Michael P. Schmidt

Michael P. Schmidt, Ph.D. Prof. Michael P. Schmidt, Ph.D., F. A. P. S., 53, a Madison resident, Professor of Physics at Yale University and researcher in high energy experimental particle physics, died Sunday November 18 in his home after a long battle with cancer. Professor Schmidt was a member and institutional representative of the Fermilab Collider Detector Facility Collaboration at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Chicago and of the CERN Atlas collaboration at CERN Laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland. He has authored and coauthored numerous papers in physics and held various key roles including serving as a member of the Physics Advisory Committee at Fermilab, the Long Range Planning Committee for the American Physics Society, the Director's Review Panel at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, the Editorial Board for the Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Physics, and, most recently, the international Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel. At Yale, Prof. Schmidt has served as Director of Undergraduate Studies and Director of Graduate Studies of the Yale Physics Department and on the Yale College Executive Committee. He was recently named a Fellow of the American Physical Society and was honored by his colleagues at a reception at Yale on Oct. 18, 2007. He was born Jan. 8, 1954 to Bud J. and Shirley Dunbar Schmidt in Los Angeles, CA. His family moved to San Jose, CA in 1963. Michael was educated in San Jose public schools, graduating from Oak Grove High School. He earned a B. S. in physics (with Highest Honors and Great Distinction in General Scholarship) from the University of California, Berkeley in 1975 and a Ph.D. in Physics in 1979 from Yale University where he subsequently held a post-doctoral fellowship and was involved in research at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Prof. Schmidt joined the Yale physics faculty in 1982, achieving tenure in 1986. Michael married Dr. Anne Fowler in 1977 and they had two children, Daniel and Julia. Dr. Fowler died in 2004. They are member of the North Madison Congregational Church. In addition to his career in physics, he has always maintained a strong interest in the arts and in humanities, reading widely, and enjoying guitar playing with family and friends. He observed recently that "ultimately the study of inanimate objects is trivial compared to that of animate objects." Prof. Schmidt is noted for his searching intelligence, deep wisdom, quiet grace and dignity, subtle wit, and passionate love of music. Survivors include his son Daniel, 23, and daughter, Julia, 20, both of Madison; his parents Bud and Shirley Schmidt of San Jose, CA; brother and sister-in-law, Mark and Linda Schmidt of Madison, Wisconsin, sisters and brothers-in-law Judy and Michael Leonard of Reading, CA, and Martha and Jerry Larson, of San Jose, CA; in-laws, Kathleen Fowler and Robert Dilly, of Ramsey, NJ, Elaine Fowler of West Haven, CT; Charles and Pamela Fowler, Jack and Beth Mariotti, George and Lisa Fowler, all of Branford, CT; and close family friend Kraig Dobenski of Derby, CT. He is also survived by 16 nieces and nephews, 5 grandnieces and nephews as well as many friends and colleagues. Friends are invited to a funeral service Saturday morning at 11:00 in the North Madison Congregational Church, (Rtes 79 & 80); and may call Friday at the W. S. Clancy Memorial Funeral Home, 504 Main St., Branford from 4 – 8 PM. Burial will be in Center Cemetery, Branford. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Yale Health Plan In-Patient Care Facility (check payable to Yale University) to the attention of Dr. Paul Genecin, Director of Yale University Health Services, P. O. Box 208237, New Haven, CT 06520-8237; or to CT Hospice, 100 Double Beach Rd., Branford, CT 06405. See obit @ www.wsclancy.com.