Robert Marc Mazo

Robert Marc Mazo Professor emeritus
Born	October 3, 1930 Brooklyn, New York
Died	February 23, 2025(2025-02-23) (aged 94)
Other names	Bob Mazo
Occupation(s)	Theoretical physical chemist and educator
Children	3
Awards	American Physical Society Fellow
Academic background
Education	A.B., Harvard University, 1952 M.S., Yale University, 1953 Ph.D., Yale University, 1955
Thesis	Theoretical Studies On Low Temperature Phenomena (1955)
Doctoral advisor	Lars Onsager John Gamble Kirkwood

Robert Marc Mazo was a theoretical physical chemist who specialized in statistical mechanics. Educated at Harvard and Yale, he was a research associate at the University of Chicago, and taught at the California Institute of Technology prior to joining the University of Oregon faculty in 1962. He was designated a professor emeritus in 1996. He was a member of the American Association of University Professors and a Fellow of the American Physical Society.

Early life and education

Robert Marc Mazo, born October 3, 1930, in Brooklyn, New York, ^[1] was the son of Nathan and Rose Marion (Mazo) Mazo. ^[2] While in high school in 1948, Mazo won the Seventh Science Talent Search with the project, "Reactions in Liquid Ammonia". ^[3]

Mazo completed a A.B. at Harvard University in 1952, ^[4] and an M.S. in Science at Yale University in 1953. With NSF fellowship funding, ^[5] he earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree at Yale University in 1955, with his dissertation, Theoretical Studies On Low Temperature Phenomena, ^[6] advised by Lars Onsager and John Gamble Kirkwood.

Mazo and Joan Ruth Spector wed in 1954, ^[7] and their family includes a daughter, Ruth Mazo Karras, and two sons. Mazo died on February 23, 2025 in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania. ^[8]

Career

Before joining the faculty of the University of Oregon in 1962, Mazo was a postdoctoral fellow at Institute voor Theoretische Physica, University of Amsterdam ^[9] and a research associate at the University of Chicago (sponsored by the National Science Foundation). ^[10] He also held an assistant professorship at the California Institute of Technology. ^[11]

Mazo's research interests were "Exclusively theoretical", ^[12] and have included "Brownian motion processes, Markov processes, Probabilities, Statistical mechanics, and Transport theory." ^[13]

During Mazo's 33 year career at the University of Oregon, he served at various times as chair of the chemistry department, director of the Institute Theoretical Science, and as associate dean of the graduate school. ^[14] He was also a program director of the National Science Foundation. ^[15]

Selected publications

Books

• Mazo, Robert M. (October 23, 2008). Brownian Motion: Fluctuations, Dynamics, and Applications. OUP Oxford. ISBN   978-0-19-156508-3.
• Mazo, Robert M. (1967). Statistical mechanical theories of transport processes. Pergamon Press. ASIN   B0006BOPK4.
• Girardeau, M.D; Mazo, R.M. (1973). "Variational methods in statistical mechanics". In Prigogine, Ilya; Rice, Stuart A (eds.). Advances in Chemical Physics, Volume 24. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 187–245. ISBN   978-0-470-14409-1.

Articles

• Mazo, Robert M. (December 1, 1969). "On the theory of brownian motion. III. Two-body distribution function" . Journal of Statistical Physics. 1 (4): 559–562. doi:10.1007/BF01024130. ISSN   1572-9613. S2CID   121554698.
• Mittenthal, Jay E.; Mazo, Robert M. (February 7, 1983). "A model for shape generation by strain and cell-cell adhesion in the epithelium of an arthropod leg segment" . Journal of Theoretical Biology. 100 (3): 443–483. doi:10.1016/0022-5193(83)90441-1. ISSN   0022-5193. PMID   6834865.
• Ben-Naim, Arieh; Mazo, Robert M. (October 1993). "Size dependence of the solvation free energies of large solutes" . The Journal of Physical Chemistry. 97 (41): 10829–10834. doi:10.1021/j100143a050. ISSN   0022-3654.
• Paul, E.; Mazo, R. M. (August 1969). "Hydrodynamic Properties of a Plane‐Polygonal Polymer, According to Kirkwood–Riseman Theory" . The Journal of Chemical Physics. 51 (3): 1102–1107. doi:10.1063/1.1672109. ISSN   0021-9606.
• Mazo, Robert M. (October 15, 1965). "On the Theory of the Concentration Dependence of the Self‐Diffusion Coefficient of Micelles" . The Journal of Chemical Physics. 43 (8): 2873–2877. doi:10.1063/1.1697219. ISSN   0021-9606.

Awards, honors

• Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, 1961-65 ^[12]
• NSF Senior Postdoctoral Fellow, 1968-69 ^[12]
• Heinrich Hertz Fellow (West Germany) ^[12]
• Meyerhoff Fellow (Israel) ^[12]
• Fellow of the American Physical Society, citation: For his many contributions to the statistical mechanics of transport processes, especially to the understanding of Brownian motion and the couplings of moving molecules, 1983. ^[16]

References

1. "New York, New York, U.S., Birth Index, 1910-1965" . Retrieved May 29, 2022– via Ancestry.
2. "Obituary for Nathan Mazo (Aged 87)". The Courier-News. April 30, 1990. p. 9. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
3. Davis, Helen Miles (1951). Exhibit Techniques. Science Service. p. 96.
4. "Harvard University - Red Book Yearbook, Class of 1952". e-yearbook.com. Cambridge, Massachusetts. p. 261. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
5. Blanpied, William A. (December 1, 2007), The National Science Foundation Class of 1952 , National Science Foundation, doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u237210 , retrieved May 29, 2022
6. Mazo, Robert M. (1955). Theoretical Studies On Low Temperature Phenomena. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University.
7. "Marriage license applications". The Philadelphia Inquirer. August 28, 1954. p. 24. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
8. "Robert Marc Mazo Obituary - Eugene Register-Guard". registerguard.com. February 25, 2025. Retrieved August 11, 2025.
9. "Robert Marc Mazo". Who's Who Lifetime Achievement. July 16, 2018. Retrieved May 30, 2022.
10. "The Third Annual Report of the National Science Foundation" (PDF). nsf.gov. June 30, 1953. p. 92. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
11. Catalog, 1960-1961 (PDF). Pasadena, California: California Institute of Technology. 1960. p. 19.
12. "Robert Mazo | Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry". chemistry.uoregon.edu. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
13. "OCLC WorldCat Identities". worldcat.org. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
14. "Robert Marc Mazo, PhD, Presented with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award by Marquis Who's Who". 24-7 Press Release Newswire. Retrieved May 30, 2022.
15. NSF Bulletin. The Foundation. 1975. p. 21.
16. "APS Fellow Archive". www.aps.org. Retrieved May 29, 2022.