For many years our father has suffered from a mixed dementia, which finally took his life on September 5th, 2013.
We don't know how long the dementia had been affecting him, as the early symptoms were both hard to appreciate or accept -- perhaps ten years, perhaps more.
It has been an isolating illness, naturally and progressively seperating him from his friends, and from his connections to the world. It has also made it hard for us to remember how he was before.
As a result, we would like to remember our father with the help of this memorial web site. We welcome any and all contributions (stories, photos, whatever you have). We have become quite aware of all the things we don't know about our father, and would love to learn more from you.
Here is the link to his obituary in the MIT newsletter:
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/peter-wolff-obituary.html
We suggest that donations in his memory to be directed to
Giving to the Arts at MIT (2016400)
-- Mia and Whitney Wolff
Tributes
Leave a tributeYour Dad was already Director of the Magnet lab when I became Vice President for Research. As a result, we had many interesting discussions about the problems and opportunities of the lab, but I best remember his remarkable combination of high standards tempered by an unusual generosity. We will all miss him.
Peter was a great colleague to have. I am in experimental nuclear and particle physics and because of the disparat fields we did not intersect often. However, when we did interact he was always a class act: friendly, open, intelligent, informative and a good listener. He was an excellent physicist, a gentleman, and fine human being.
Leave a Tribute
Your Dad was already Director of the Magnet lab when I became Vice President for Research. As a result, we had many interesting discussions about the problems and opportunities of the lab, but I best remember his remarkable combination of high standards tempered by an unusual generosity. We will all miss him.
from a letter from Joe Giordmaine
Peter was one of my first department heads at Bell Labs in the 1960's. His deep understanding of physics, his illuminating insights into the meaning of new results, his encouragement and his friendship wwere instrumental for many of us in launching phsyics careers. During this period he published many highly influential papers in his field.
It is remarkable that thirty five years later he contributed equally incisive interpretation as coauthor in "Nature" that has opened up a whole new class of photonic devices and that has been cited over 4000 times in physics journals.
His ability to inspire so many others led to senior leadership positions in science research at Bell Labs, MIT and the NEC Research Institute in Princeton.
Our thoughts and prayers are with you and the family at this difficult moment. We trust that with time sorrow will be tempered by warm and enduring memories.
from Margaret O'Meara
Dear Mia and Whitney,
As a former employee of the Francis Bitter National Magnet Lab, I am writing to express my sincere condolences on the passing of your father. Peter was the warmest, kindest, most giving person I can remember. The relocation of the Magnet Lab to Florida impacted me personally at the time when I had just lost my parents, and it was Peter who put me in touch with Physics faculty who had an opening for an assistant in their group. I am forever grateful to Peter for his interest and concern on my behalf.
It seems most cruel that such a warm, outgoing and engaged person as Peter would have to bear the limiting, isolating effects that he (and you) experienced. I will always remember him most fondly.
Sincerely,
Margaret O'Meara
Coin-flipping: Virgil remembers
As Peter Wolff’s grandson my encounters with his professional and intellectual side were infrequent. I mostly remember him taking me out into the garden, discussing basketball strategies, and other odds and ends of that sort. However, I do remember one specific instance, while probably long forgotten by all involved (I was merely an observer), which for some reason I recall with distinct clarity, and I believe it may have influenced me in a semi-subconscious way. It was at a party in his old apartment in Boston, which was to celebrate the artistic accomplishments of my grandmother, Catherine Wolff. As I was either the only, or one of the only children in attendance, I remember wandering through the party aimlessly for sometime. But then, a rather intense discussion began to emerge in the kitchen which my grandfather found himself embroiled in somehow. The discussion concerned the probabilities involved in a series of coin flips. While most of people involved in the discussion were civilian coin flippers, my grandfather was definitely not, and he interceded to provide a reasoned explanation of the difference between the probability of flipping five heads in a row, and the probability of flipping a fifth heads once four have already been flipped. To a ten year old child, who was not especially talented at math or related subjects, his explanation was crystal clear, and I think that it has probably informed the ways in which I approach logical problems to this day. Perhaps this seems small in comparison to Peter’s scientific achievements, but I hope that this anecdote may remind people of his everyday contributions to intellectual conversations which took place outside of MIT or Bell Labs, and in most cases went undocumented.