Arnold H. Kritz ’56

Arnold H. Kritz ’56, of Bethlehem, Pa.; Apr. 16. After receiving his PhD in physics from Yale, he spent several years in the research industry before joining the faculty of Hunter College in 1969, where he later served as chair of the department of physics. He was recruited to the department of physics at Lehigh Univ. and served as its chair from 1991 to 1998. At the same time, he led his own research program at Lehigh on nuclear fusion. He also led large multi-institutional collaborations that included research centers across the world. For many years he was a visiting research fellow at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and held several visiting appointments at major laboratories in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Australia, Canada, Denmark, and Germany. He served on the International Advisory Committee for the Center for Magnetic Fusion Theory in China and for four years he worked at the U.S. Department of Energy in charge of the modeling and simulation branch of the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences. He was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society and published numerous articles and wrote two books, including Introduction to Problem Solving. In 2005 a two-day Symposium on The Future of Integrated Modeling was held in celebration of his 70th birthday. He was an active member of the Jewish communities in which he lived and was a board member of the Jewish Federation. He volunteered with the Boy Scouts of America and enjoyed hiking, camping, skiing, traveling, gardening, and playing duplicate bridge. He is survived by his wife, Barbara; a daughter; two sons, including Barry ’84 ScM; two daughters-in-law; a son-in-law; nine grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter.