1. Robert L. Gluckstern
July 21,1924 –
December 17, 2008

2. Brief Professional Bio, Part 1
CCNY, Electrical Engineering, 1944
US Navy,
PhD, Physics, MIT, 1948
Postdoc, Berkeley, Cornell 1948 – 51
Professor, Yale,

3. Brief Professional Bio, Part 2
Head, Physics and Astronomy, UMass,
Associate Provost,
Provost,
Chancellor, Maryland,
Professor,

4. Accelerator Research Consultant
Brookhaven
Fermi Lab
CERN
Los Alamos
Director, U Maryland Dynamic Systems and Accelerator Theory
1999 US Particle Accelerator Prize
Last paper: CERN report, July 25, 2008

5. UMass 1964 There were 11 people in the department when Bob came.
Phillips Jones, UMass ’51
and Professor Emeritus

6. UMass Physics
I was recruited from Yale by Moyer Hunsberger … the prospect of working with Hunsberger’s support to build a quality graduate program was too exciting to turn down….
RLG, January, 1997
Arts and Sciences Dean Moyer Hunsberger

7. Mort Sternheim, Professor Emeritus; Director, STEM Education Institute
I met Bob Gluckstern at Yale in the fall of I and two other new postdocs in theoretical physics had started our own seminar series to share our research interests, and Bob joined us. It was immediately clear that he was a bright, friendly, and open person. If my memory is correct, he was the only senior faculty member to invite Helen and me to his and Norma’s home for dinner. When Bob went to UMass the following fall, he invited me to visit. I was very impressed with his vision and enthusiasm and ultimately became the first person he hired….

8. One reason that Bob was a great leader is that he was a superb listener. He had his own ideas, but he learned from what he heard from others. For example, he had considered having a small accelerator for nuclear physics research, but dropped that idea in favor of users groups at major centers, which was a good decision. He visited many physics departments, attended many conferences, etc., in formulating his model for the department and recruiting faculty….

9. When Bob was hired, he was promised lots of positions by the dean, Moyer Hunsberger. UMass was adding 100 new faculty annually – about one Amherst College! – so there were lots of positions around. When he arrived, he was a bit disappointed to hear Hunsberger say that he could have only 3 slots to start with, but more if all went well. By the end of the recruiting season, he had hired 7 people, increasing the department by about 50 percent. Overall, the department went from approximately from 11 to 45 faculty during his five years as head
Mort Sternheim

10. We decided to build an experimental research base in the form of user groups in elementary particle and nuclear physics and individual labs in solid state and atomic physics .. supplemented by a spectrum of theoretical research programs.
RLG, January, 1997

11. We focused our recruiting toward building a scanning and measuring facility for bubble chamber photos to support an experimental elementary particle physics program.
Steve Yamamoto, Janice Shafer, Bob Gluckstern

13. Janice Button-Shafer, Professor Emerita, UMass Physics, and Guest Scientist, LBNL
Bob was an extraordinary physicist, teacher, administrator – and musician. His enthusiasm and charm persuaded talented young theorists and experimentalists, many not expecting to change positions, to join him in the rapid build-up of the Department of Physics & Astronomy in the mid-sixties. As co-head of the high-energy physics group, I much appreciated Bob’s leadership and mentoring. He was ahead of his time in his support for women scientists in academia.

14. A Family Affair Mort Sternheim, to BJ, age 10: Do you like Amherst?
BJ: Have you accepted the position?
Mort: Yes.
BJ: I don’t like it.
We ran a tight ship!
RLG, January 1997

15. Norma Gluckstern Packard
When Bob Gluckstern arrived in Amherst in 1964, the challenge of building an expanding physics department in a newly built Hasbrouck Physics Building was exciting though at times a bit overwhelming. One of the overwhelming areas was in recruiting faculty. To help him in the recruiting process, we devised a family plan— dinner at “the Gluckstern’s.” This was a family project designed to assist him in recruiting potential faculty by offering dinner at the Gluckstern‘s, some of you who are sitting here today may have dined with us. I doubt if it was the deciding factor in your accepting to join the department but it was an opportunity for you to experience Bob not only as a physicist but as a thoughtful, kind and generous man…

16. When Bob went on to be provost, he brought with him a broader understanding of the needs of the University beyond the physics department. The first of the two that I would like him to be remembered for are his support of the School of Education under Dwight Allen, during a most turbulent time. The School of Education is where Steven and I received our Ed.D. The other is the Women’s Center. It was Bob who provided the first space, a single room, for the women on campus to open a “women’s center,” a center that has grown over the years…
Finally let me thank you all for this special recognition of Bob as a brilliant physicist, a remarkable administrator and a good man and father.
“To accomplish great things we must not only act, but also must dream, not only plan, but also believe.” Norma Gluckstern Packard, April, 2009.

17. 1965 Mort Sternheim Roy Cook Steve Yamamoto Stan Hertzbach Dick Kofler
Norm Ford
Claude Penchina

18. As a native of Springfield, Mass
As a native of Springfield, Mass., I had a deep seated view of UMass as an agricultural college. It is a tribute to Bob's ability to share his vision with others that following a day's interview I had changed my opinion and decided to join the faculty in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Norman Ford, Former Professor of Physics

19. “1965 Class Reunion”
June, 2005

20. 1966 Janice Shafer Stan Engelsberg Robert Krotkov Ken Langley
Arthur Quinton
Bill Irvine
Ted Harrison
Tom Arny
Fred Byron

21. Bob was the original driving force behind the creation of a graduate astronomy program at UMass. To forward this plan, he assumed the chairmanship of the Five College Astronomy Department in He then recruited me to take over the Chair in 1966, recruited Tom Arny as a 2nd astronomer, and together we recruited Ted Harrison. He was thereafter a strong supporter of building up Astronomy, both as Department Chair and later as Provost.
William M. Irvine, Professor of Astronomy

22. Building the original FCRAO telescope with telephone poles and chicken wire

23. 1967 John Brehm Gene Golowich Art Swift Bill Mullin Mark Goldenberg
John Strong
Bill Plummer
Bill Cleland

24. William Mullin, Professor Emeritus
Bob hired folks that were not only good researchers but were also congenial, which matched his own personality. I felt like he was like a kind father figure, but also a very good leader and a smart physicist.

25. 1968
Gerry Peterson
Jim Walker
Alan Hoffman
Richard Huguenin
Bill Dent

27. Robert Krotkov, Professor Emeritus
UMass [had] an active atomic physics group - Ed Soltysik, Phil Jones, and Francis Pichanick (who also came from Yale). New Hasbrouck had just been finished; atomic physics was in old Hasbrouck. Bob was very supportive, though his primary emphasis at that time was on building up high energy physics. He was always going away to conferences to recruit people. One secret of his success was the open, accepting way he dealt with people.

28. 1969 Dieter Freytag Francis Pichanick Bill Gerace Bob Guyer
David Inglis
Klaus Schultz
Joe Taylor

29. Arthur R. Quinton, Professor Emeritus
I recall from the early 60's once mentioning Bob to his MIT thesis advisor, John Slater. His comment tells it all: "Yes, he was a very bright boy!". No matter what the task, he always performed brilliantly. First and foremost, he was a great applied mathematician, especially in the area of electromagnetism and accelerators. But you ask him to be department head or provost or chancellor and again the results are outstanding.

30. Impact
Our base prior to 1964 was 11 faculty, $30,000 federal support annually
PhD program approved during
RLG, Jan. 1997

31. Impact
By 1969 there were about 45 faculty and $1,000,000 in federal funding RLG, January 1997

32. Bob Gluckstern was an extraordinary person
Bob Gluckstern was an extraordinary person. He joined UMass when I was a senior undergraduate physics major and immediately began to transform the department. Even undergraduates could feel his energy and enthusiasm… In 1970 I began to look for a faculty position. UMass told me that it was not hiring in my area. Bob met me … and asked how I was doing. I told him I was a postdoc and looking for a good faculty position.
He asked if I had considered UMass and I told him that I had, but no position was available. He said, with words I will never forget, “Ask them again.” I did, and I was hired – with no formal interview.
Bob Hallock, Professor of Physics

33. Life in Whitmore

34. Commencement 1970
Provost Oswald Tippo

35. Convocation 1970

36. Commencement 1972
President Robert Wood
W. Randolph Bromery

37. Distinguished Teacher Awards, 1973
Chancellor W. Randolph Bromery

38. Tree Planting Ceremony, 1973
Gravesite of President William S. Clark

39. Distinguished Teacher Awards 1974

40. Bob and Teaching
Oversaw development of UMass physics and astronomy grad programs
Oversaw revisions of physics major and service courses
Dedicated to teaching
Taught sections while Provost
Tutored at Maryland until recently

41. Teaching at UMass
I asked him if I could see him for some help. He offered to meet me at 6:30 AM. He was there the next morning when I arrived at that hour, and he gave me the help I needed.
Chris Emery, retired Amherst Regional HS physics teacher

43. At Maryland
As chancellor, he sought to boost the university's academic quality by raising entrance standards and striving for salary equity for female faculty.

44. At Maryland, cont.
"He was just a good and gentle man who will be missed greatly," University President C.D. Mote Jr. said a statement, noting Dr. Gluckstern's efforts to create opportunities for minorities and to establish the Banneker Scholarship program, which provides merit awards. Baltimore Sun, December 22, 2008

45. At Maryland, cont.
Bob was an extraordinary physicist who had a pure and deep understanding of the material…. He really enjoyed having contact with the students. Indeed, while Chancellor, he was also a TA in Physics and Math… He was a superb teacher and human being to the end, and he fought a hard fight with cancer. We will miss him, his rich New Yawk accent, his good nature, his perspective, his brilliance, and his friendship.
Drew Baden, Physics Chair

46. Awards
President’s Medal, University of Maryland, 1996, in recognition of his contributions to the intellectual and cultural life of the university
U.S. Particle Accelerator School Prize, 1999, for contributions to the understanding of fundamental processes in high-intensity beams
UMass honorary PhD, 2005, for achievements in physics and academia

47. UMass Honorary PhD, May 2005 Vice-Provost Paul Kostecki
President Jack Wilson

49. Chancellor John Lombardi
Pat Crosson

50. Family and Friends
Dad touched so many people through the years. Two in particular are our children, Jessie and Zach (Ages 24 and 19). Jessie is following in his footsteps in her love for teaching. Dad would have been proud. Zachary and Dad shared an unspoken connection. Whether it was sports, Monopoly, lessons taught – their chemistry was undeniable. He was deeply loved and will be missed by all of us.
Amie Gluckstern Yabroff, April 2009
With the grandchildren

52. Bob
Zachary
Jessie
Amie

53. Silver Lake NH, July 2006
Seymour Shapiro
Pat Crosson
Charles Adams

54. Bob and Ann Woodbury
Dave Bischoff
Liz Nuss
Maine, October 2008

55. A Memorial Reception April 17, 2009
Bob Hallock, Professor of Physics

56. Arthur Quinton, Professor of Physics Emeritus
Bob before UMass

57. Phillips Jones, Professor of Physics Emeritus
UMass before Bob

58. Mort Sternheim, Professor of Physics Emeritus; Director, STEM Education Institute
Bob and UMass Physics

59. William Irvine, Professor of Astronomy
Bob and UMass Astronomy

60. Jeremiah Allen, HFA Dean Emeritus
Bob in Whitmore

61. Pat Crosson, Provost Emeritus
Bob in Whitmore and Maryland

62. Open Microphone Lee Grodzins, Professor Emeritus of Physics, MIT
Brian O’Connor, Professor of Biology

63. Stan Hertzbach, Professor of Physics
David Scott, Chancellor Emeritus

64. Remembering Bob
Liz Nuss
Steven Gluckstern

66. Pat Crosson
Judy Gluckstern
Liz Nuss
Patricia Mulvey

67. Susan Leschine
Bill Irvine

68. Bob Hallock
Norma Hallock
Jay Greenspan
BJ Greenspan

69. Don Candela
Helen Sternheim
Steven Gluckstern
Laurie Benalt

70. Arthur Quinton
Ereda Jones
Nancy Gluek
Phillips Jones

71. Principal Sources Photos Quotes U Maryland web sites
UMass Library Archives
Mort Sternheim
The Gluckstern family
Quotes
UMass physics web site
“History of Physics at UMass”
PowerPoint by Mort Sternheim