About
In Memoriam: Mark J. Beran,
Aug 05, 2013
In Memoriam: Mark Jay Beran, 1930 - 2013
Mark Jay
Beran, an OSA Fellow and a member of the Society for almost 50 years, died on 5 August 2013, shortly before his 83rd birthday.
Beran earned a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and his Ph.D. from Harvard University. He began his academic career at the University of Pennsylvania as a professor of engineering. After moving to Israel with his family, he joined the Faculty of Engineering at Tel Aviv University, where he served as the first chairman of the Interdisciplinary Studies Department. Beran was a full professor in the department until his retirement in 1998, when he became Professor Emeritus.
Well respected in his field and internationally recognized, Beran made fundamental contributions to the theory of wave propagation in random media and also made contributions to the role of statistics in continuum mechanics. His publications included two books, Theory of Partial Coherence (1964, with George B. Parrent Jr.) and Statistical Continuum Theories (1968).
Beran was named a Fellow of The Optical Society in 1968 and was also a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America.
Beran is survived by his wife of 60 years, Barbara Black Beran, three children, six grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
If you would like to make a memorial donation to an OSA Foundation fund or endowment in honor of Mark J. Beran, please visit www.osa.org/donate.
