Charles William Misner – eminent astro-physicist, husband of Susanne Elisabeth Kemp, father of four, and seasonal resident of South Bristol – passed away six weeks after his 91st birthday in Kensington, Md.
Born in Jackson, Mich., on June 13, 1932, he was called Charlie by his friends and family – including his mother Madge Mee and his father Francis de Sales Misner. With the Great Depression disrupting his father’s career, Charlie’s family moved around the Midwest during his early years, finally settling in Pittsburgh when he was 10 years old. An early gift of a chemistry set sparked Charlie’s interest in science, which his father and mother encouraged and supported by giving over a corner of their basement to his first laboratory. Charlie’s appreciation for the mysteries of the universe was equally nurtured by the ritual and history of the Catholic community in which he was raised. It was a community of faith in a higher power and one that lived with and supported the poor, the immigrants, the workers, and the powerless who lived amidst Pittsburgh’s industrial age boom.
At age 17 he attended Notre Dame University, where in his second year he made what he called “the toughest decision” of a charmed career: chemistry or physics? Theoretical physics won his heart with its complexity, its beauty, its expansiveness. By his 20th birthday, he had graduated, and later moved to Princeton University for his Ph.D., which he earned at age 25. In the course of his doctorate work he formed relationships that charted the course for much of his personal and professional life. John Wheeler was his thesis advisor and ultimately the one who introduced Charlie’s family to the wonders of Maine. While Charlie, John, and Kip Thorne wrote the seminal book “Gravitation,” Charlie’s wife, Susanne, found a cedar-shingled camp on John’s Bay that was a lifelong source of joy, beauty, and community.
Charlie’s work and teaching at Princeton also led to meeting his wife, Susanne, in 1957, while on a post-doctoral fellowship to the Niels Bohr Institute in Denmark. She was a rare find in so many ways, including her deep Catholic faith despite growing up in a country that was 99% Protestant. She was his lifelong complement – outgoing where he was reserved; melding poetry with his math; art with his science; and gourmet flair with his graduate student lifestyle. After Charlie’s 1963 move to the rapidly expanding physics department at the University of Maryland, Susanne and his family anchored their vibrant life in Silver Spring, Md. Their mutual sense of adventure led them to visit every state in the U.S. and every continent on earth. They also lived for months at a time in California, England, the Netherlands, and Germany. And of course, every June to September in Maine.
While Charlie himself was modest about the gift of his intelligence and his contributions to physics, his colleagues are effusive about his impact. He shaped our understanding of black holes; he collaborated, taught, mentored, and advised multiple Nobel Prize winners; and he was awarded the Albert Einstein Medal in 2015. “Gravitation” remains the most influential and beloved textbook on general relativity, and in his last month on this planet he published insights into dark matter and the origins of the universe that were suggested by recent data from the Webb Telescope.
Charles William Misner loved his life – the life that God gave him, the life of the mind, the life shaped by his family, colleagues, and community. He is predeceased by Susanne, his wife of 64 years; and his older sister, Barbara. He is survived by his younger brothers, Paul, John, and Joe. He is also survived and dearly missed by his children and their spouses, Benedicte and Hans Henrik, Francis, Timothy and Maya, Christopher and Crystal. His five grandchildren, Priya, Tilak, Kiran, Roman, and Avery, will always carry loving memories of their dear Farfar.
You can find thorough and very readable accounts of his life at umdphysics.umd.edu, The Lincoln County News, from Aug. 24, 2016, at lcnme.com/currentnews/south-bristol-physicist-reflects-50-year-career, and Wikipedia.
Funeral service will be at Holy Redeemer in Kensington, Md. on Wednesday, Aug. 16 at 11 a.m. Livestream will be available at youtube.com/watch?v=Y_rDgcvw8wQ.
There will also be a memorial service next summer in South Bristol. In lieu of flowers, please send donations in Charlie’s name to the Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust at coastalrivers.org.