Howland Auchincloss Fowler ’51

Howland was a gifted scientist. He majored in physics at Princeton and earned both a master's and doctorate in physics from Brown.

From 1957 to 1994 he was with the NBS, now the National Institute of Standards and Technology, where he specialized in low-temperature physics and applied mathematics. He was, successively, a physical scientist in the atomic physics and electricity divisions, scientific assistant to three directors, and administrator in applied mathematics. He authored or co-authored 35 papers on electron interference and scattering, ultraviolet reflectivity, superconducting voltage standards, the geometry of quasi-crystal alloys, and the growth of high-voltage breakdown streamers. In retirement he read scientific texts for Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic.

He died Sept. 3, 2006, of lymphoma in Bethesda, Md. He was 76.

Howland came to us from Phillips Exeter. He was a member of Prospect Club and sang in the Glee Club and the Chapel Choir. A eulogy by Markley Roberts was read at his memorial service at the National Presbyterian Church.

In 1962 Howland married Shirley Boers. She and their two daughters, Joanna Fowler Jonsson '85 and Amy Fowler Kinch '91, and five grandchildren survive. Howland's brothers, Winthrop '37, David '42, and Alexander '43, predeceased him.