Lorenzo Jan "Larry" Curtis

1935 - 2020

Lorenzo Jan "Larry" Curtis

Lorenzo Jan "Larry" Curtis was born in St. Johns, Michigan on November 4, 1935 to Lorenzo F. and Grace R. (Cornwell) Curtis. In 1940 the family moved to Toledo. Larry attended Burroughs Elementary and Libbey High Schools and graduated from the University of Toledo with a BS degree in engineering physics. He went on to graduate study at the University of Michigan, obtaining a PhD in physics in 1963, with research in elementary particle physics.

Larry played varsity baseball in high school and college. Throughout his life he played the violin in community orchestras, musical comedies, operas and operettas. Upon completing his PhD, Larry joined the faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Toledo. He immediately became a key figure in the transformation of the department, creating high standards of scholarship and developing the doctoral degree program in Physics. The first Ph.D. degree awarded in that program was to Larry's student, John Kohl, who worked at the Harvard-Smithsonian Observatory and was honored by being named a Fellow of the American Physical Society.

With the support of his former mentor and department chair John Turin, Larry's faculty position at Toledo provided him with great flexibility and opportunities for many extended research leaves at prestigious international research centers. In 1965 Larry received an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship to study at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. In 1967 he was employed as a visiting scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod. In 1970 Larry took a sabbatical leave to work at the Research Institute for Physics in Stockholm Sweden, which began a lifelong collaboration with the Universities of Stockholm, Uppsala, and Lund in Sweden.

On that first trip to Stockholm, Larry met his soulmate and future wife, Maj Rosander. In 2009 Larry published a Memoir titled "Sköna Maj (Beautiful May): An Enchanted Life." During their years together Larry also held visiting scientist positions at the University of Lyon in France, the Free University of Berlin in Germany, the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, the University of Oslo in Norway, and at Princeton University. In 1976 Larry was offered a faculty position at the University of Lund in Sweden (Maj was a graduate of Lund). By arranging a collaborative program between the Universities of Lund and Toledo, Larry held joint positions at the two Universities, alternating years in residence at each. These strong ties to Sweden helped Larry develop an exceptionally fruitful research collaboration with Professor Indrek Martinson, head of the Atomic Physics group at the University of Lund.

Larry's primary field of research was atomic spectroscopy. He had a truly exceptional talent for combining all aspects of this field. First, his laboratory work to make precise spectrum measurements, including the use of new techniques such as ion beams and sophisticated data analysis. Second, his ability to develop concepts to connect different results and strengthen understanding of the field. Third, the application of his results to other fields, such as astronomical research, and high-temperature plasmas in controlled thermonuclear experiments.

During his long career, Larry received extensive and continuous funding from the National Science Foundation, the US Department of Energy, the Swedish Research Council, and the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Atomic Physics. He was elevated to the rank of Fellow of both the American Physical Society and the American Optical Society. Larry's research efforts resulted in well over 200 scholarly scientific papers, a respected graduate textbook on Atomic Structure, and numerous co-authored monographs on scientific subjects. In 1999 Larry received his most cherished honor. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Lund, in Sweden. This award and his accomplishments were described in an article in the Toledo Blade published Sunday February 21, 1999.

In March 2002 Maj was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and began a rigorous program of surgery and chemotherapy. Larry gave up his research program at the University of Toledo and his research contract with the U.S. Department of Energy. For nearly five years Larry and Maj continued to have active and rewarding lives, traveling extensively and relaxing on vacations on Maj's family farm in the forests of Småland in Sweden and in the lush gardens of the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland. Maj passed away on November 1, 2006. Larry subsequently resumed his scientific research and also wrote a number of pedagogic articles proposing radical revisions in the teaching of elementary physics.

Larry received many awards and honors at the University of Toledo, including Distinguished University Professor, 1992, and Master Teacher in the College of Arts and Sciences, 1993. He retired as Emeritus Professor in 2006. In his final years, he lived in the Parkcliffe Community in Toledo where he died on Sunday, March 29, 2020. While there, his commitment to teaching and love of science remained evident. He regaled visiting groups of student nurses with tales regarding Florence Nightingale, who was not only a renowned nurse, but made major contributions to the use and analysis of statistics.