Sow-Hsin Chen, emeritus professor of nuclear science and engineering (NSE) at MIT, died peacefully on June 26 in West Newton, Massachusetts. He was 86. Born in pre-World War II Taiwan in the small rural town of Puzi (in Chiayi County), Chen excelled academically, receiving a BS in physics from National Taiwan University in 1956 and an MS in nuclear science from National Tsing Hua University in its first graduating class in 1958. A highly competitive International Atomic Energy Agency fellowship brought Chen to the University of Michigan, where he earned…