George had been in poor health for some time, but his death still came as a surprise to his many friends.

George received his Ph D in 1949 at Birmingham University in the UK, under Sir Rudolph Peierls. After doing a post-doc in Zurich, he moved to the University of Alberta in Canada in 1951. In 1960, he came to Rutgers as chair of the physics department at Douglass college. The spring semester 2010 would therefore have been his 100th semester here.

George was a condensed matter theorist with a specialization in lattice dynamics, particularly in strongly anharmonic crystals. As late as in 2003, he still published on this subject. He had a long and lasting impact on the department and on Rutgers. He was a popular and loved teacher and did important work related to the teaching of physics, both locally and on the national scene. He created the Physics Learning Center (now the MSLC), the Gateway program and was very active in forming the AAUP chapter at Rutgers. He was also the central figure in establishing an HMO at Rutgers, which very significantly improved the health benefits for all his colleagues here. He received many honors for his work, such as the Georgina Smith Award from the AAUP "For Creative and Distinguished Leadership", the presidential Award for Distinguished Public Service, the Sussman Award for Excellence in Teaching, Best Teacher of the Year Award and several more.

-Torgny Gustafsson, Physics & Astronomy Chair

Visit Geoge Horton Memorial website