Obituary: John Linsley died New Mexico, USA 2002
Albuquerque Journal - September 17, 2002
By John Fleck
Journal Staff Writer
John Linsley, a University of New Mexico physicist once nominated for the Nobel Prize, died Sunday at the age of 77.
Linsley remained passionate about his science to the end, continuing his research long after he retired, said UNM physics colleague John Matthews.
"John was just one of those people who loved science," Matthews said.
In 1981, Linsley was nominated for the Nobel Prize in physics for his work studying cosmic rays, high-energy subatomic particles that bombard Earth from distant space.
They are central to understanding the cosmos but very difficult to study here on Earth because our atmosphere blocks them.
Linsley was a pioneer in sidestepping the atmospheric problem in a famous experiment conducted on the mesa west of Albuquerque.
When the cosmic rays collide with the atmosphere, they make tiny but powerful explosions, Linsley wrote last year in explaining his science. By detecting and studying the explosive debris, scientists can understand the cosmic rays.
Known to scientists simply as "Volcano Ranch," Linsley's experiment in 1961 detected the most powerful cosmic ray ever seen by science at the time.
When he was nominated for the Nobel, Linsley gave himself little chance of winning it, preferring instead to focus on a scientific dream to fly a cosmic ray detector aboard a spacecraft.
Looking down on Earth from above, scientists would have a new and better view of cosmic rays striking the atmosphere, Linsley believed.
Linsley did not live to see that dream become reality, but it eventually will, his son Alessandro Quargnali-Linsley said Monday.
Plans call for a cosmic ray detector to be added to the International Space Station in 2007, Quargnali-Linsley said.
Beyond his science, Linsley was an avid gardener, a talented carpenter, and had a deep and lifelong love for poetry and music, family members said.
Services are private, but a public memorial will be planned in the next few months, Quargnali-Linsley said.
In addition to his son, Linsley is survived by his wife, Paola Quargnali, his daughters Joanna Linsley and Amina Quargnali-Linsley, his granddaughter Morgan Linsley and his sister Ruth Forman.
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