he had written: a very interesting play about ambiguities in assessing scientific misconduct; it was in a tiny theater; we met him there, where he was stationed at the ticket table. It was a privilege to know both brilliant brothers. Paul's passing evokes sad nostalgia; he will be sorely missed.
Kurt Kohn

Richard LeSchack

May 16, 2018

Stuyvesant classmate

Kurt Kohn

August 29, 2016

Paul Martin and I were friends during our high school and college years (1944-1951), when we were both active in the Junior Astronomy Club at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and then classmates at Harvard College. The JAC had an office in the basement of the Museum, where we would gather weekends around a blackboard to work on math problems. Our group included several notable mathematicians-to-be, including Donald J. Newman (renowned mathematician), Ariel Charles ("Zemchuk") Zemach (physicist), and Gerhard Rayna (math and computer science professor at Lehigh University). The club's advisor, physicist James B. Rothschild, aimed to find and promote young math/science talent and decided by popular demand to give us a class in calculus leading up to the basic equations of celestial mechanics. He announced that all who wanted to take the class had to take a test, which he handed out one Saturday morning. I sat there all morning, while pigeons were cooing outside the windows of the museum's room 129, and could not get even a start on any of the math problems. I was nonetheless admitted to the class, as it turned out that the test was intended to discover the real math talent, which Paul had, while I did not (I eventually became a biomedical researcher). Paul, Gerhard, and I were among the 40 winners who were in Washington, DC, as part of the then Westinghouse Science Talent search (1947) and we were then classmates at Harvard College. Paul's extraordinary talent became evident one evening while the 3 of us were standing in line for dinner at the Freshman Student Union. Gerhard had been studying math since early teenage years and I had thought him more accomplished than Paul, who it seems was a relatively late starter. So I was quite surprised listening to their discussion that Paul had a firmer and more comprehensive understanding (their discussion had something to do with Dedekind cuts).

I thought that this early history might be worth preserving.

Kurt W. Kohn, MD, PhD
Potomac, Maryland

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