Respected IU physicist dies at 76

Prithe Paul Singh, former co-director of the IU Cyclotron facility, died in his home Aug. 17 after battling with Alzheimer's disease since 1991.\nSingh's wife, Sudarshan, said her husband was caring and brilliant.\n"Really, all I can say is that he was a very good human being," she said. "He was not just a scientist, he was good in the sense that he touched many lives in the course of his life."\nSingh, born in what is now Pakistan in 1930, experienced a life of hardship as a child. The decade of the 1930s was a tumultuous time for India, as the nation was going through divisions by the British colony masters. When Pakistan was separated from India, Singh was literally a homeless refugee.\nSingh's son Adarsh said it was his father's poor background that motivated him to succeed despite his circumstances.\n"He thought an education could transform people and get them out of poverty," he said.\nSingh earned his master's degree in India from Agra College, and was awarded a scholarship to earn his Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia. It was there that he met his future wife, Sudarshan. From there, Singh did post-graduate work in Canada, and was hired to IU in 1964. He would stay at IU until his retirement in 1991, teaching students, researching, and running the Cyclotron for seven years. \nDan Miller, now retired, co-directed the Cyclotron facility from 1979 to 1986.\n"During that period, I worked very closely with him, day and night," he said. "And he was a pleasure."\nMiller said Singh had a drive that pushed him to excel.\n"He was very innovative, and he had lots of ideas he was always willing to push through," he said.\nAfter his post at the Cyclotron, Singh was appointed as associate director of the IU Center on Global Change and World Peace. Here Singh concentrated on peacekeeping issues and nuclear disarmament. Singh also created a National Public Radio Show called "A Moment of Science" to spread science and its opportunity to radio listeners.\nAdarsh said his father was an inspiration to him and his brother, Pradeep.\n"We saw how much he sacrificed to help people in need, and that influenced us in what we do professionally," he said. \nPradeep is now a doctor at the University of Iowa Medical School, and Adarsh recently left corporate law to become a social worker, a decision based on some of his father's influence.\nTo make sure his remaining family members had the chance to get an education, Singh sent for many of his and his wife's family members in India to come to the U.S., and many of them have gone on to receive college degrees.\nSudarshan said her husband knew nothing of greed, and always put others first.\n"No matter where he went he was looking for the opportunity to help others. That was his main mission in life," she said. "That was very gratifying for me as his wife and his partner."\n-- Contact senior writer George Lyle IV at glyle@indiana.edu.