Obituary of Charles Malich

Retired NASA radiobiologist Charles Wilson Malich died at home in Los Angeles on April 28 at age 88, following a bout of pneumonia. Born Feb. 4, 1919 in Somerville, Texas, he specialized in studying radiation effects, first on communications during WWII, then on health for the National Institutes of Health and NASA. A Texas native, he received his Ph.D. in physics from Rice Institute in 1947, where he assisted groundbreaking work that clocked the speed of sound at 3,100 mph. He received his bachelor’s degree in physics from Rice, where he was a Daniel Ripley Scholar and received multiple Hohenthal scholarships, and master’s in physics from the University of Minnesota. The son of a railroad engineer, he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society and high school valedictorian in 1936. During WWII, he researched the impact of the aurora borealis on radio communications in Alaska, where he built his own cabin, drove sled dogs, pursued a photography hobby and brewed home beer. From the mid 1940s -1958, he taught at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Illinois at Carbondale. Early on he was a researcher for the Naval Research Laboratory of Washington, D.C., and conducted biophysical research at the National Institutes for Health. In 1963, he joined NASA’s Ames Research Laboratory at Moffett Field in Mountain View, Calif., where he researched the genetic effects of cosmic rays until retirement in the late 1970s. His work, relevant to effects of space travel on astronauts, involved exposing fruit flies to gamma radiation, which is largely shielded by the atmosphere. Outside work he enjoyed avant-garde music and art, saying those tastes were consistent with having grown up on the frontier. Reirement activities included Sierra Club and Elderhostel. He was preceded in death by Lorena Scott and Melvin Malich of Texas and Frances Wilson of Arizona. He is survived by daughters Jane Catherine (Katie) Malich of Culver City, Calif., and Nancy Garcia of Pleasant Hill, Calif.; sister Shirley Stevenson of Arizona; two grandchildren; and 10 nieces and nephews. The family asks that memorial contributions be made to any charities advocating for aid to brain-impaired individuals and their families, or the Somerville Community Library, P. O. Box 247, Somerville TX 77879, or the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, http://www.cahnr.org .