Dr. Zoltan Schelly

Dr. Zoltan Schelly passed away on April 1, 2021 in Asheville, NC at the age of 83 due to complications from strokes. Zoltan was a dedicated educator, father, husband, neighbor, mentor and friend. He lived with his wife, Dr. Joan Schelly (d. 2018), in Arlington, Texas for 53 years. Zoltan was born in 1938, in Budapest, Hungary. He and his family endured many hardships during World War II and the subsequent occupation of Hungary during his childhood. Despite this, he excelled in school and in sports. He was at the top of his class and was a Hungarian Junior Champion in the modern pentathlon. At the age of 17, his father, a city engineer, died unexpectedly. In 1956, during his final year of high school, he joined the Hungarian Revolution which was brutally thwarted by the Soviet Union. He was forced to leave his mother, Klara Schelly, and younger sister, Agnes Fischer, in Budapest. His mother, a concert pianist, sold her piano to fund his escape to Austria. He was smuggled through the Hungarian countryside to the Austrian border on Christmas Eve. Zoltan spent 15 months in refugee camps in Vienna before completing high school in Innsbruck. He then began scientific studies on a United Nations scholarship at the Vienna University of Technology in 1958. He earned a B.S. in Engineering Chemistry from the Vienna University of Technology in 1962 and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry in 1967. He became a passionate scientist and often said, “I chose physical chemistry for its fundamental natures: the combination of mathematics, physics and chemistry and the possibility of doing both experimental and theoretical research.” His dissertation was about the ‘elucidation of the mechanism of diazotization in solvent mixtures’, with Prof. H. Schmid. He then accepted a research position at Chemie Linz, in Linz, Austria. He immigrated to the United States with his first wife, Dr.Jur. Christine Kamelreiter, on a newly established scientist quota in 1968. He accepted a postdoctoral position working with Prof. W.W. Brandt on massspectrometric studies of the diffusion of noble gases’ in the Laboratory of Surface Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. His eldest daughter, Johanna Schelly, was born in Milwaukee the same year. He then joined Prof. E.M. Eyring’s group at the University of Utah to study ‘fast reactions by relaxation methods’. His second daughter, Barbara Schelly, was born in Salt Lake City in 1970. Zoltan accepted a position as an assistant professor at the University of Georgia in Athens later that year. He met his second wife, Dr. Joan DuBose Schelly, at the University of Georgia in 1974. Dr. Z. Schelly was an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow with L. De Maeyer and Nobel Laureate M. Eigen in the Max-Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany in 1974, where he worked on the development of the ‘laser temperature-jump method’. He joined the faculty at UT Arlington in 1977 as an associate professor and became a full professor in 1982. His youngest daughter, Andrea Schelly, was born in Arlington, Texas in 1979. Dr. Schelly served as the department acting chair from 1990-91 and as director of the department’s Center for Colloidal and Interfacial Dynamics from 1982 onward. Zoltan taught undergraduate courses including General Chemistry and Physical Chemistry and graduate classes including Physical Chemistry, Chemical Kinetics, Chemical Reaction Dynamics, Statistical Thermodynamics, Principles of Laser Spectroscopy and Colloid and Surface Chemistry. He was a visiting professor at the National Defense Academy in Yokosuka, Japan in 1991 and at the Technical University of Budapest, Hungary in 1999. His research included experimental and theoretical studies of ‘fast rate processes in systems close to and far from thermodynamic equilibrium’. Another of his primary interests was the ‘relaxation of self-organized colloidal systems and oscillating chaotic reactions induced by perturbation via a high-voltage electric or high-intensity laser pulse’. ‘Transient electroopic studies of synthetic liposomes’ by Dr. Schelly and his students led to their discovery of the only current method for the ‘production of sub-nanometer size cluster precursors to semiconductor quantum dots in solution’. He often said, “Find something you love to do and do it. Scientific research and teaching are my hobbies.” Among the most memorable events of his career at UT Arlington were the implementation of the department’s Ph.D. program and the construction of the Chemistry Research & Physics Building. He was awarded numerous honors during the course of his career. He authored over 110 publications, gave 95 invited lectures and seminars and presented more than 80 papers at national and international conferences and symposia. He made many important contributions to areas ranging from ‘colloidal chemistry, ultrafast reactions to relaxation kinetics’. He was one of the finest physical chemists in the world. He considered many of his colleagues and students to be his extended family. He mentored dozens of students during his tenure at UTA. He retired in 2008 and became the care-giver for his wife, Joan, when she developed multiple myeloma. Zoltan, known as ‘Z’ to his friends and neighbors, was totally unique. He was brilliant, kind, funny, spirited and thoughtful. His loves in life were his family, friends, soccer, classical music and fried catfish. Zoltan had an incredible intellect - he spoke 4 languages fluently and often recited poetry in Russian or philosophy in German. He relished discussing scientific developments or politics with friends while puffing on a cigarette. Z enjoyed engaging with people of all walks of life: neighbors, construction workers, store clerks or fellow scientists. He was passionate and precise about everything he did. His passing is truly a loss to humanity. We will miss our Dad, Apu, Grandpa and his wisdom for the rest of our days. We wish him eternal love and peace. He is survived by his: Daughters, Johanna Schelly. Barbara Schelly and Andrea Schelly; Son-in-law, Peter Dorsey; Granddaughters, Lorena Schelly and Madeleine Dorsey. Zoltan Schelly will be buried at Calvary Episcopal Church in Fletcher, North Carolina with his wife on April 16, 2021 at 3PM. A memorial service for family, friends, neighbors and students will be held in Arlington, Texas in August, 2021; further information to follow. Highlands Cremation and Funeral Care of Arden, North Carolina, is serving the family, and condolences may be sent to them at https://www.highlandscremationandfuneralcare.com In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to: Doctors Without Borders https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/onetime.cfm