Robert Pollock, distinguished professor of physics emeritus at Indiana University (IU), died peacefully Aug. 28, 2018, of Parkinson’s with Lewy body dementia. He was 82.
Born in Canada, Pollack graduated with a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Manitoba in 1957. He came to Princeton and earned a Ph.D. in physics in 1963. That year he moved to England for a postdoctoral fellowship in the Atomic Energy Research Establishment in Harwell. Returning to Princeton, he led a project to construct a cyclotron.
In 1970, he moved to Indiana, where IU began construction on a cyclotron. He was its director from 1972 to 1979, when he began the design of a cooler addition and oversaw its construction. Pollock was an admired physics researcher and teacher.
A fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), he was awarded the Von Humboldt Senior U.S. Scientist Award and was a co-recipient of the APS Bonner Prize. He received IU’s President’s Medal in 2011. Pollock consulted on building cyclotrons around the world. Near the end of his career he began working in plasma physics, where he continued to do research.
Pollock is survived by his wife, Jean; four children; and two grandchildren.
Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.