By John Garrison

Professor P. V. Panat had visited us at Berkeley in June of 2008, so I was shocked and saddened to learn of his death in January of 2009. I first met Prof. Panat in the early 1970s when his primary advisor, Dr. H. E. DeWitt, took a sabbatical leave and I became responsible for supervising the final stages of his thesis research at U.C. Berkeley. This work comprised a study of critical phenomena, in particular Bose-Einstein condensation, for systems of charged particles. In this endeavor he demonstrated the energy, ingenuity and physical insight which were to serve him well in his subsequent career. In addition to his original research, he was a successful teacher and the author of several well regarded textbooks. He will be remembered for his knowledge and wisdom, and--perhaps even more importantly--for the invariably positive outlook on life that served to inspire all who knew him.

Dr. Garrison was a Senior Physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from 1961-1996.
He also taught at the Department of Applied Science (U.C. Davis) and the Physics Department (U.C. Berkeley).
Since retirement he has continued active research as a Visiting Scholar at U.C. Berkeley.

April 2, 2009