Eugene Golowich

Eugene Golowich, a highly respected particle theorist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, passed away on 16 December 2024. He was born 21 July 1939, in Mount Vernon, New York. His BS in physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1961) was followed by a PhD from Cornell (1965) working with Peter Caruthers. Following a postdoctoral position at Carnegie Mellon University (1965–67), he joined the faculty at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he was one of the founders of a blossoming theory group.

Gene liked to describe himself as “a calculator,” and he loved relating theoretical models to experiment. Much of Gene’s research focused on the interplay of the strong and weak interactions. This started with his calculations of the weak interactions of quarks, initially employing the MIT bag model. As theoretical tools developed, he included the methods of chiral perturbation theory and chiral sum rules. Much of this was related to the experimental kaon physics around the world and was accomplished with many collaborators, including John Donoghue, Barry Holstein, and Vincenzo Cirigliano. As more work was being done on the weak interactions of heavy quarks, he shifted his attention to the physics of D and B mesons, becoming one of the leading theorists on these weak decays, along with collaborators Alexey Petrov, Sandip Pakvasa, and JoAnne Hewitt. Along with coauthors Donoghue and Holstein, he distilled many of his insights about the theory and phenomenology of the standard model into the monograph Dynamics of the Standard Model. Originally published in 1992, Gene also led the revision and updating of a second edition in 2014.

His teaching skills were legendary. His blackboards were artwork with an incisive summary of the material and masterful use of colored chalk. He was proud to have won the very first Distinguished Teaching Award from the College of Natural Science. Gene was a beloved colleague and collaborator. He had a sharp and deadpan wit that could strike at a moment’s notice. As a faculty colleague, he was the voice of reason and compassion and directly or indirectly mentored junior faculty. He is survived by his wife Joan and children Steven and Laura and their families.

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