Morton F. Kaplon former Chair of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Rochester Dies
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Dr. Morton F. Kaplon, UR PhD 1951, died on July 4, 2002 in the Visiting Nurse Association Hospice at St. Luke's Hospital, Fountain Hill in Bethlehem, PA. He was 81. He was married to Anita H. Kaplon for 56 years this June. Dr. Kaplon was born in Philadelphia, PA and was raised in Brunswick, MD. He was a son of the late Myer and Ida Kaplon
The picture on the left shows Kaplon at the International Conference on High Energy Physics (ICHEP, otherwise known as the "Rochester Conference Series") at Rochester in 1960.
Dr. Kaplon was a professor of physics and earned both his BS and MS degrees in physics from Lehigh University. He earned his Ph.D in Physics from the University of Rochester in 1951 under the supervision of Professor Robert E. Marshak. The title of his thesis was "Meson Production". The thesis was in theoretical high energy physics. Later on, at Marshak's suggestions Kaplon moved on to experimental particle and cosmic ray physics.
Dr. Kaplon was Chairman of the Physics Department at University of Rochester where he taught from 1951 - 1969. He was Vice Provost then Vice President of Administrative Affairs at the City College of New York before retiring in 1982.
Dr. Kaplon was internationally known for his research in primary cosmic radiation, ultra high energy interactions and elementary particles. While a graduate student, he co-discovered the "R-Star" (Rochester-Star, see additional details below) which gave the first clear cut evidence of large numbers of chared and neutral pi-mesons in nuclear collisions at the top of earth's atmosphere. He made the first measurement of the lifetime of a neutral pi-meson, which was the shortest of any elementary nuclear particle determined at the time and wrote numerous scholarly articles in journals covering topics in cosmic radiation, gamma ray astronomy, nuclear physics and elementary particles. Including among his early discoveries was the observations (in cosmic rays) of the 3 pion decay mode of the Kaon (pi+,Pi0,Pi0). He also was the first to measure the composition of high energy cosmic rays and in particular the Helium3/Helium4 ratio. He was the first to look for Astrophysical Point Sources of high energy gamma rays (He was not successful and it took an additional 20 years before more advanced experimental techniques were used to observe Astrophysical gamma ray sources).
Many of Dr. Kaplon's students went on to achieve notable careers in physics themselves; one of his students, Dr. Masatoshi Koshiba, was recently awarded the WOLF Prize for his work in physics and has been nominated for the Nobel Prize as well. Dr. Kaplon enjoyed a warm relationship with many of his gifted students and cherished academic life.
From 1941 to 1946, Dr. Kaplon served as a 1st Lieutenant in the US Army Air Corps, Pacific Theatre.
In his retirement, Dr. Kaplon enjoyed computer programming and researching his family tree.
Dr. Kaplon is survived by his wife, his son Keith of New York City, his daughter Bryna (and her two children Shane and Kyle), his daughter Drea (both daughters live in New Jersey), and his sister Bernice of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Dr. Kaplon and his wife have endowed a scholarship fund at Lehigh University.
Any donations in lieu of flowers may be made to The Salvation Army, Dr. Kaplon's favourite charity.
Services: None. Arrangements, Cremation Society of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg.
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The following obituary is from the Allentown Morning Call Newspaper.
07/06/2002 Allentown Morning Call FIRST B22 (Copyright 2002)
Morton F. Kaplon, of Bethlehem, died July 4 in the Visiting Nurse Association Hospice at St. Luke's Hospital, Fountain Hill. He was married to Anita H. Kaplon for 56 years last month.
He was vice president of administrative affairs for City College of New York before retiring in 1982. Previously, he was chairman of the physics department for the University of Rochester, where he taught from 1951-69. He earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees in physics from Lehigh University and his Ph.D in physics from the University of Rochester. Born in Philadelphia, he was a son of the late Myer and Ida Kaplon He was known for his research in primary cosmic radiation, ultra high energy interactions and elementary particles. He wrote numerous articles in journals covering topics in cosmic radiation, gamma ray astronomy, nuclear physics and elementary particles.
He was an Army Air Corps veteran of World War II, attaining the rank of 1st lieutenant.
Survivors: Wife; son, Keith of New York City; daughters, Bryna and Drea, both in New Jersey; sister, Bernice of Cincinnati, Ohio; two grandchildren.
Services: None. Arrangements, Cremation Society of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. Contributions: Salvation Army.
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A few pictures from the department archives are shown below.
Left, picture of Kaplon taken in the late 50's in the old wing of Bauch and Lomb building at the University of Rochester. Center, picture of Kaplon taken in 1962 after the construction of the new wing of Bauch and Lomb building at the University of Rochester. Right, picture of Kaplon taken in the late 50's in the old wing of Bauch and Lomb building at the University of Rochester next to a verifax machine, the first Kodak wet copier involving a complex set of chemicals. The pictures show the famous background of the glazed brown brick walls of the Bauch and Lomb building.
Appendix: Additional details on Kaplon's scientific work
Dr. Kaplon was internationally known for his research in primary cosmic radiation, ultra high energy interactions and elementary particles. While a graduate student, he co-discovered the "R-Star" (Rochester-Star) which gave the first clear cut evidence of large numbers of mesons in nuclear collisions at the top of earth's atmosphere.
The Rochester-Star (see original papers by Kaplon and a commentary by R. E. Marshak) was a very high energy cosmic ray interaction in a photographic emulsion. It was discovered in a Rochester experiment in which Kodak NTB3 plates were flown in an altitude of 100,000 feet. A very energetic collision of an Alpha particle with a heavy nucleus (Ag or Br) resulted in final state with 74 prongs (56 of which were minimum ionizing, indicative of charged mesons, now known as the charged pions). As commented by an accompanying article by Marshak, the novelty of the Rochester-Star event is not only its very high energy, but the fact that it provided evidence for multiple neutral particle production (e.g. gamma rays). This provided evidence for a new particle, which was later identified as the neutral pi-meson (now called the neutral pion).
Kaplon subsequently made the first measurement of the lifetime of the neutral pion, which was the shortest of any elementary nuclear particle determined at the time. The fact that the lifetime of the neutral pion was so short as compared to the lifetime of the charged pion was evidence that the decay mode of the neutral pion was mediated by a different force. The neutral pion decays via the electromagnetic interaction and the charged pion decays via the weak interaction.
Article submitted by:
Arie Bodek
7/8/02; 8:22:17 AM