In memoriam

Geology and geophysics professor Kerry Kelts died February

8 at age 55 after an eight-year battle with Hodgkin's disease. Kelts

served as director of the University's Limnological Research Center

for 10 years. Under his leadership, the center achieved international

recognition. Kelts came to the University in 1990 after earning

a Ph.D. in geology from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.

He was interested in applying techniques used in oceanography to

the study of lakes. He also helped design a floating drilling platform

that permitted scientists to take deeper core samples from lake

bottoms.

Morris Nicholson, professor emeritus of chemical engineering

and materials science, died January 30 at age 84. Nicholson earned

his Ph.D. in physical metallurgy from Massachusetts Institute of

Technology in 1947. After a brief stint in industry and several

years at the University of Chicago, Nicholson came to IT in 1956

to head the physical metallurgy program. In 1971, he became director

of IT's fledgling UNITE instructional television program. He retired

from the University in 1985.

John Winckler, professor emeritus of physics and an expert

on auroras and the upper atmosphere, died February 6 at age 84.

A pioneer in the use of balloons for scientific study, Winckler's

research contributed to the understanding of space and to the development

of instruments used on spacecraft. In 1989 he made news with his

discovery of sprites—enormous flashes of lightning too quick

to see with the naked eye. He was elected to the National Academy

of Sciences in 1996.