Dr. Marshall Luban

We are greatly saddened to inform you of the passing of Professor Marshall Luban on Saturday, January 9, 2021. Marshall was born in 1936 in Seattle, Washington. He earned a B.A. in physics from Yeshiva University and M.S. and Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago. He then became a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. Marshall served as a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Hebrew University in Jerusalem as a Guggenheim Fellow, Bar-Ilan University (where he helped build a distinguished department of physics nearly from scratch), Weizmann Institute in Israel, and Washington University in St. Louis. In 1982 Marshall became a professor at Iowa State University and senior Scientist at the Ames Laboratory until his retirement in 2013. He was the chair of the ISU physics department in 1990-1994. As one of his colleagues described: “Marshall was very gifted in bringing together scientists from chemistry, physics, and mathematics. He did this in his very polite and cautious way, with a quiet and kind sense of humor. For his younger colleagues he became a scientific father, teaching them how to be good scientists. Marshall had a profound impact on our lives, both as a person and scientist. All of us learned from his example and we attempt to follow this example, putting people first with science a close second.” A Ph.D. student, who later became a colleague, writes: “Marshall was my Ph.D. mentor, and for many more years after that he gave me his unreserved guidance, which really defined my career. Marshall’s wonderful teaching style has shaped the way I teach students myself now. His keen supervision and our countless discussions defined the way I supervise my Ph.D. students. His profound attention to detail and his eager thirst for a deep understanding of a physical problem has affected my own research style.” Another colleague said of his years collaborating with Marshall in Ames: “I have never laughed more in my life before or after that time.” In 2006 the University of Osnabruck (Germany) awarded Marshall an Honorary Doctorate, citing: “On the basis of distinguished lifelong scientific achievements. Marshall Luban has substantially promoted the field of molecular magnetism by his own work, as well as by initiating international collaboration.” In 2007 Marshall became a Fellow of the American Physical Society. His citation read: “For long-term significant contributions to condensed matter theory, including pioneering work on the Lifshitz multi-critical point, on Bloch oscillations of electrons in semiconductor super-lattices, and the modeling of magnetic molecules.” Marshall authored over 150 peer-reviewed scientific papers. He was awarded numerous graduate and undergraduate teaching awards, and was known among his student as a teacher who combined a serious approach to science, exceptional ability to elucidate complicated concepts, humanity, and a terrific sense of humor. Marshall is survived by his wife Pnina (ISU: B.S. in physics, 1983; Ph.D. Dept. of physics and Astronomy, 1990) and their four children. The funeral will be Wednesday, January 13, at 1:30pm, at Glendale Cemetery (Jewish section) in Des Moines. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Chabad of Iowa State University www.isujewish.com or United States Holocaust Memorial Museum www.ushmm.org ARRANGEMENTS BY ILES DUNN'S CHAPEL