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IN LOVING MEMORY OF Robert George Jahn
Robert George
Jahn
d. Nov 15, 2017
Robert George Jahn's Obituary
Robert G. Jahn passed away peacefully at home on November 15, 2017, surrounded by his children and good friends. He was 87.
Bob was born in Kearny, NJ and spent much of his childhood in Wilmington, DE. After graduating from the Tower Hill School, he earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering with highest honors from Princeton University in 1951, as well as a Ph.D. in physics in 1955. After teaching at Lehigh University and the California Institute of Technology, Bob joined the faculty at Princeton in 1962, and founded the Electric Propulsion and Plasma Dynamics Laboratory, a major program that quickly achieved international stature. Now the oldest and continuously-funded laboratory at Princeton University, this program still attracts some of the brightest graduate students from around the world.
Professor Jahn directed this laboratory until 1998, and was a professor of aerospace sciences until 2003, serving as the advisor for over 100 undergraduate and graduate students, many of whom have gone on to leadership roles in university, industrial, and government positions worldwide. He presided over major research programs in advanced aerospace propulsion systems in cooperation with NASA and the U.S. Air Force, for which he received a Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Electric Propulsion.
In 1971 Bob was appointed Dean of Princeton's School of Engineering and Applied Science. Under his leadership the School substantially expanded its curriculum, faculty, and student body; increased its outreach programs and the professional fields its graduates entered; and all but one of the engineering departments were ranked in the top five nationally. In 1986 he was named Dean Emeritus, and returned to full-time research and teaching.
While serving as Dean, Bob was approached by an engineering student searching for a faculty advisor for her research project. Attracted to this area of research as having significant potential importance for the future of high science and technology, and for broader cultural evolution as well, he agreed to work with this student himself. In 1979 he founded the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) laboratory, and served as its director until 2007. PEAR researchers attempted rigorous scientific study of proactive interactions of human consciousness with various physical systems and processes underlying contemporary information science and its applications. PEAR became the leading academic research laboratory of its kind, with a large base of student and public interest throughout the world.
Professor Jahn authored or co-authored five books and several hundred publications in various technical fields. His celebrated textbook, "Physics of Electric Propulsion," first published in 1968, is still a primary reference in the field. He was a Fellow of the American Physical Society and of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and served as vice president of the Society for Scientific Exploration and on the Board of Directors of Hercules, Inc. for many years, to name just a few of his professional and civic activities.
Towards the end of his career, Bob was awarded the two highest honors in the field of spacecraft propulsion: the Wyld Propulsion Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the Ernst Stuhlinger Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Electric Propulsion from the Electric Rocket Propulsion Society. He also received the Curtis W McGraw Research Award of the American Association of Engineering Education, a Commendation from the Giraffe Heroes Project for Courageous and Compassionate Professional Activities in Difficult Times, the Edgar Mitchell Award for Noetic Leadership, and an Honorary Doctor of Science from Andhra University in India.
Bob was an ardent, life-long fan of baseball, opera, dogs, and the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. He was preceded in death by his wife, Catherine Seibert Jahn, and by their youngest daughter, Dawn. He is survived by his son Eric, daughters Jill and Nina, daughter-in-law Susan, sons-in-law Ray and Jim, and seven grandchildren.
A memorial gathering to celebrate Bob's life will be scheduled at a future date. Contributions may be made in his memory to International Consciousness Research Laboratories (ICRL), 468 N. Harrison Street, Princeton, NJ 08540 or to the National Center on Family Homelessness, 181 Wells Avenue, Newton, MA 02459.
Bob was born in Kearny, NJ and spent much of his childhood in Wilmington, DE. After graduating from the Tower Hill School, he earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering with highest honors from Princeton University in 1951, as well as a Ph.D. in physics in 1955. After teaching at Lehigh University and the California Institute of Technology, Bob joined the faculty at Princeton in 1962, and founded the Electric Propulsion and Plasma Dynamics Laboratory, a major program that quickly achieved international stature. Now the oldest and continuously-funded laboratory at Princeton University, this program still attracts some of the brightest graduate students from around the world.
Professor Jahn directed this laboratory until 1998, and was a professor of aerospace sciences until 2003, serving as the advisor for over 100 undergraduate and graduate students, many of whom have gone on to leadership roles in university, industrial, and government positions worldwide. He presided over major research programs in advanced aerospace propulsion systems in cooperation with NASA and the U.S. Air Force, for which he received a Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Electric Propulsion.
In 1971 Bob was appointed Dean of Princeton's School of Engineering and Applied Science. Under his leadership the School substantially expanded its curriculum, faculty, and student body; increased its outreach programs and the professional fields its graduates entered; and all but one of the engineering departments were ranked in the top five nationally. In 1986 he was named Dean Emeritus, and returned to full-time research and teaching.
While serving as Dean, Bob was approached by an engineering student searching for a faculty advisor for her research project. Attracted to this area of research as having significant potential importance for the future of high science and technology, and for broader cultural evolution as well, he agreed to work with this student himself. In 1979 he founded the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) laboratory, and served as its director until 2007. PEAR researchers attempted rigorous scientific study of proactive interactions of human consciousness with various physical systems and processes underlying contemporary information science and its applications. PEAR became the leading academic research laboratory of its kind, with a large base of student and public interest throughout the world.
Professor Jahn authored or co-authored five books and several hundred publications in various technical fields. His celebrated textbook, "Physics of Electric Propulsion," first published in 1968, is still a primary reference in the field. He was a Fellow of the American Physical Society and of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and served as vice president of the Society for Scientific Exploration and on the Board of Directors of Hercules, Inc. for many years, to name just a few of his professional and civic activities.
Towards the end of his career, Bob was awarded the two highest honors in the field of spacecraft propulsion: the Wyld Propulsion Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the Ernst Stuhlinger Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Electric Propulsion from the Electric Rocket Propulsion Society. He also received the Curtis W McGraw Research Award of the American Association of Engineering Education, a Commendation from the Giraffe Heroes Project for Courageous and Compassionate Professional Activities in Difficult Times, the Edgar Mitchell Award for Noetic Leadership, and an Honorary Doctor of Science from Andhra University in India.
Bob was an ardent, life-long fan of baseball, opera, dogs, and the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. He was preceded in death by his wife, Catherine Seibert Jahn, and by their youngest daughter, Dawn. He is survived by his son Eric, daughters Jill and Nina, daughter-in-law Susan, sons-in-law Ray and Jim, and seven grandchildren.
A memorial gathering to celebrate Bob's life will be scheduled at a future date. Contributions may be made in his memory to International Consciousness Research Laboratories (ICRL), 468 N. Harrison Street, Princeton, NJ 08540 or to the National Center on Family Homelessness, 181 Wells Avenue, Newton, MA 02459.
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