Prof. Bruce Barrett Memorial Gathering 

 

Physics department hosted a memorial tribute to UA Physics Emeritus Professor Bruce R. Barrett on Oct. 10, 2025. Throughout the morning, participants spoke from the room or appeared via Zoom from around the world to share memories of Bruce, who had been a UA faculty member for 47 years when retiring in 2017 and an active researcher in theoretical nuclear theory.  He died March 15 at age 85.

 

Organized by close friend and colleague Professor Bira Van Kolck, the gathering included an estimated 70 speakers, encompassing colleagues, collaborators, former students/postdocs and friends from outside the physics community. Bira opened the program, and Physics Chair Shufang Su welcomed participants. Many gave summaries of Bruce's technical work, which spanned six decades. He is most known for the No-Core Shell Model, which has successfully described the properties of light nuclei.

 

Stories and reminiscences also captured Bruce's mentoring and warm interactions with others, especially with physics students and with the foreign students and visiting foreign faculty throughout the UA. He loved teaching and wanted to instill a love of physics in his students. His extensive international travel and collaborations abroad led to him becoming the faculty advisor to the International Students Club and working with his wife, Joan Barrett, to found a joint UA/Tucson Community program for visiting faculty and researchers from other countries. He also participated in the UA International Friends Program in which the couple hosted countless new foreign UA  students for decades, easing their transition to Tucson. His commitment to University service led to stints on the University Senate. He also served as president of the UA's chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the scholastic honor society, and as a PBK senator at the national level.

 

Perhaps the most emotional sharing came from the caregiver, who had looked after Bruce for his final four years, and came to view his patient as a father figure. One of the humorous anecdotes shared questioned why Bruce always packed the lunches that he took to the university in airplane barf bags. 

 

The tribute's morning concluded with Joan presenting a bust of Einstein to the Physics Department on behalf of Bruce. This reproduction of a portrait bust, modeled from life by Robert Berks in 1953, had stood for decades by Bruce's desk in his office. 

 

A special physics colloquium held in the afternoon focused on Bruce's global impact and his legacy. Speakers were James Vary (Iowa State University) and Takahara Otsuka (University of Tokyo). Though Bruce's legacy will live on, his actual presence will be sorely missed.