Prof. Emeritus Riccardo Levi-Setti, a pioneering physicist and Holocaust survivor whose wide-ranging interests spanned cosmic rays to microscopy to trilobite fossils, died Nov. 8 in Chicago at age 91. Referred to as a “Renaissance man” by his colleagues, Levi-Setti was active in exploring subatomic particles called strange quarks before pioneering new techniques in taking scientific images that revealed details about everything from superconductors to bones and kidneys.

“He was a brilliant and broad leader, making important contributions from particle physics to evolution,” said Angela Olinto, dean of the Division of the Physical Sciences at the University of Chicago. “What’s more, he was a wonderfully curious and open-minded person.”