Obituary for Edwin F. Taylor
Edwin F. Taylor
June 22nd, 1931 – April 22nd, 2025
TAYLOR, Edwin Floriman, of Arlington, MA, renowned physicist educator/author and loving husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, passed away on April 22, 2025, at the age of 93. Born on June 22, 1931, in Oberlin, Ohio, to Lloyd William Taylor, chairman of the Oberlin College physics department, and Esther Bliss Taylor, an active community leader, Edwin dedicated his life to physics education and making complex concepts accessible to students worldwide.
“Writing textbooks thrilled me,” he wrote. “I found breathtaking the power of a well-edited phrase to bring understanding and the way a small handful of fundamentally simple equations embody the mighty physical structure of the universe… I truly felt that to express a beautiful theory with accurate and comprehensive clarity is to ‘bring it into being,’ at least for the reader.”
Dr. Taylor earned his A.B. degree from Oberlin College in 1953, followed by a master’s degree (1954) and Ph.D. (1958) in physics from Harvard University, where he studied under Nobel Laureate Nicolaas Bloembergen. After teaching at Wesleyan University, he joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Education Research Center, where he remained for 25 years, eventually becoming a Senior Research Scientist.
A passionate advocate for innovative teaching, Dr. Taylor was instrumental in developing new physics curricula and pioneered integrating use of educational videos, computers, and the internet into science education. He co-authored several influential textbooks, including Spacetime Physics and Exploring Black Holes with John Archibald Wheeler, revised with Edmund Berschinger, and An Introduction to Quantum Physics with Anthony French. His clear, accessible writing and his relentless attention to student feedback introduced generations of learners to the wonders of relativity and quantum mechanics.
In 1998, Dr. Taylor was awarded the Oersted Medal, the highest honor from the American Association of Physics Teachers, for his “profound contributions to the pedagogy of relativity and quantum mechanics.” He was also a pioneer in educational technology, developing innovative software to help students understand complex physics concepts and teaching one of the earliest online physics courses through Montana State University.
From 1973 to 1978, Dr. Taylor served as editor of the American Journal of Physics, further shaping the discourse in his field. After retiring from MIT in 1991, Dr. Taylor continued his academic pursuits at Boston University and Carnegie Mellon University. Throughout his later years, he remained committed to making complex ideas accessible to learners worldwide, offering free downloads of his textbooks online and continuing to author and collaborate on essays, pamphlets, and sermons on a wide array of topics.
He is preceded in death by his beloved wife of almost 40 years, Carla Kirmani Taylor, who died 11 days before him, and by his sister Ruth Taylor Deery. He is survived by his four children, Lloyd William Taylor, Helen Crissman Taylor, Edwin Andrew Taylor, and Rasmia Kirmani, and their families, who adored him as a caring, kind, curious, and humorous soul.
