Heinz R. Pagels
Died in 1988.
"Heinz R. Pagels, executive director and chief executive officer of the New York Academy of Sciences, died in a mountaineering accident on July 23 while attending the summer session of the Aspen Center for Physics.
"A theoretical physicist, Pagels, 49, worked in the areas of relativistic quantum field theory and cosmology and was noted as being a popularizer of science. He authored three books on science: The Cosmic Code (1983); Perfect Symmetry: The Search for the Beginning of Time (1985); and The Dreams of Reason: The Computer and the Rise of the Sciences of Complexity (1988). In reviewing Pagels’ 1985 book, David Schranim, a cosmologist at the University of Chicago said, “Heinz Pagels is one of less than a handful of active scientists who can write excellent prose about the scientific frontier for a general audience.”
"...As executive director, Pagels was instrumental in forming two policy groups, the New York Science Policy Association and the High Tech/Business Forum. These foums brought together New York area leaders in science and technology for monthly lectures and discussion. Reports of these meetings appeared in the Academy newsletter Science Focus, inaugurated by Dr. Pagels in 1986. He was also publisher of the academy’s magazine, The Sciences.
"As president of the International League for Human Rights and as a trustee of Helsinki Watch Committee he was active in the international human rights movement and encouraged greater freedom for researchers in countries outside the United States. He was also a fellow of the New York Institute of the Humanities at New York University, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the Science and Law Committee of the New York Bar Association, and a trustee of the New York Hall of Science. " [1]
In 1969, Pagels married Elaine Pagels.
