KALKOFEN, Wolfgang

Wolfgang Kalkofen, formerly of Belmont, died at Youville House Assisted Living in Cambridge, MA, on June 29, 2024, after a full life that began in 1931 and ended at age 92. Born in Mainz, a city on the Rhine River in Germany, he lived through World War II, studied physics at the University of Frankfurt, moved to the United States in the 1950s, earned a doctorate in physics at Harvard University, and spent his career at the Harvard-smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He specialized in solar and stellar astrophysics, writing books and articles with titles that his children found hilariously incomprehensible, including “Excitation of Oscillations in Photospheric Flux Tubes through Buffeting by External Granules.” He traveled widely, including to astronomical observatories in India and the Canary Islands, and for teaching and research positions at German universities in Freiburg, Gottingen, Heidelberg and Wurzburg, as well as at NASA. He was fluent in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian; he studied Russian, Hindi and ancient Greek; and he ran at least 30 marathons as a member of Cambridge Sports Union. His three favorite topics were the Punic Wars, the subjunctive tense, and German wheat beers.

Despite his scientific prowess, he was unable to use most of the appliances in his home; six months after the death of his wife of more than 50 years, Renate Scheer Kalkofen, he called his son and asked, “Which one is the washer and which one is the dryer?,” admitting that he had been re-wearing his clothes since her funeral because he did not know how to clean them himself. He was oblivious to sports, believing for decades that Fenway Park was a site for political gatherings because the only time he had been there was to see Senator Eugene Mccarthy at a 1968 rally. His life changed dramatically after he retired in 2012 and Renate died of pancreatic cancer in 2013. After her death, he left their longtime home in Belmont and moved to Youville House Assisted Living in Cambridge, MA, where he developed a large group of friends and loved attending its concerts, lectures and movies. Also at Youville, despite a lifetime of having shunned desserts, which he called “poison,” he began eating ice cream and maple syrup daily. He is survived by his daughter, Karin (Gaggi) Destefanis, her husband, Paul, and their three children, Giovanna, Timo and Sofia, of Arlington; as well as his son, Michael Johannes (Hansi) Kalkofen, and his wife, Sacha Pfeiffer, of Cambridge. Burial is private. In Wolfgang’s memory, please enjoy a glass of single malt whiskey or a German hefeweizen beer.