Peter A. Schroeder

His humor never left him and was enjoyed by all. He loved music, especially that played by his son and Gilbert & Sullivan Operettas. He was known for playing the largest bell in the Choir, the C3. Later in life he became an avid singer of boyhood songs. His main hobby was birding, spending hours with binoculars looking at birds and was particularly pleased when he viewed a resplendent Quetzal on one of his many travels.

He received an MSC at University of New Zealand in 1949. A University of New Zealand Post Graduate Scholarship in Science took him to the University Of Bristol, England where he got a Ph.D. in 1955 and also met his future wife, Margaret Gwyneth Taylor. They married in 1953, and Peter returned to be a Lecturer in Physics at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, 1953-1957. He was a Research Fellow at the National Research Council of Canada 1958-1961 and then became a Professor of Physics at Michigan State University until he retired in 1997. He published several papers on the general field of conduction in metals including work on a system which was used in recent years on extracting information from Magnetic Media.

During this time he was a member of The Peoples Church where he served mainly on the Outreach Commission, and in a study of relationships between Science and Religion. This spilled over to some of the courses he taught in the Physics Department which had social aspects. For example, in an intense cold war period he taught a course on nuclear weaponry, and, in the university at large, worked with the Nuclear War Study Group. Later he taught a course on Energy and the Environment which led him into the field of Global Warming which he firmly believed was happening with possible disastrous consequences. After he retired, he and his wife endowed an Annual Departmental (later including a Public Lecture) Physics and Society Colloquium and reviewed several books for the American Physical Society’s Forum on Physics and Society.

He is predeceased by his son, Christopher Perran (1995).

He is survived by his wife, Gwyneth; daughter, Judith Anne; two brothers, Len and Graeme and two sisters, Rona and Naneen in New Zealand.

A memorial service will be held 3:30 p.m., Friday, March 2, 2018, The Peoples Church, 200 W. Grand River Avenue. The family will receive friends following the service.

Those desiring may make contributions in memory of Peter to NAMI, 401 S. Washington St., Ste. 104, Lansing, MI 48933 (http://www.nami.org/donate), Environmental Defense Fund, 1875 Connecticut Ave., NW Ste. 600, Washington, DC 20009 (edf.org/honor) or Ocean Conservancy, 1300 19th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036 (https://oceanconservancy.org/donate/honor-memorial-giving/).

"I am sure that he is now out there somewhere and free, exploring particle physics and the structure of the Universe, with that same wish to understand and to explain."

The family is being served by Gorsline Runciman Funeral Homes, East Chapel.

Online condolences may be made at www.greastlansing.com