American Philosophical Society
Member History

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Residency
Resident (1)
Subdivision
106. Physics (1)
1Name:  Dr. Sidney Drell
 Institution:  Stanford University
 Year Elected:  1987
 Class:  1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences
 Subdivision:  106. Physics
 Residency:  Resident
 Living? :   Deceased
 Birth Date:  1926
 Death Date:  December 21, 2016
   
 
Sidney D. Drell was professor of theoretical physics (emeritus) at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), Stanford University, as well as a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at the time of his death on December 21, 2016, at the age of 90. He served as SLAC's deputy director until retiring in 1998. A theoretical physicist and arms control specialist, Dr. Drell had also been active as an adviser to the executive and legislative branches of government on national security and defense technical issues. He was a founding member of JASON, a group of academic scientists who consult for the government on issues of national importance, and he acted as a consultant to the Los Alamos National Laboratory. He was a member of the Advisory Committee to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA/DOE) and chaired the Senior Review Board for the Intelligence Technology Innovation Center. Dr. Drell was widely recognized for his contributions in the study of theoretical physics, particularly elementary particle processes and quantum theory. His work contributed to the early understanding of meson physics and quantum electrodynamics and then went beyond those areas, ranging from basic studies on quantum chromodynamics on a lattice to such "down the laboratory" problems as the interaction of monopoles with helium. He isolated the processes of secondary particle production from photons from hadron-hadron collisions. Among numerous awards, Dr. Drell received the Heinz award in 2005 for his contributions in public policy, and in 2000 he was awarded the Enrico Fermi Award, the nation's oldest award in science and technology, for a lifetime of achievement in the field of nuclear energy. He also received the 2012 National Medal of Science. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and was coauthor, with J.D. Bjorken, of two books on relativistic quantum mechanics and fields that have been widely translated and used for more than 30 years.
 
Election Year
1987 (1)