Obituary of Nabil Hasan Farhat

Nabil H. Farhat, Professor Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania

Nabil H. Farhat, a resident of Philadelphia, PA, passed away on November 3, 2020, at his home

in West Mt. Airy at the age of 87. He was born on November 3, 1933, in Palestine and moved to

this country to attend the University of Tennessee after receiving a B.S. in Electrical Engineering

at The Technion in Haifa. Upon graduating from the University of Tennessee with a M.S. in

Electrical Engineering, he attended the University of Pennsylvania where he received his Ph.D.

Dr. Fahat then began his teaching career as a professor at the Moore School of Electrical

Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania where he was the Head of the Electro-Optics and

Photonic Neuroengineering Laboratory. He was a world-renowned scholar in his field, most

recently focusing on the qualitative theory of nonlinear dynamics, bifurcation and chaos and its

application to the modeling and understanding of cortical dynamics in the brain. Dr. Farhat was

the recipient of many honors and awards including being a Fellow at the Institute of Electrical

and Electronics Engineers and the Optical Society of America as well as receiving the Lindback

Award for Distinguished Teaching. Dr. Farhat is survived by his beloved wife, Joan English

Farhat; his brother, Amir Farhat; his sister, Malaka Safadi and her husband Bassam Safadi;

brother-in-law and sister-in-law, John and Susan English; two nephews, Rami Safadi and

Andrew English; two nieces, Reema Safadi and Alice English; and two great nephews, Ryyan

and Sam Safadi. A private burial will be held at Ivy Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, on November

7, 2020. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to your favorite charity.