(JEWISH GROUP) Edward Anders, Who Duped Nazis and Illuminated the Cosmos, Dies at 98 [View all]

Edward Anders, a cosmochemist who unraveled mysteries about the solar system and the wildfires that helped wipe out the dinosaurs — and who then, in retirement, uncovered the identities of thousands of Jews from his hometown who were killed in the Holocaust — died on June 1 in San Mateo, Calif. He was 98.

His death, in an assisted living facility, was confirmed by his son, George.

Professor Anders emigrated to the United States in 1949, a few months after being called to testify at the Nuremberg trials about Nazi brutality in Liepaja, Latvia, in 1941 — events that he and his mother survived after she tricked soldiers into believing that she was of Aryan descent. His father wasn’t as fortunate.

Settling in New York City, Edward enrolled at Columbia University and studied chemistry. One day, his professor — a curator at the American Museum of Natural History — brought a handful of meteorite rocks to pass around in class.

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What a fascinating individual!