Charles Carlson

Charles W. Carlson

Born in December 1942 to Oscar and Lenore Carlson in the small rural town of Cambidge MN, Charles kept the values he learned there - hard work, perseverance, integrity and thrift - throughout his life. He was the youngest of 5 children. A childhood of long winters with few distractions and a lively inquisitive mind drew Charles to science. Local stories abound about his scientific enthusiasm. Early rocketry experiments included a rocket misfired horizontally, damaging a clothesline full of sheets. Reserved, understated, unassuming, and disinterested in status, he drove a battered 1982 Honda Accord into the 21st century, and dressed casually. Everyone remembers his dry sense of humor and quick wit. Charles graduated from Cambridge HS, the University of MN, and earned a Ph.D. in physics from UC Berkeley. He spent 45 years at UCB's Space Sciences Lab studying space plasmas and the aurora borealis, working on NASA and European Space Agency rockets and satellites. The plasma analyzer he designed and built has flown on every magnetospheric and solar wind satellite in the past few decades. Charles lived with Alzheimers the last 15 years of his life. The diagnosis necessitated an unexpected early retirement and change of focus from outer space to the pleasures of family life and the natural world. The universe never ceased to astonish him. Predeceased by his parents and older brother Stanton; survived by siblings Karin Mackinney, Dr. Paul E. Carlson, and Diane Appelhof; survived by wife Gretchen, children Sarah, John (Molly), Anna (Simmons) and 2 grandchildren. He died November 12, 2020. Donations can be sent to the Belmont Staff Employee Fund c/o Michelle Moros, 1100 San Pablo Avenue, Albany, CA 94706 for the exceptional care he received from brave and compassionate caregivers during this pandemic year.