Vigdor L. Teplitz

Vigdor (Vic) L. Teplitz, professor emeritus of physics at SMU, passed away peacefully on 14 December 2017 at his home in Bethesda, Maryland. Vic’s research covered a broad range of topics including pioneering work on the cosmology and astrophysics of the early universe. Additionally, Vic served in major government science leadership positions including the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Born on 5 February 1937 in Boston, Vic received his Scientiae Baccalaureus (SB) degree from MIT (1958) and his PhD from the University of Maryland (1962). At UMD he met his wife, Doris Rosenbaum Teplitz, also a physicist. Following fellowship positions at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory and the CERN laboratory, he joined the faculty at MIT (1966–73). He then left to head the physics department at Virginia Polytechnic (1973–77), where he established the astronomy program.

Vic then joined the US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency as a physical science officer (1978–90). During his tenure, he participated in the bilateral negotiations with the Soviet Union on antisatellite and other strategic weapons.

When the Superconducting Super Collider was sited in Texas, Vic moved to SMU in Dallas. During his time as chair of the SMU physics department (1990–95), Vic reinstituted the physics graduate program and transformed the department into a highly productive research department with a specialization in high-energy particle physics.

While at SMU, Vic continued to serve as a science consultant for various government agencies. In 1995 he was appointed by President Clinton to the Science and Policy Advisory Committee. In 2000 he joined the Office of Science and Technology Policy as a senior policy analyst (2000–02), and also served (2000–10) as the US Representative to the NATO Science Committee on Science for Peace and Security. After SMU, Vic moved to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, where he was chief of the Office of University Programs; he had a particular interest in establishing engineering programs for Native American colleges. Vic was also a consultant to the Space and Advanced Technology Office of the Bureau of Oceans, Environment, and Science of the US Department of State, where he worked on US involvement with the Square Kilometer Array radio telescope to be built in South Africa and Australia. In 2013 he received the US Department of State Certificate of Appreciation Award for exceptional sustained performance in furthering international cooperation goals.

Vic’s research embraced elementary particle theory on the one side, and astrophysics/cosmology on the other. His broad interests were reflected in his diverse sphere of collaborators and extremely creative research topics. For example, Vic partnered with SMU geologists to use seismic data from both Earth and Moon to investigate the existence of proposed exotic states of matter (strange quark nuggets). He also used Voyager 2 Uranus-flyby data to compute limits on dark matter in the solar system. His frequent collaborators include Duane Dicus (University of Texas), Rocky Kolb (Fermilab/University of Chicago), and Rabindra Mohapatra (Maryland). Vic published a number of important papers on the cosmology and astrophysics of the early universe, and his recent work included dark matter topics. A pedagogical exposition of his cosmological work appeared in the March 1983 Scientific American article “The Future of the Universe.”

He was a fellow of the American Physical Society and was elected to the Cosmos Club (Washington, DC). He is survived by his wife, Doris, and his children, Harry and Hilary.