WAYLAND: Woflhard G. E. Kern, scientist, humanist, scholar, and gentleman, died on April 9, 2016.
He was the husband for 64 years of Hille (von Mengden) Kern; father of Rainer Gerhard Kern and his wife Deborah Harrison, Jürgen Kern, and Anne Kern; grandfather of Michael Harrison Kern, Alea Lin Kern, and Jamila K. dePeiza-Kern; younger brother of Gerhild Erler of Oldenburg, Germany.
His life was guided by his love for family and his dedication to science. Wolf Kern was a high-energy physicist, researcher, and teacher. Born in Berlin, Germany, he received his PhD in Physics from the University of Bonn and began his career at the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) in Hamburg, Germany. After immigrating to the United States in 1967, he taught physics at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth for 32 years. His research focused on elementary particles, and he participated in experiments at the Harvard-MIT Cambridge Electron Accelerator, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland, and Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, NY.
Private family interment will take place at Lakeview Cemetery in Wayland.
Family and friends are invited to gather in his memory and celebrate his life on Saturday, April 23, 2016, from 1–5 p.m. at the Kern family home, 4 Astra, in Wayland.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in Professor Kern’s name may be sent to the Union of Concerned Scientists, 2 Brattle Square, Cambridge, MA 02138.