Peter Bender *56

Pete died April 20, 2024, in Boulder, Colo., at age 93.

Born Oct. 18, 1930, in New York, Pete graduated from Rutgers in 1951, studied at Leiden University, and earned a Ph.D. in physics at Princeton in 1956.

After working on precision measurements and magnetic fields at the National Bureau of Standards, Pete moved to Boulder in 1962 to help form the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA), which combined an atomic physics group from NBS with researchers within the University of Colorado.

At JILA, he pursued applications of precision measurements based on lasers. Pete worked on the Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment in which Apollo 11, 14, and 15 astronauts put reflector arrays on the moon for measuring the distance to the moon with laser pulses.

Pete helped create the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna concept (LISA), a space-borne gravitational-wave detector. Now the premier future mission of the European Space Agency, LISA will detect extreme events involving black holes, neutron stars, and white dwarfs through distortions of space-time traveling from as far away as the earliest moments of the Big Bang.

Predeceased by his wife Bernice, Pete is survived by his children, Carol, Paul, and Alan; three grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter.

Graduate alumni memorials are prepared by the APGA.