Philip Stehle, professor of physics emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh, died of pneumonia April 29, 2013. He was 94.
Stehle earned a bachelor’s degree from Michigan in 1940. In 1944 he was awarded a Ph.D. in physics from Princeton. During World War II he served in the Army as a specialist working on the Manhattan Project. After his discharge, Stehle taught for a year at Harvard before going to the University of Pittsburgh.
He joined Pittsburgh’s department of physics and astronomy in 1947, and twice served as its chair. He retired in 1989. On three separate occasions he was awarded a Fulbright fellowship to the University of Innsbruck in Austria. Innsbruck later awarded him an honorary degree.
Stehle wrote three books on physics and one on the history of physics in the early 20th century. As a furniture maker, he produced attractive pieces for family and friends. Among his colleagues, he was known for his athleticism as a skier and squash player.
He was predeceased in 2012 by his wife, Evelyn, whom he married in 1942. He is survived by their three children and two granddaughters.
Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.