Class
| • | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | [X] |
| | 601 | Name: | Dr. Gerald J. Wasserburg | | | Institution: | California Institute of Technology | | | Year Elected: | 1982 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 105. Physical Earth Sciences | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1927 | | | Death Date: | June 13, 2016 | | | | | | |
Gerald Joseph Wasserburg was born on March 25, 1927 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the son of Charles Wasserburg and Sarah (Levine) Wasserburg. He attended New Brunswick public schools and served in the U.S. Army as a rifleman with the 23rd Reg., 2nd Division. He was discharged in 1946 and attended Rutgers University for two years and then the University of Chicago, where he obtained a B.Sc. in physics in 1951 and an M.Sc. in geology in 1952. He served on the Juneau Ice Field Research Project under Henri Bader in 1950 and served as a consultant at the Argonne National Laboratory from 1952-55. He conducted graduate research at the University of Chicago under H. C. Urey and M. G. Inghram III and received his Ph.D. in 1954. He also served as a research associate at the university's Institute for Nuclear Studies from 1954-55. Dr. Wasserburg then moved to the California Institute of Technology, where, in the course of five decades of service, he was assistant professor (1955-59), associate professor (1959-62), professor of geology and geophysics (1962-82), John D. MacArthur Professor of Geology and Geophysics (1982-2001), Chairman of the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences (1987-89) and Professor Emeritus, (2002-). Dr. Wasserburg also undertook extensive work for NASA as an advisor (1968-88) and as a member of the Lunar Sample Analysis Planning Team (LSAPT), Manned Spacecraft Center (1968-71), the Lunar Sample Review Board (1987-88), the Facilities Working Group of LSAPT, Johnson Space Center (1972-present); the Science Working Panel for Apollo Missions (1971-73); the Physical Sciences Committee (1971-75); and the Lunar Base Steering Committee (1984). He also chaired the Lunar Sample Analysis Planning Team (1970) and the Committee for Planetary and Lunar Exploration (1975-78). Dr. Wasserburg was a fellow of the American Geophysical Union (president, planetology section, 1976) and the Geological Society of America, a member of the Meteoritical Society (vice president, 1985, president, 1987-88) and the American Chemical Society and a former member of the American Physical Society, the U.S. National Committee for Geochemistry, the Committee for Planetary Exploration Study, the National Research Council, and the Advisory Council of the Petroleum Research Fund. He was also the associate editor of the Journal of Geophysical Research (1967-74) and the editor of Earth and Planetary Science Letters (1968-71) and served on the Space Science Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Wasserburg's research interests included geochemistry, geophysics and astrophysics; the use of the methods of chemical physics to problems in the evolution of the earth and the solar system; and the development of ultra-high precision and high sensitivity mass spectrometric and chemical techniques, and the application of these techniques to determine the time scales of formation of the solar system from the interstellar medium, and the evolution of planets including the earth, moon and meteorites. His major research includes short-lived radioactive nuclei in the early solar system (in particular 26Al and 107Pd); the time scales of nucleosynthesis, chemical evolution of the interstellar medium and the IGM, connections between the interstellar medium and the solar system, and the isotopic records of planetary evolution and chemical differentiation. He had also conducted general study of processes using long- and short-lived natural radioactivities, including the interaction of water and rock and the origin of natural gases, and the application of thermodynamic methods to geologic systems. Dr. Wasserburg's professional honors include membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1967) and the National Academy of Sciences (1971); NASA's Exceptional Scientific Achievement Award (1970); the Arthur L. Day Medal from the Geological Society of America (1970); NASA's Medal for Distinguished Public Service (1972 & 1978); the J. F. Kemp Medal for Distinguished Public Service from Columbia University (1973); Meteoritical Society's Leonard Medal (1975); the V. M. Goldschmidt Medal of the Geochemical Society (1978); the Arthur L. Day Prize and Lectureship, National Academy of Sciences (1981); a John D. MacArthur Professorship (1982); a Regents Fellowship, Smithsonian Instit.; the J. Lawrence Smith Medal of the National Academy of Sciences (1985); the Geological Society of London's Wollaston Medal (1985); the Senior U.S. Scientist Award, Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung (1985); the Harry H. Hess Medal of the American Geophysical Union (1985); the Crafoord Prize, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (1986); the Holmes Medal, European Union of Geosciences (1987); and the Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal (1991). He received the Bowie Medal of the American Geophysical Union in 2008. He was also a fellow of the Geological Society of London (honorary, 1995) and the Geochemical Society and the European Association for Geochemistry (1996). Dr. Wasserburg married Naomi Z. Orlick in 1951. The couple have two children: Charles David and Daniel Morris. Gerald Wasserburg died June 13, 2016, at the age of 89. | |
| 602 | Name: | Warren Weaver | | | Year Elected: | 1944 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1894 | | | Death Date: | 11/24/78 | | | | |
| 603 | Name: | David L. Webster | | | Year Elected: | 1922 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1888 | | | | |
| 604 | Name: | Dr. Alvin M. Weinberg | | | Institution: | Oak Ridge Associated Universities | | | Year Elected: | 1977 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 106. Physics | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1915 | | | Death Date: | October 18, 2006 | | | | |
| 605 | Name: | Dr. Steven Weinberg | | | Institution: | University of Texas at Austin | | | Year Elected: | 1982 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 106. Physics | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1933 | | | Death Date: | July 23, 2021 | | | | | | |
Steven Weinberg was the 2004 recipient of the Society's Benjamin Franklin Medal for Distinguished Achievement in Science. He was educated at Cornell University (A.B., 1954) and the Copenhagen Institute for Theoretical Physics (now the Niels Bohr Institute) and received his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1957. He taught at Columbia University for two years before moving to the University of California, Berkeley. From 1966 to 1969, on leave from Berkeley, Dr. Weinberg held positions at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a professor at MIT from 1969 to 1973 before officially joining Harvard's faculty in 1973 as the Higgins Professor of Physics. Ten years later Dr. Weinberg moved to the University of Texas as the Josey Regental Professor of Science while continuing at Harvard as the Morris Loeb Visiting Professor of Physics. He has also held positions at the Imperial College, London, and Stanford University, and was a senior scientist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory for ten years. Among his many distinctions are the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1979, the National Medal of Science in 1991, the Humanist of the Year award from the American Humanist Association in 2002, and the 2020 Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. The prize certificate citation for Steven Weinberg's Benjamin Franklin Medal for Distinguished Achievement in the Sciences reads, "In recognition of his role as a leading architect of the electroweak theory of interactions, a theory that unites the weak and the electromagnetic forces of nature. This was the first such unification since Maxwell had shown in the nineteenth century that electricity and magnetism are manifestations of the same phenomenon. In recognition of his highly regarded textbooks, including Gravitation and Cosmology and The Quantum Theory of Fields (in 3 volumes); his books for the general audience, most notably The First Three Minutes; and his extensive writing on subjects of public interest, such as ballistic missile defense. The American Philosophical Society salutes Steven Weinberg, considered by many to be the preeminent theoretical physicist alive in the world today." Dr. Weinberg has been a member of the American Philosophical Society since 1982. | |
| 606 | Name: | Dr. Stephen Weiner | | | Institution: | Weizmann Institute of Science | | | Year Elected: | 2022 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry | | | Residency: | International | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1948 | | | | | | |
Stephen Weiner was born in Pretoria, South Africa. He obtained a BSc degree in chemistry and geology at the University of Cape Town, an MSc in marine geochemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a PhD at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, USA in 1977 working in the field of mineral formation in biology (biomineralization). In the same year he joined the faculty of the Weizmann Institute of Science. He is now a professor emeritus at the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Steve Weiner carries out research in two fields: biomineralization and archaeological science. His biomineralization research focusses on basic mechanisms of mineral formation in biology, on the functions of organic crystals in manipulating light in biology, as well as on structure – function relations in vertebrate mineralized tissues such as bones and teeth. His archaeological research focuses on addressing key questions in archaeology by studying both the visual macroscopic record, as well as revealing the microscopic record with the help of instrumentation. Much of this research is carried out on-site during the excavation. In 1989 he published a book entitled “On Biomineralization” with the late Prof H.A. Lowenstam, and in 2010 he published another book entitled “Microarchaeology: Beyond the Visible Archaeological Record”.
Prof Weiner has published over 350 peer reviewed papers and has a Google H index of 125. He is the recipient of the 2010 prize for excellence of the Israel Chemical Society, the 2011 Aminoff Prize for Crystallography from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and he received the 2013 Pomerance Award for Scientific Contributions to Archaeology from the Archaeological Institute of America. In 2022 he will receive the gold medal of the Israel Chemistry Society; its highest award. | |
| 607 | Name: | Dr. Victor F. Weisskopf | | | Institution: | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | | | Year Elected: | 1966 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 106. Physics | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1908 | | | Death Date: | April 22, 2002 | | | | |
| 608 | Name: | Harald Malcolm Westergaard | | | Year Elected: | 1942 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1889 | | | Death Date: | 6/23/50 | | | | |
| 609 | Name: | Dr. Frank H. Westheimer | | | Institution: | Harvard University | | | Year Elected: | 1976 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1912 | | | Death Date: | April 14, 2007 | | | | |
| 610 | Name: | Dr. George W. Wetherill | | | Institution: | Carnegie Institution of Washington | | | Year Elected: | 1998 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 105. Physical Earth Sciences | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1925 | | | Death Date: | July 19, 2006 | | | | |
| 611 | Name: | Hermann Weyl | | | Year Elected: | 1935 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1885 | | | Death Date: | 12/8/55 | | | | |
| 612 | Name: | Dr. John Archibald Wheeler | | | Institution: | Princeton University & University of Texas at Austin & Center for Theoretical Physics | | | Year Elected: | 1951 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 106. Physics | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1911 | | | Death Date: | April 13, 2008 | | | | |
| 613 | Name: | Dr. Fred L. Whipple | | | Institution: | Harvard University | | | Year Elected: | 1956 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 101. Astronomy | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1906 | | | Death Date: | August 30, 2004 | | | | |
| 614 | Name: | Dr. Robert M. White | | | Institution: | National Academy of Engineering & University Corporation for Atmospheric Research & H. John Heinz Center for Science, Economics, and Environment & Washington Advisory Group | | | Year Elected: | 1991 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 105. Physical Earth Sciences | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1923 | | | Death Date: | October 14, 2015 | | | | | | |
Robert M. White advises on environment, energy, climate change, and development and management of organizations and research programs for the Washington Advisory Group, of which he was one of the founders and its first president. He was president of the National Academy of Engineering from 1983-95. Previously, he was president of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), chief of the U.S. Weather Bureau, U.S. Commissioner to the International Whaling Commission, U.S. Permanent Representative to the World Meteorological Organization, and the first Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Prior to government service, he founded one of the first corporations devoted to environmental science and services. | |
| 615 | Name: | Dr. George M. Whitesides | | | Institution: | Harvard University | | | Year Elected: | 1997 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1939 | | | | | | |
George M. Whitesides is Woodford L. and Ann A. Flowers University Professor at Harvard University. Educated at Harvard University and the California Institute of Technology, he was a member of the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1963-82. He returned to Harvard in 1982, serving as chairman of the Department of Chemistry from 1986-89 and Mallinckrodt Professor of Chemistry from 1982-2004. Dr. Whitesides is unique among chemists in the breadth and quality of both his scientific research and his involvement with government and industry. He has a remarkable record of highly influential academic research in core areas of chemistry and also in areas connecting chemistry to materials science and biology. One aim of his research is to establish intellectual connections between areas often considered essentially unrelated; the other is to make new connections between first-rate basic science and important technologies. Dr. Whitesides' current research is at the borders of chemistry, biology and materials science and includes both fundamental and applied components in molecular virology, rational drug design, glycobiology, interfacial chemistry, crystal engineering, fuel cells and nano and microfabrication technology. Yet, for all of the above, he is also a professor with a deep interest and participation in teaching, not just in his research specialties but in general science for Harvard undergraduates. In addition to numerous advisory positions and professional memberships, Dr. Whitesides is the recipient of the Kyoto Prize (2003), the Dan David Award (2004), the Priestley Medal (2006) and the Welch Award (2007). George Whitesides was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1997. | |
| 616 | Name: | Walter G. Whitman | | | Year Elected: | 1959 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1895 | | | Death Date: | 4/6/74 | | | | |
| 617 | Name: | Frank C. Whitmore | | | Year Elected: | 1943 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1887 | | | Death Date: | 6/24/47 | | | | |
| 618 | Name: | Willis R. Whitney | | | Year Elected: | 1931 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1868 | | | Death Date: | 1/9/58 | | | | |
| 619 | Name: | Dr. Hassler Whitney | | | Institution: | Institute for Advanced Study | | | Year Elected: | 1947 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 104. Mathematics | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1907 | | | Death Date: | 5/10/89 | | | | |
| 620 | Name: | Dr. Sheila E. Widnall | | | Institution: | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | | | Year Elected: | 2000 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 103. Engineering | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1938 | | | | | | |
Sheila Widnall has been a trustee of the Carnegie Corporation and vice chair of its board, a consultant to the MacArthur Foundation, a director of the Aerospace Corporation, Draper Laboratories, ANSER Corporation and Chemical Fabrics Incorporated, a trustee of the Boston Museum of Science, and a member of the Council of the Smithsonian Institution of Washington. She was a member of the Carnegie Commission on Science, Technology and Government and is a past president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a director of the Atlantic Council. Dr. Widnall's research activities in fluid dynamics have included the following: boundary layer stability; unsteady hydrodynamic loads on fully wetted and supercavitating hydrofoils of finite span; unsteady lifting-surface theory; unsteady air forces on oscillating cylinders in subsonic and supersonic flow; unsteady leading-edge vortex separation from slender delta wings; tip-vortex aerodynamics; helicopter noise; aerodynamics of high-speed ground transportation vehicles; vortex stability; aircraft-wake studies; turbulence; and transition. Dr. Widnall earned her Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1964 and has taught there for over 40 years. From 1979-90 she directed the Fluid Dynamics Research Laboratory and in 1986 was named Abby Rockefeller Mauze Professor of Aeronautics & Astronautics. She currently holds the title of Institute Professor at M.I.T. | |
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