THOMAS H. DUPREE

1933 - 2020

DUPREE, Thomas H. MIT Professor of Physics Thomas H. Dupree, professor emeritus of physics and professor emeritus of nuclear science and engineering at MIT, and a real estate developer, died February 11th from complications of multiple myeloma. He was 86 and lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Tom grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee. His childhood comprised a wild and wooly mix of experimentation and hijinks: riding motorcycles, shooting rifles, building gas-engines for model airplanes and tinkering under the hood of his beloved Model A Ford. He built a crystal radio, then strung antennae from treetops to transmit and receive Morse code, once communicating with another radio operator in remote Tasmania. He persuaded his mother to purchase highly explosive chemicals for his own experiments and, years later, marveled at the ease with which he could have inadvertently blown up the family home. And at summer camp as a young boy, he learned to play tennis, which became a lifelong passion. Tom played regularly—if not daily—into his eighties, for years hitting the first ball of opening day at the Longwood Cricket Club. Tom's childhood interest in mechanics evolved and he left Knoxville for MIT, where he graduated in 1955. He received a Ph.D. in physics from MIT in 1960 and became a full professor at MIT in 1969 with appointments in physics and nuclear engineering. Tom focused on theoretical plasma physics with an emphasis on nonlinear and stochastic phenomena. His original research and scholarly articles continue to be cited in current scientific literature. In 1987, he won the MIT Graduate Student Council Department Teaching Award. Forever captivated by the challenge and beauty of physics, he spent weekend afternoons (after several sets of tennis) ensconced in his Cambridge library, listening to the Metropolitan Opera and scribbling equations—his "squiggles"—on a lined yellow pad. His childhood interest in building evolved as well. In 1962, Tom and his brother Fred purchased the land then occupied by Harvard University's original Stillman Infirmary. In its place, they built what would become an iconic 20-story residential tower along the banks of the Charles River: 1010 Memorial Drive. Looking back, Tom would concede it might have been slightly reckless for a first project. At 29, he lacked any experience in major real estate negotiations. However, he would go on to successfully develop many other properties across Cambridge and its environs, including two Hugh Stubbins-designed buildings at 1100 and 1033 Massachusetts Avenue, and a sprawling office park in Lexington, Massachusetts. In October 1957, Tom met Andrea Kundsin, then a Wellesley sophomore studying astronomy, at an MIT-Wellesley mixer. On their first date, he forgot his wallet. When he called for a second date, Andrea declined, telling him she had to study instead. Undeterred, he pursued her and they married in 1961. Tom and Andrea were kindred spirits: Andrea received a Ph.D. in astrophysics from Harvard University and later served as President of the American Astronomical Society as well as Associate Director of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. Their son, Tom, Jr., was born in 1970, and daughter Catherine in 1973. Both remember long and lively dinner table conversations as children, their parents holding up wine glasses to represent stars as they engaged in fierce, esoteric debate about astrophysics. Any help with math homework inevitably ended with complicated and uninvited explanations of much more advanced concepts. Tom was born on May 24, 1933 in Santa Monica, California to Dr. Frederick F. Dupree, Sr. and Caroline Henderson Dupree. The family lived for several years on the grounds of the Veterans' Hospital in Westwood, California where Tom's father was Clinical Director of Psychiatry. His mother, who received a master's degree in sociology from Columbia University, raised Tom and his older brother Fred. The family moved to Tampa, Florida and Tucson, Arizona before settling in Knoxville in 1943. Tom is survived by his wife Andrea, his children Tom and Catherine, and his four grandchildren Andrew, Caroline, Aoife and Lochlann. Donations may be made in Tom's memory to the MIT Department of Physics. Services are private.

View the online memorial for Thomas H. DUPREE