Obituary of Henry Bohm (1929-2011)

Henry V. Bohm, an emeritus professor of physics at Wayne State University, died on February 4, 2011 in Ypsilanti, Michigan of congestive heart failure. His area of research was low temperature condensed matter physics and, more recently, the statistics of autism. In 1957, along with R. W. Morse, he published the first measurement of the temperature dependence of the superconducting energy gap (in tin) that was compared to the then new BCS theory of superconductivity. He remained active in research until a few weeks before his death.

Henry was born on July 16, 1929 in Vienna, Austria and came to the United States with his family in 1941. He received his AB from Harvard University in 1950 and his MS from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in 1951. Having been commissioned in the U.S. Navy he was called to active duty and served two years on a destroyer escort in the Pacific theater during the Korean War. Upon returning to civilian life he received his Ph.D. from Brown University in 1958. After one year in industry he joined the faculty at Wayne State University where he remained for the rest of his career. He was one of several members of the department who were crucial in establishing viable experimental research programs that now range from nano-physics to high energy physics. He also served in six different administrative positions in the university ranging from chair of the physics department to provost. From 1977 to 1983, while on leave from Wayne State, he served as president of Argonne Universities Association, and, as it turned out, was its last president. At his and others’ suggestion the Association was then disbanded.

Henry was very active in community affairs and served until very recently on a county foster care review board. The university and the department have lost a valuable colleague, and he will be sorely missed.