Remembering Prof. George Morgan

BY SOFIA BARNETT UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR

George Morgan, an accomplished professor emerita at the University and a pioneer of Brown’s renowned open curriculum, died Feb. 4 at age 98.

Morgan, born in Vienna, Austria, is survived by his daughter Alexandra Morgan ’84, his grandchildren Benjamin and Madelin and his step-grandson Raymond. George Morgan, an Austrian Jew, fled Vienna at age 14, weeks before Kristallnacht. George Morgan went on to join the University as an applied mathematics professor in 1950.

During his time at Brown, George Morgan earned a reputation as an innovative, kind and trailblazing professor who introduced the idea of interdisciplinary study to a University that would come to be defined by the concept. His work inspired student and faculty leaders who advocated for a more flexible curriculum in the late 1960s.

Two of his students, Elliot Maxwell ’68 and Ira Magaziner ’69, successfully executed a Group Independent Study project that proved vital to breathing life into the celebrated open curriculum.

George Morgan was eventually named a “University professor” untethered to a singular department, according to a Brown Alumni Magazine article. He also made key contributions to fields beyond applied mathematics, including medicine, physics and hydraulic engineering, his daughter Alexandra Morgan said.

A 1970 article in The Herald put it sim-