As a faculty member you work very hard to find creative ways to educate the students in your courses and, optimistically, you hope you inspire them to want to learn more about the subject as a result of your instruction. Prof. Henry Levinstein was a long-time faculty member in the Syracuse University Physics Department who made extensive contributions to the development of infrared detectors in his research, and he also was a passionate educator who developed a “Physics of Toys” class that was very popular at Syracuse University for many years. Through his research and teaching he managed to inspire many students to learn more science and pursue it as a career, and he established a legacy that persists to the present day at Syracuse. This is most visible in the form of the Henry Levinstein Fellowships that we use each year to financially support some of our graduate students. It is also visible, though only if you are paying attention, in the form of plaques honoring Prof. Levinstein and his wife Betty (Strauss) Levinstein located on a bench just outside the doors leading from the Physics Building to Hendricks Chapel. Take a moment sometime when it’s nice outside, on your way to/from getting a drink at People’s Place, and sit in that bench and ponder the physics underlying how your favorite toy worked.

I reached out to a few of his former students, who both returned to Syracuse this past semester to visit, and asked them to share some memories of Prof. Levinstein.

Paul Lovecchio (Ph.D. 1972)

“More than 37 physics graduate students were guided through the frequent challenges of obtaining their Master’s or Ph. D by Prof. Levinstein, known to all of us as “Doc”. I was very fortunate to be one of his graduate students. Prof. Levinstein guided us by several strongly held beliefs that most of us carry to this day. He believed in a need to balance physics and life while having fun on the way. A good example was his physics of toys class given to undergraduates which always filled the Physics building auditorium to capacity. His enthusiasm was infectious while at the same time you could count on him to be supportive when you hit a temporary “dead end”. One of his sometimes-challenging traits was to let you decide your thesis topic rather than tell you what it was going to be. This approach inevitably led to many failed experiments before the successful one that led to your degree. Not surprisingly “Doc” was preparing us for the “real world” where you have to persist for success.

My professional and personal life has been all the better for having Prof. Levinstein as my Thesis Advisor!”

John A. Pollock (B.S. 1978, M.S. 1983, Ph.D. 1984)

“I first visited campus in the early autumn of 1974 as an aspiring freshman. Back then, there really were not any sort of elaborate recruitment events. I just took a day off of school and drove myself from my home near Saratoga Springs; parked on campus and wandered around until I found the physics building. I had aspirations to study physics, but no real plan for what I’d do after getting a B.S.

I found the Physics Department Office, introduced myself to one of the staff and asked if there was someone I could talk with about studying physics. I recall that there was a little bit of surprise, but was nonetheless taken out into the hall where Prof. Levinstein’s office was right there. My recollection is that he immediately stopped what he was doing, and spoke with me at length; at least now that I think about it, it seemed like a long time, but was also fascinating. We talked about the different domains of physics and the curriculum – things that I had never even considered. I mentioned to him that I had recently visited another technical university in the same way that I came to SU, and he asked how that visit went. It wasn’t anything like my visit with Henry. At the other Massachusetts university, I met a professor for about 5 seconds and was passed onto a grad student, who pretty much immediately passed me on to an undergrad. What I came away with was the impression that the freshman class size was pretty big, I knew the primary text book that they used and the students were generally ruthless in trying to get the best grades and make other students look bad. Henry immediately pointed out that at SU, the class size was generally about 10 students, and that as far as he could tell they were a band of brothers (there were no women in the program then) helping one another along through their studies, and by the way, SU was using the same text book.

Henry showed me that I’d get genuine attention of the faculty and probably learn the same stuff without all the stress that seemed to be present elsewhere. A few months later I came back for a second visit; I had early admission. Professor Levinstein saw me in the hall and called out, ‘Mr. Pollock, aren’t you here a bit early. Classes don’t start for you until august…’ I was so surprised that he remembered my name. The personal attention and willingness to take time to talk with an undergrad was always there with Henry. He also got me a work-study fixing his toys and to create a mini-curriculum on integrated circuits that he could add into future lab courses. He even helped me connect with Ed Lipson for a summer job (instead of working on a highway crew), which ultimately turned into my graduate studies with Ed; co-authoring 5 papers, a book chapter and of course my dissertation. I was at SU for 9 years, 3 undergrad and 6 as a doctoral student and Henry was always interested in taking time to hear what I was up to.”