Sad News

October 20, 2026

Dear all,

I am writing with sad news. We recently learned of Professor Morton (“Mort”) Tavel’s death on January 14, 2026. Professor Tavel was a member of the Physics Department from 1967 to 2007. After receiving his PhD, he started work in the Brookhaven National Laboratories. There, he soon was assigned the task of presenting the work being done in the lab at conferences because he was a brilliant communicator of complex scientific concepts. He soon realized that his true calling as a scientist was to teach. In the classroom he had a gift for translating the often formidable mathematics of quantum mechanics and relativity theory into vivid imagery.

Mort called himself a “light-hearted soul.” His passion was to build bridges between the world of physics and the every-day lives and interests of his students. His two hugely popular 6-week courses for non-science majors, Contemporary Science and Relativity, approached problems in physics through a combination of “philosophy, history, and brain structure,” according to his own description. His talent for a multi-disciplinary approach to physics made his valuable contributions to the Science, Technology, and Society program a natural extension of his work. In 2002 he published a book derived from his work with non-majors entitled Contemporary Science and the Limits of Knowledge, which, in the words of one reviewer “…makes the difficult and obscure clear and exciting.”

Outside the classroom Mort had interests of surprising breadth. He discovered early on that the way to become part of a new community was to join a bowling league. He also enjoyed working out handicaps at horse races, and sharing his interest in wine-making, which he said, like physics, required “science, technology and the heart.” And big-hearted is how his many students over the years, his colleagues and his friends will remember Mort. We extend our deepest sympathy to his wife, Judy, and son, Philip.

Elizabeth H. Bradley, President
Vassar College
Poughkeepsie, NY 12604
@linkedin.com/in/ehbradley