Hans Bethe, 1907-2005

Hans Bethe, one of the last of the giants of 20th century physics, who was a key figure in the building of the first atomic bomb as head of the Manhattan Project's theoretical physics division in Los Alamos, N.M. and who won a Nobel Prize for figuring out how the sun and other stars generate energy, died Sunday at his home, at the age of 98.

Bethe (BAY'-tuh), who fled Nazi Germany and joined the Cornell faculty in 1935, also made major discoveries about how atoms are built up from smaller particles, about what makes dying stars blow up as supernovas, and how the heavier elements are produced from the ashes of these supernovas.

In his 90s, at Cornell University's Newman Laboratory of Nuclear Studies, he devoted many solitary afternoons to his passion: numbers. Of numbers, Bethe said, "I think it's very useful for keeping me young."

Read the rest here and meanwhile, keep playing with those numbers if you want to stay young.