Myron Bander graduated from Columbia University with a Bachelor's degree in Physics, 1958, M.S., 1959 and Ph.D., 1962. He was an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at CERN, University of Copenhagen and University of Paris, 1962-63, and a Research Associate at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, 1963-66.
He came to UC Irvine as Assistant Professor in July 1966. Among his service activities included two terms of Department Chair, 1978-80 and 1992-95, and as the third Dean of the School of Physical Sciences, 1980-86. Myron was devoted to excellence at UCI. In quiet, often unrecognized ways, he was an academic leader throughout his career here. He served on various Senate and Departmental committees; and was on the Board of Directors of the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science, 1986-2001. He was on the teams that started the Department of Earth System Science and that worked to elevate the Department of Physics and Astronomy’s Cosmology group to world-class excellence.
Bander's contributions to theoretical physics covered a broad range of topics. He was first and foremost an elementary particle theorist, but his work and expertize extended over wide areas of quantum field theory, statistical mechanics, and general relativity. In pursuing his research he was a frequent and welcome visitor with the theory groups of most of the major particle physics laboratories throughout the world. He remained active as a mentor to young faculty and graduate students and taught the graduate course in statistical physics as recently as winter, 2012.
Myron is survived by his wife, Carol.
Dr. Myron Bander was a great friend and colleague. He will be remembered dearly at UC Irvine.
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