OBITUARIES: Stephen Sydoriak, 85, of New Mexico, distinguished physicist at Los Alamos (08/10/03)

OBITUARIES

Stephen Sydoriak, 85, of New Mexico, distinguished physicist at Los Alamos

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. - Dr. Stephen Sydoriak, a distinguished low-temperature physicist, died on May 15, at the age of 85. He was a researcher for the Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1948 until his retirement in 1980.

With two other colleagues, he was the first to liquify He3. He later worked on the International Temperature Scale and was the author of many significant papers in his field. Fellow scientists described him as a creative experimentalist. He received his bachelor's degree in physics in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1939 and went on to spend the war years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working in radar research and development.

In 1945, he married Stephanie Chopek, and together they went to study physics at the Yale University Graduate School. He received his Ph.D. in low temperature physics in 1948.

He was born to the Rev. Eustace and Katherine Sydoriak in 1918 in Passaic, N.J. His father, a Catholic priest of the Ukrainian Byzantine Rite, also served parishes in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Syracuse and Buffalo, N.Y.

Having learned to dance under the program of Vasile Avramenko as a young boy, he continued performing in Los Alamos, dancing for various schools and organizations. He and his wife were known for bringing together Ukrainians from various parts of northern New Mexico for a Ukrainian picnic at their house every year so that everyone there could remember their Ukrainian roots.

Dr. Sydoriuk was a longtime member of UNA Branch 307 in Boston and all his children had endowment policies, He was overcome by Alzheimers in 1987. He leaves his wife, Stephanie, and his children: Stephen, Katherine, Eugene, Christine and Walter; three grandchildren and various nieces and nephews as well as his sister-in-law, Anna Chopek.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his brothers, Walter and Eugene, his sister, Helene Haire, his son, Eustace, and daughter, Mary. Funeral services were held at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Los Alamos.

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