Edwin Salpeter (BSc '45 MSc '46 DSc '94) 1924-2008 

Edwin Salpeter, respected worldwide for the transformations he brought to the field of astrophysics, died at his Ithaca, New York, home on November 26. He was 83. At his death, he was the J.G. White Distinguished Professor of Physical Sciences Emeritus at Cornell University.

Salpeter was known for tackling key problems in the formation of stars and the physics of the universe. His description of how helium nuclei fuse to form carbon in the interiors of ancient stars came to be known as the "Salpeter process" and his synthesis of observational data and theory to determine the numbers of stars of different masses that form in the galaxy came to be called the "Salpeter initial mass function" used to study stellar births and deaths.

Colleagues described him as modest but with an ability to visualise key abstract theoretical concepts. He and a Soviet scientist in 1964 independently theorized how gas falling toward a black hole could be heated enough to produce detectable X-rays. The Hubble space telescope would later demonstrate the claim. "It's good to finally win the bet," said Salpeter upon learning of the Hubble findings in 1994.

Born 3 December, 1924, in Vienna, Salpeter fled with his parents to Australia in 1939. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees at the University of Sydney and his doctorate from Birmingham University in England. He then travelled to Cornell to study with Hans Bethe, the legendary scientist involved in developing the first atomic bomb. He served in the 1960s on the Space Science Panel for the President's Science Advisory Committee and on the National Science Board. He also performed classified research for the Department of Defense in the 1960s, evaluating claims made in favor of anti-ballistic missile defense systems.

In 1985, he was appointed by the American Physical Society to a panel studying the feasibility of weapons systems such as the Reagan administration's proposed Strategic Defense Initiative. After two years, the panel unanimously concluded that the proponents' claims were inaccurate, and that the necessary technology did not yet exist.

Salpeter retired from Cornell in 1997, but continued to publish papers. He collaborated with his wife, Miriam, a neurobiology and behavior professor, to use computer simulations to study nerve-muscle interactions in degenerative muscle diseases, taking over her lab upon her death in 2000. He was quoted as saying bacteria dispersed in the air could be studied mathematically like stars disbursing elements.

Salpeter is survived by his second wife, Lhamo, daughters Judy and Shelley and four grandchildren.

(This is an edited version of the obituary published in The Ithaca Journal 27 November 2008)