Professor of Physics Tom Mehen died unexpectedly last weekend at age 54 at his home in Chapel Hill.
The cause of his death has not been released.
“Tom was a brilliant and ever-curious scientist — always ready to help, a good departmental citizen and always upheld the integrity of science,” said Berndt Mueller, James B. Duke distinguished professor of physics. “We will very much miss him.”
Mehen, who was “a highly regarded member of the faculty,” first came to Duke in 2002 as an assistant professor and became a professor in 2016.
His research focused on quantum chromodynamics and the application of effective field theory to hadronic physics problems, working primarily with heavy quarks among other areas of nuclear physics. Mehen received several grants from the Department of Energy for his work and was presented with its Outstanding Junior Investigator Award in Nuclear Physics in 2005.
Mehen was born in Honduras and moved to Virginia with his family as a child. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree and doctorate from Johns Hopkins University, and he was a John A. McCone Postdoctoral Scholar at the California Institute of Technology and a University Postdoctoral Fellow at The Ohio State University.
He is remembered as an “independent thinker” with an “extraordinary ability to grasp complex concepts effortlessly.” In recent years, Mehen served as “one of the driving forces” behind the TMD Handbook, which sought to make theoretical physics concepts more accessible to young researchers.
Mehen was known for his close connection to his students, and he had been named the lead faculty member for a new introductory physics sequence launched this fall.
The physics department is planning a memorial for Mehen that will be scheduled during the spring semester.
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Zoe Kolenovsky is a Trinity junior and news editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.