Obituary of Jan Tauc

Jan Tauc peacefully passed away on Tuesday, December 28, 2010 at his home in Washougal, Washington. Born on April 15, 1922 in Pardubice, Czechoslovakia to Jan and Josepha (Semonska) Tauc; Jan was 88 years old. A Washougal resident since 2006, Jan was formerly of Providence, Rhode Island and Czechoslovakia. Since arriving in the USA, Jan worked at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey and from 1970 until his retirement in 1992 Jan was a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Physics at Brown University in Providence Rhode Island. Jan was a member of the American Physical Society and National Academy of Sciences. After receiving his PhD at Charles University, he pioneered research and development of the early transistor and specialized in amorphous semiconductors. He led semiconductor research at the Institute for Solid State Physics and was a professor of Experimental Physics at Charles University in Prague Czechoslovakia. Jan did post graduate studies at Harvard and also worked at Stanford and Max Plank Institute in Germany. Jan received numerous awards, his work resulted in many patents and he was well known, accomplished and highly respected in his field. Other than Physics, Jan enjoyed the outdoors, including hiking, skiing, canoeing and sailing. He was also a devoted husband, father and grandfather. He spend much time reading and listening to music. Jan is survived by his daughter Elena (Milan) Kokta of Washougal, and son Jan (Marianne) Tauc Jr. of Washougal, and four grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his loving wife of 62 years Vera Tauc in 2009. There will be a Funeral Mass for Jan on Saturday, January 15th at 5:00 pm at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Camas. Brown's Funeral Home and Cremation Services in Camas has been entrusted with arrangements.