Hans COURANT Obituary

Age 94, of St. Paul Passed away August 21, 2019 Hans was born on October 30, 1924, in Göttingen, Germany, the third of four children in an academic family. Hans's father, Richard Courant, was a prominent mathematician. His mother, Nina (Runge) Courant, a musician, was the daughter of Carl Runge, another prominent mathematician. In 1934, at age 10, Hans came to the U.S. with his family to make a new home outside Nazi Germany. Family lore has him shouting "Guten Morgen, Tante Liberty!" from the deck of the S.S. Stuttgart as their ship came into view of the Statue of Liberty. He would later say that this was when his life really began. Hans attended high school at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, leaving after his junior year to enroll at MIT. Drafted into the army in 1942, he served in Los Alamos and was among those to witness the Manhattan Project's Trinity Test in 1945, a life-changing and awe-inspiring experience. In 1946 Hans returned to MIT, where he earned a doctorate in Physics. He then went on to be a Fulbright scholar in Paris, an assistant professor at Yale, and an NSF fellow at CERN, finally settling in as a professor at the University of Minnesota, where he founded the high energy physics group. Always gregarious, Hans made friends wherever he went. And he went lots of places: New York City to run the marathon (marathon-running being something he started in his 50s); Europe for sabbaticals, mountain-climbing adventures, and (with wife Dixie) visits with friends and family; and Alta, Utah, for an annual ski trip with family and friends (skiing being something he continued enthusiastically through the age of 89). Witty and charming, Hans was always ready to make conversation with those around him; to offer dark chocolate to friends, family, and ski lift operators; and to delight his grandchildren with whatever came to hand, be it a surprisingly lifelike handkerchief mouse, a floating ping-pong ball, or — to the dismay of their parents — a drinking-straw blowgun, good for propelling toothpicks. Hans was married twice: to Maggie (Spaulding) Courant, from whom he was divorced in 1979; and to Dixie (Cardarelle Hayday) Courant, who predeceased him in 2017. He is survived by seven children and stepchildren: Martha Courant, Ted Courant (m. Laura Konigsberg), Tim Courant (m. Carol), Elisa Hayday, Kim McConnell (m. David), Mark Hayday (m. Mary Pampusch), and Andria Hayday (m. Troy Denning); by 11 grandchildren: Miranda Courant-Morgan (m. Dulcea), Katherine Hicks-Courant (m. Aaron Schwartz), Alex Hicks-Courant, Elliot Courant, Phoebe Courant, Jack Courant, Miles Courant, Kevin McConnell (m. Emily), Marissa Hayday, Karina Hayday, and Elena Hayday; and by 1 great-grandchild, Dina Schwartz. Memorial service to be announced at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Doctors Without Borders or the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

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Published by Pioneer Press on Aug. 25, 2019.

Memories and Condolences
for Hans COURANT

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5 Entries

Jeffrey Kimel

April 11, 2024

One of the best professors I had at the University of Minnesota in the early 90's. Always willing to help. I'll never forget Professor Courant.

October 5, 2019

I will always remember Hans, in Feigères and 20 years later in Haute Savoie! His smile, his humour and tenderness! just like a second father for me!
+ his welcome in New York in 1966 for the little frenchy girl crossing the ocean ! With love, Simone

Rebecca Messer

October 4, 2019

Hans Courant was an inspiration to anyone he interacted with. As a Physics major I was very fortunate to hear many of his stories. He has left a positive mark at the U of MN.

Gregory Brown

September 2, 2019

Hans was one of my favorite teachers and professors in my lifetime! I am SO very sad to hear about his passing! What a truly great guy! He was always interested in helping me out during his office hours, and I went often. I worked on the tail end of the Sudan Mind Project building detectors for Hans' project, and I worked on his collaborative project at Brookhaven National Laboratory, testing, building and installing detectors. I once had the pleasure of going to the Sudan mine with Hans and several other students, and he told us amazing stories of staying with Harold Bohr, and calling Neils Bohr "Uncle Neils." He also talked to us about his experiences on the Manhattan Project and observing the test detonations, showing us his "welders" eye shield. I loved being around him and learning from him - he was an excellent teacher. One of the last wonderful things he did for me was to provide me a letter of recommendation to graduate School, which I am sure I was admitted entrance to in large part due to his letter. I met with him after one of my expeditions in Mongolia researching Mongol-Siberian shamanism and it's relationship to Native American shamanism. I loved Hans, and I miss him now - I was just looking him up to call him actually, and that is how I found out about this sad news. Thank Hans for your kind and helpful heart. Enjoy the next ride in what ever dimension it is, and enjoy all that comes with what ever is in the beyond, you deserve it! With a heavy heart, sincerely, Greg.

James Babcock

August 26, 2019

Talk about a life well-lived. He was on my Ph.D. preliminary orals committee, treated me very well during that rather stressful event. He was a really neat guy, into cars. He had a Mercedes 6.3 liter sedan, very quick car. He let me drive it once. These cars have four speed automatics but usually start out in 2nd as they have plenty of torque to get the car moving. At one stop sign he said floor it for as long as you dare. It lit those Michelins up for a long way! He also had a Citroen that had a hydraulic suspension with plumbing all over the place. Every spring he'd say this is the year I get the Citroen running and he'd start the car. Hydraulic fluid would spray everywhere from all the rusted lines. He'd then say maybe not this year. I really liked him.

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