Obituary of Philip A. Macklin

Philip A. Macklin, Emeritus Professor of Physics at Miami University in Ohio, passed away suddenly on 29 March 2008 from a heart attack. Born 13 April 1925, he was the second of three sons of a Congregational minister; his elder brother Dick is also a physicist.

Phil earned a BS cum laude in physics at Yale in 1944, then served two years as an electronic technician and instructor in the US Navy. He earned an MA in physics at Columbia University in 1949, then performed research there 1949–1951 under Professor C. S. Wu, incorporating beta–gamma coincidence techniques with a high transmission magnetic spectrometer to study the spectral shape of individual beta groups in a complex beta decay. Subsequently he was Instructor of Physics at Middlebury College in Vermont, serving one year as Acting Department Chairman. In 1953 he married his lifelong love Cora Galindo Macklin.

In 1954 Phil joined the Physics Department at Miami University as Assistant Professor, and in 1956 he completed his Columbia University PhD based on his research at the Pupin Cyclotron Laboratory and Pegram Laboratory. Over a period of years at Miami, Phil directed the research of a series of students earning the masters degree, in many cases guiding studies in scintillation coincidence spectroscopy. Later students masters research benefited from Phil’s interest in theory, especially in interpretations of quantum mechanics. Several of his students went on to careers in academic physics, including Joseph Priest who returned for a career at Miami.

In summers of 1955–56 Phil was research scientist at Armco Steel Corporation. In the summers of 1957–1968 he was Visiting Professor at the University of New Mexico Physics Department in NSF–AEC sponsored Summer Science Institutes in Radiation Biology, and he was also a Summer Staff Member at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory 1960–1962.

Phil was promoted to Professor in 1961, and he chaired the Physics Department 1972–1985 as the Department grew and placed increasing emphasis upon research. He strongly supported the early introduction of personal computers into the physics laboratories. On leave in 1985–1986, Phil was Visiting Professor of Physics at Boston University and Visiting Scientist at MIT. He retired from Miami in 1993 but kept current by attending physics seminars and sponsoring the Macklin Physics Scholarships for undergraduates.

At Miami Phil taught a wide variety of courses, ranging from Space Physics for non-majors to mathematical physics and advanced mechanics (Goldstein, perhaps his favorite). He was a demanding but caring instructor, known to volunteer to make wake-up calls for sleepy students who might otherwise miss an early class.

Phil’s own publications ranged from early Physical Review reports of experimental and theoretical work to later American Journal of Physics theoretical papers, which had their inception in questions arising during his course teaching. Phil saw to it that dozens of his students gained experience by reporting their research at conferences of the Ohio Section of the American Physical Society and the Southern Ohio Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers.

Phil possessed a strong interest in university governance. He served on the Ohio Board of Regents Faculty Advisory Committee, including one year as chair. He served for a dozen years as elected faculty representative to the University Council (later named University Senate) of Miami University. Phil gained fame as an unflagging advocate of the Single Transferable Vote for proportional representation.

Phil was an avid handball player. As a mountain climber he topped all 46 Adirondack peaks, and he had a near-religious love for the Tetons. He was active in his church and community, and he donated more than 15 gallons of blood to his local blood bank. Phil was devoted to his family, and over a period of many years he and Cora took their family (and later also their families) on world travels to destinations ranging from Europe to Alaska to Hawaii and Australia.

For his dedication and steady guidance Phil has left a lasting impression on all who knew him. He will be greatly missed.