Obituary of Alfred Z. Hendel

Alfred Z. (Fred) Hendel, Professor Emeritus of Physics, died peacefully in his home on October 7, 2010, just twelve days before his 94th birthday. Fred was born on October 19, 1916 in Vienna, Austria. He was a student at the University of Vienna at the time of the Anschluss when Austria was taken over by Nazi Germany. Fred was, for a short time, involved with the underground, but was forced to escape from Austria in 1938, also helping others to escape. He went to Bolivia where he spent the next 17 years, and came to live that beautiful country. At first, he earned his living in many ways as an electrician, a newspaper photographer, a croupier in a casino, and a teacher of Spanish. In 1945 he joined the physics faculty of the University of La Paz. In 1952 he was given a half-time appointment as an associate professor in the Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas in Brasil, which he fulfilled at the Mt. Chacaltaya cosmic ray research station at an elevation of about 5200 meters above sea level near La Paz, Bolivia. Fred loved skiing and helped to build a ski lodge and the first ski lift in South America on Mt. Chacaltaya. In 1954 Fred went to France where he attended the Sorbonne and received his Ph.D. in physics in 1956. His research with his French colleagues involved the study of recently discovered cosmic ray-produced mesons in cloud chambers at the Pic du Midi in the French Pyrenees.

He accepted a cosmic ray physics research position at Princeton University in 1957 and was subsequently recruited by Professor Wayne Hazen to join the faculty of the Physics Department at the University of Michigan in 1959. He thoroughly enjoyed teaching and his interactions with students. He was involved with the Keller self-paced format in teaching the introductory physics course, writing much of the material for this alternative to the traditional lecture/discussion-section format, which was an early step in the evolution of introductory physics teaching at Michigan. With Hazen, he continued his cosmic ray research in Bolivia, where he spent about 4months each year. Together, they made significant advances in the studies of radio signals in the 10-00 MHz frequency range produced by extensive air showers of cosmic rays at the Mt. Chacaltaya research station. He continued his enthusiastic mountain climbing ventures on the Bolivian Andes; in 1963, he and Paul Barker (a former student of Hazen) were the first climbers to ascend the South ridge of Mt. Huayna Potosi (6008 meters) and, in 1967, they were the first to ascend the North ridge of Mt. Illimani (6438 meters).

Hendel retired from the University of Michigan faculty in 1968. In his retirement, he wrote two books: Mountains in Bolivia and Revolutions in Bolivia, in which he described some of his experiences. He was a man of many interests, from mountain climbing and skiing to playing bridge and chess. Fred loved life, had a great sense of humor, and enjoyed a good time. He was skilled at solving difficult problems with simple solutions and was always ready to help others. Fred is survived by his wife of 43 years, Florence, his nephew, Greg Hendel, his niece Noemi Hendel, and their children.