George Horton, a longtime physics professor who passed away in November, dedicated his 50 years at Rutgers to physics education and advocacy for employee health and welfare.
To commemorate his achievements, the Department of Physics and Astronomy is inviting people throughout the Rutgers community to attend a celebration of Horton’s life. A memorial meeting will be held Friday, March 12, at 3 p.m. in the Physics Lecture Hall, with tributes by colleagues, family members and friends. A reception will follow at 5 p.m. in the third floor lounge of the Serin Physics Building.
Students and colleagues say that Horton’s achievements touched people beyond the department. “He worked across boundaries of departments and disciplines,” said Peter Lindenfeld, emeritus professor of physics and event organizer.
One of Horton’s greatest accomplishments was establishing the Rutgers Community Health Plan, a health maintenance organization (HMO), Lindenfeld said. At the time, HMOs were unheard of in this country outside of a few establishments in California.
Horton also served as president of the Rutgers chapter of the American Association of University Professors. He worked to restructure faculty salaries and laid the groundwork for sabbatical programs and the rank of Professor II to recognize outstanding faculty members.
Horton’s dedication to undergraduate education stretched beyond his devotion to classroom teaching. He founded the Physics Learning Center, which expanded to become the Math and Science Learning Center, a vibrant facility that provides additional learning opportunities to Rutgers students and hands-on experiences to kindergarten through high school students.
Horton proposed the department’s gateway program which he dubbed the “extended physics program.” It is a course sequence for students who can benefit from additional time and instruction to master first-year analytical physics content.
He also ensured that sufficient resources be devoted to demonstrations that are part of today’s undergraduate physics lectures and the department’s popular outreach programs. Physics support specialist David Maiullo was an undergraduate student of Horton’s and later worked for him as a demonstrator.
“He felt people should understand physics, not be scared of it,” said Maiullo. “He portrayed physics as a living, breathing thing – a field moving forward.”
Meeting organizer Lindenfeld requests that people planning to join the reception after the program let him know in advance by sending him e-mail at lindenf@physics.rutgers.edu.
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