Daniel Sperber, a retired professor of physics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, died Aug. 15, 2009, at the age of 79.
Born in Vienna, Austria, Sperber immigrated to Israel as a child before World War II and participated in that country’s war of independence. After his military discharge, he enrolled in the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and earned a master’s degree in physics. He came to Princeton in 1955 and received a Ph.D. in physics in 1961. He next went to the Illinois Institute of Technology. In 1967, he joined RPI as an associate professor and retired in 2005.
While at RPI, his awards included a year at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen; a year in Calcutta on a Fulbright; a summer fellowship at Darmstadt; and a three-year NATO fellowship on nuclear theory. Also, for many years his research was supported by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.
From 1986 to 1996, Sperber served Princeton as a member of the Regional Schools Committee of Northern New York.
He is survived by Ora, his wife of 46 years; a son; and a grandson.
Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.