Dr. Mark Gurevitch
Former Professor and Department Chair
February 16, 2006
Gurevitch received his doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley before teaching at the University of Idaho at Moscow. He moved to Portland State in 1958 and retired twice from the department. His first retirement in the 1980s, was brought about by the University's financial crisis. Gurevitch came back to serve as a part time department chair until his second retirement in 1991.
Gurevitch's research included papers on sub-micron metal particles in iron and on the principles, development and use of high altitude precipitation gauges.
Gurevitch was a strong advocate for biophysics in the department, and proposed in the late 1960s a doctorate program in the field. This eventually led to the hiring of Kwan Hsu as the first biophysics professor at Portland State University.
Gurevitch was also instrumental in the creation of the first endowed chair in physics in the state of Oregon. The position is named after Gertrude Rempfer.
Dr. Laird Brodie
Former Professor
July 31, 2009
Laird was born Aug. 30, 1922, in Portland to Drs. Francis Walter Brodie and Jessie Laird Brodie. He attended Laurelhurst Grade School and Grant High School. He received a bachelor's degree from Reed College in 1944, a master's degree from University of Chicago in 1949 and was awarded a doctorate in physics from Northwestern University in 1954.
In 1943 he was drafted into the U.S. Army Air Forces and was sent to study meteorology at University of Washington, University of Chicago, Harvard and MIT. Laird was a teaching/research professor of physics at Portland State University from 1956 to 1987. As a professor, he would often employ examples from solar energy to illustrate physics concepts to his classes and in his later career he enjoyed teaching courses in the physics of music and photography. At Portland State he researched heat transfer in cryogenic liquids.
In addition to physics, he enjoyed music and outdoor pursuits like hiking, backpacking and sea kayaking. He always went hiking equipped with a large chocolate bar to share. He played the French horn in the Portland Junior Symphony from 1937 to 1943. He also played in the Portland Opera Orchestra and the Marylhurst College Orchestra for many years. He was active in the hiking group of First Unitarian Church, where Laird met his second wife, Mary Ella Carson. They married in 1974. Laird and Mary regularly attended the Oregon Symphony, the Portland Chamber Music at Reed College, and hiked with the Friends of the Columbia Gorge and the Mazamas.
Dr. Makoto Takeo
Former Professor
May 23, 2010
Diploma 1943 Tohoku University (Japan); M.S. 1951, Ph.D. 1953 University of Oregon. Interests: theoretical atomic physics, surface physics and gas kinetics by optical methods, gas dynamics, lattice dynamics.
Dr. Rudi Nussbaum
Former Professor
July 26, 2011
B.S. 1951, Ph.D. 1954 University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands).
Interests: radiation protection standards, epidemiological studies on cancer induction at low doses of ionizing radiation. An avowed pacifist, both Rudi and his wife were survivors of the Holocaust. His work as a Professor Emeritus of Physics and Environmental Science at Portland State University was instrumental in raising alarm over the health effects of radiation exposure. He wrote numerous papers on this subject and participated in gathering valuable information on workers and civilians that were exposed to radiation at Hanford and in surrounding communities, for which he became a vocal advocate for environmental justice.
Dr. Gertrude Rempfer
October 4, 2011
Gertrude Rempfer, professor emerita of physics and environmental science, died Oct. 4th. She was 99 years old. Dr. Rempfer, who retired in 1977, continued to conduct cutting-edge research in photoelectron microscopy in her PSU lab as recent as three weeks before her death. During her retirement years, she published, received grants, submitted patents, mentored graduate students, and won awards for her contributions to science. Her last PhD student graduated in 2009.
An endowed chair in physics, the first such chair at PSU, was established in her name in 1997. Dr. Rempfer's husband, Robert Rempfer, a professor emeritus of Mathematical Sciences, preceded her in death.
Dr. John Dash
April 13, 2016
Professor John Dash received his BS in metallurgy from Pennsylvania State University in 1955 and worked for a time at Rem-Cru Titanium. He then earned his MS in metallurgy from Northwestern University and worked for a short time at another company doing research on metals. In 1966, Dash received his Ph.D. in metallurgy from Pennsylvania State University and shortly thereafter began teaching in the Physics Department at Portland State University. Dash was a Professor Emeritus of Physics and remained active in research after his retirement in 1998.
More details can be found on the New Energy Foundation's Infinite Energy Magazine website.
Dr. Ray Sommerfeldt
February 14, 2017
Ray Sommerfeldt, professor emeritus of physics, died February 14 at his home in Bend. He was 92 years old. Prof. Sommerfeldt was born in Portland on October 27, 1924, graduated from Portland’s Franklin High School, then served in the U.S. Army Air Forces as a radio operator in the Pacific Theater during World War II. At war’s end, he returned to Portland and enrolled at Vanport Extension Center, the institution that was moved downtown in 1952 and evolved into Portland State University.
After transferring to the University of Oregon in 1949, Prof. Sommerfeldt completed an undergraduate degree in physics, then continued his education at Oregon State University, where he earned a master’s in 1954 and a Ph.D. in 1964. Before joining the physics faculty at Portland State in 1966, he taught at Texas A&M and Oregon State, and served as visiting scientist at the Institute of Physics, University of Uppsala, Sweden. He earned the Carter Award for outstanding teaching in the School of Sciences at OSU.
During his 20-year career at Portland State, Prof. Sommerfeldt co-authored papers in Physics Letters, American Journal of Physics, and Bulletin of the American Physical Society, among others; served as a member of the City Club of Portland; was secretary and president of the Oregon Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers; and served as section representative of the Oregon Academy of Science. In addition to serving as head of the Department of Physics, he also participated on departmental, college, and university committees.
Dr. Pavel Karel Smetjek
October 5, 2021
Professor Pavel Smejtek departed peacefully from the physical world he loved and the physical laws by which it is ruled on Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. He was born March 27, 1936 in Zilina, Slovakia and attended undergraduate school at Leningrad Polytechnic Institute in the former Soviet Union and graduated as an engineer physicist in 1961. He then went on to study at the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry in the Czech Republic, and received his PhD in Chemistry in 1965. Upon freeing the Soviet invasion of Prague in 1968, he finally moved to the US and accepted a research position at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
In 1972 he moved to join the Physics Department at Portland State University. His expertise across multiple areas of science was anchored in his passion for biophysics which afforded many opportunities to collaborate across science disciplines during his career. His key research focused on surface and interface properties of artificial and biological membranes and environmental membrane biophysics. In 2003 he was recognized by the undergraduate and graduate students of PSU's College of Engineering & Computer Science with an Award for Outstanding Teaching Faculty. He retired from PSU after 30 years in 2003. He maintained his laboratory and continued his research as Emeritus Professor for the next 10 years. Besides academic achievements, Professor Smejtek had also served as the Director of the Environmental Sciences and Resources Program at Portland State during the 1990’s.
Arnold D. Pickar
November 29, 2022
Professor Arnold Pickar passed away Nov. 29, 2022 at the age of 95. Arnold Pickar (‘Arny’) was born in Brooklyn, N.Y.; joined the Merchant Marine near the end of World War II; and attended Cornell University. In 1963 he moved to Portland, Oregon to teach physics at Portland State University. As an early faculty member in the Department of Physics he made contributions in education of its students, in research in the area of biophysics, and as a colleague until his retirement in 1989.
Outside of PSU, Arny was an active member of the Mazamas climbing organization, spending many weekends scaling the peaks of the Cascade Range. He married Ann in 1971 and raised a family with a love of nature, the outdoors and the forests and mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Arny also took pride in honoring the traditions of his Jewish ancestors. As a young man he became involved in the Unitarian Church and remained deeply involved with the church for the rest of his life. Arny continued intellectual pursuits in retirement, publishing “A Kopek in the Dust” in 2012, a novel about a profoundly spiritual quest to understand the world as a scientist and spiritually.
Beloved father, husband, professor, colleague and friend, he is survived by his wife, Ann; his daughter, Jennifer; and his son, David.