Gerald Brown, Theoretical Physicist, Dies at 86

Gerald E. Brown, an award-winning physicist and East Setauket resident who spent decades as a faculty member at Stony Brook University, died May 31 of complications from pneumonia. He was 86.

According to Stony Brook provost Dennis Assanis, Brown arrived at Stony Brook in 1968 and retired in 2009 – yet still remained active in advising students and conducting research.

"He will be greatly missed by his colleagues in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, the many students who have benefited from his knowledge, and the broader Stony Brook community," Assanis said in a statement.

Brown's work ranged from atomic and nuclear physics to astrophysics; he won several prestigious awards, including the Tom W. Bonner Prize in Nuclear Physics (1982), the John Price Wetherill Medal of the Franklin Institute (1992) and the Hans A. Bethe Prize of the American Physical Society (2001).

Brown founded the journal Physics Letters in 1962, and, later, the publication Physics Reports. 

Originally from Brookings, South Dakota, Brown studied at University of Wisconsin, Yale University, and University of Birmingham, England. Newsday reported that Brown is survived by his wife Elizabeth; children and stepchildren C. Titus Brown of Michigan, Nicky Brown of Copenhagen, Hans Brown of Paris, Claudia Bucher of Hollywood, Calif., Annegret Brown of Port Washington, and Bernard Bucher of Setauket; seven grandchildren; and his ex-wife, Traudl Brown of Copenhagen.

Gifts in Brown's honor can be made to Stony Brook's Gerald Brown Endowed Fund for Excellence in Physics & Astronomy. Tax deductible donations payable to the Stony Brook Foundation can be sent to College of Arts & Sciences, E3320 Melville Library, Stony Brook, NY 11794-339, or can be made online at www.sunysb.edu/giving by typing Gerald Brown in the "Stony Brook Fund" box.