Class
| • | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | [X] |
| | 1 | Name: | Dr. Paul J. Crutzen | | | Institution: | Max Planck Institute for Chemistry | | | Year Elected: | 2007 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry | | | Residency: | International | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1933 | | | Death Date: | January 28, 2021 | | | | | | |
Paul Crutzen was a professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography's Center for Atmospheric Sciences from 1992 to 2008. He was also Professor Emeritus at the Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Utrecht University, and the former director of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry. He has made substantial and fundamental contributions to our understanding of the formation and decomposition of ozone - processes that are also affected by our emissions of different kinds of gas. In particular, he has shown the importance of nitrogen oxides for the ozone balance. Crutzen has also made contributions to the understanding of how the reactions that decompose ozone are considerably reinforced by cloud particles in the stratosphere. That the dilution of the ozone layer is strongest just above the poles of the earth - in particular over Antarctica - is due to this effect. The extremely low temperatures lead to the creation of a very large amount of cloud particles. Research on the chemical mechanisms in the ozone layer has shown signs of the negative impact of humans. There are now far-reaching international agreements on the prohibition of emission of freons and other gases destroying ozone in the so-called Montreal Protocol. Crutzen has also studied how ozone is created in the lower stratum of the atmosphere, the troposphere, where the amount of ozone has increased in the last century due to car exhausts and other emissions. Besides contributing to the greenhouse effect, ozone close to the ground also causes damage to crops and human health. Paul Crutzen shared the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Mario Molina and Sherwood Rowland. His most recent interests are in the following areas: global modeling of atmospheric chemical processes (2-D, 3-D) for troposphere, stratosphere and lower mesosphere; interactions of atmospheric chemistry with climate; studies of the potential role of halogen photochemistry with ozone in the marine boundary layer; and tropospheric chemistry, including the role of biomass burning in the tropics and subtropics. More recently Crutzen has involved himself with studies of geo-engineering to reduce the heating of Earth's climate by carbon dioxide emissions. He also published a paper showing that the production of biofuels (e.g. ethanol from maize and biodiesel from rapeseed) to replace fossil fuels may not cool climate. Crutzen also proposed that over the past 200 years human activities have grown so much that the introduction of a new geologic epoch, the Anthropocene, is justified. He died on January 28, 2021. | |
| 2 | Name: | Dr. Wendy Freedman | | | Institution: | University of Chicago | | | Year Elected: | 2007 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 101. Astronomy | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1957 | | | | | | |
Wendy Freedman is the John and Marion Sullivan Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago. A native of Toronto, Canada, she received her doctorate in astronomy and astrophysics from the University of Toronto in 1984. In the same year she received a Carnegie Fellowship at the Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, California, and joined the faculty in 1987. From 2003-2014 she served as the Crawford H. Greenewalt Director of the Carnegie Observatories, and from 2003-2015, she served as the founding chair of the Board of Directors for the Giant Magellan Telescope, a 25-m optical telescope scheduled for completion in Chile in the 2030s. Professor Freedman is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. She is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society and The Royal Society, and a Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society. Professor Freedman’s awards include the Marc Aaronson Lectureship and Prize, the McGovern Award for her work on cosmology, and the American Philosophical Society's Magellanic Prize. She is one of three co-recipients of the 2009 Gruber Cosmology Prize and has also been awarded the Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics by the American Institute of Physics and American Astronomical Society. Her primary research interests are in observational cosmology. Professor Freedman was a principal investigator for a team of thirty astronomers who carried out the Hubble Key Project to measure the current expansion rate of the Universe. Presently her research interests are directed at increasing the accuracy of measurements of the expansion rate and testing whether there is new fundamental early-universe physics. She is Principal Investigator of a new first-cycle program with the James Webb Space Telescope to measure the Hubble constant to percent-level precision. | |
| 3 | Name: | Dr. David Gross | | | Institution: | Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara | | | Year Elected: | 2007 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 106. Physics | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1941 | | | | | | |
David Gross directs the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he is also Frederick W. Gluck Professor of Theoretical Physics. A distinguished scientist and a leader in elementary particle theory, he received the 2004 Nobel Prize for his influential contributions to the theory of strong interactions, most notably the proof of asymptotic freedom in quantum chromodynamics, an essential building block in the now well established Standard Model. Gross has also had an important impact on developments in superstring theory, in particular as co-discoverer of the heterotic string that many in the particle theory community view as the most promising road to a fundamental theory underlying the unification of gravity with the Standard Model. After receiving his Ph.D., from the University of California, Berkeley in 1966, David Gross became a junior fellow at Harvard University. In 1969 he joined the faculty of Princeton University, where he was appointed Professor of Physics in 1972, and later Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics and Thomas Jones Professor of Mathematical Physics. In his current position Gross has taken an active and positive role in shaping scientific programs, and he has served with distinction on many national committees. His numerous honors include the Dirac Medal, a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship Prize and membership in the American Physical Society, the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. David Gross was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2007. | |
| 4 | Name: | Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson | | | Institution: | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | | | Year Elected: | 2007 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 106. Physics | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1946 | | | | | | |
The Honorable Shirley Ann Jackson is the 18th President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y., and Hartford, Conn., the oldest technological research university in the United States. She is slated to lead Rensselaer through June 2022. Dr. Jackson holds a Ph.D. in theoretical elementary particle physics from M.I.T. (1973) and a S.B. in physics from M.I.T. (1968). Her research specialty is in theoretical condensed matter physics, especially layered systems, and the physics of opto-electronic materials.
Describing her as "a national treasure," the National Science Board selected Dr. Jackson as its 2007 recipient of the prestigious Vannevar Bush Award for "a lifetime of achievements in scientific research, education, and senior statesman-like contributions to public policy." Described by Time Magazine (2005) as "perhaps the ultimate role model for women in science," President Jackson has held senior leadership positions in government, industry, research, and the academy.
Since arriving at Rensselaer in 1999, Dr. Jackson has fostered an extraordinary renaissance there through the vision, development and implementation of The Rensselaer Plan, the Institute's strategic blueprint. This institutional transformation has included the hiring of more than 180 new faculty and a corresponding reduction in class size and student/faculty ratios; initiating and/or completing $500 million in new construction and renovation of facilities for research, teaching, and student life; a doubling of research awards; and innovations in curriculum, undergraduate research, and student life initiatives. President Jackson secured a $360 million unrestricted gift to the university (2001), launched the $1 billion Renaissance at Rensselaer Campaign (2004), and expanded the goal of the campaign to $1.4 billion (2006) when the initial goal was met earlier than anticipated.
Prior to her leadership of Rensselaer, President Jackson was Chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission; a theoretical physicist conducting basic research at the former AT&T Bell Laboratories; and a professor of theoretical physics at Rutgers University. In 1995 President Clinton appointed Dr. Jackson to serve as Chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). From 1995-99 she was Chair of the NRC, which is charged with the protection of the public health and safety, the environment, and the common defense and security by licensing, regulating, and safeguarding the use of reactor byproduct material in the U.S. From 1991-95, Dr. Jackson was professor of physics at Rutgers University, where she taught undergraduate and graduate students, conducted research on the electronic and optical properties of two-dimensional systems, and supervised Ph.D. candidates. She concurrently served as a consultant in semiconductor theory to AT&T Bell Laboratories. From 1976-91, Dr. Jackson conducted research in theoretical physics, solid state and quantum physics, and optical physics at AT&T Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey. Her primary research foci were the optical and electronic properties of layered materials including transition metal dichalcogenides, electrons on the surface of liquid helium films, and strained-layer semiconductor superlattices. She is best known for her work on polaronic aspects of electrons in two-dimensional systems.
Dr. Jackson is past President (2004) of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and former Chairman (2005) of the AAAS Board of Directors. In 2019 she was appointed to the global Board of Directors of the Nature Conservancy. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (2001) and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (1991), the American Physical Society (1986) the AAAS (2007), and the Royal Academy of Engineering (2012). She is a member of a number of other professional organizations and holds 44 honorary doctoral degrees. Dr. Jackson is the first African-American woman to receive a doctorate from M.I.T. and was one of the first two African-American women to receive a doctorate in physics in the United States. She is the first African-American to become a Commissioner of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the first woman and the first African-American to serve as the chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the first African-American woman to lead a national research university. She also is the first African-American woman elected to the National Academy of Engineering, and the first to receive the Vannevar Bush award. In 2002, Dr. Jackson was named one of the Top 50 Women in Science by Discover magazine, and recognized in a published book by ESSENCE titled 50 of The Most Inspiring African-Americans. She also was named one of "50 R&D Stars to Watch" by Industry Week Magazine. Dr. Jackson was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1998 for her significant and profound contributions as a distinguished scientist and advocate for education, science, and public policy. She was inducted into the Women in Technology International Foundation Hall of Fame (WITI) in 2000. In 2015 she was awarded the National Medal of Science and in 2020 she was awarded the Joseph A. Burton Forum Award of the American Physical Society. Dr. Jackson is married to Dr. Morris A. Washington, also a physicist. They have one son, Alan, a graduate of Dartmouth College. | |
| 5 | Name: | Dr. Daniel Kleppner | | | Institution: | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | | | Year Elected: | 2007 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 106. Physics | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1932 | | | | | | |
Daniel Kleppner received bachelors degrees in physics from Williams College and Cambridge University, and in 1959 received the Ph.D. from Harvard University where he worked under the direction of Professor Norman F. Ramsey. The following year Drs. Ramsey and Kleppner developed the hydrogen maser, an atomic clock that has been widely employed for scientific studies and technological applications including the global positioning system. In 1966 Dr. Kleppner joined the faculty of physics at MIT and started a research program in high precision measurements and atomic scattering. David E. Pritchard, then a graduate student at Harvard, came with Kleppner to M.I.T. and later joined the faculty and commenced a research career that over the years contributed significantly to MIT's reputation. as an international leader in atomic physics. In the mid 1970s, Dr. Kleppner developed methods for studying a class of atoms known as Rydberg atoms. His early studies on the inhibited spontaneous emission of Rydberg atoms helped to spawn the field of cavity quantum electrodynamics, a subject that has helped to focus new interest on basic measurement processes. He also pioneered the study of Rydberg atoms in strong electric and magnetic fields. This system turned out to provide a fruitful arena for studying the connections between quantum and classical behavior, including the phenomenon known as quantum chaos. In 1977 Dr. Kleppner joined in a collaboration with Professor Thomas J. Greytak to attempt to form a Bose-Einstein condensate of atomic hydrogen. The search took longer than they expected--over twenty years--but in 1998 they succeeded. A few years earlier, students of Dr. Kleppner and Dr. Pritchard had discovered Bose-Einstein condensation in gasses of alkali metal atoms and the field exploded into the most dramatic development in atomic physics since the invention of the laser. Dr. Kleppner is currently the Lester Wolfe Professor of Physics, Emeritus, and Co-Director at the MITA-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Sciences, Paris, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has served as Chairperson of the Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics of the American Physical Society, a member of the APS Council, and on numerous advisory committees. Dr. Kleppner has received the Davisson-Germer Prize and the Lilienfeld Prize of the American Physical Society, the William F. Meggers Award and Frederick Ives Medal of the Optical Society of America, the James Rhyn Killian Faculty Achievement Award of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Wolf Foundtion Prize in Physics, and the 2006 National Medal of Science. He served as co-chair of the American Physical Society Study Group on Boost-Phase Intercept for the National Missile Defense and, with the other members of the Study Group, has been awarded the 2005 APS Leo Szilard Lectureship Award in recognition of this work. In 2014 he was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics from the Franklin Institute. He received the 2017 American Physical Society Medal for Exceptional Achievement in Research. | |
| 6 | Name: | Dr. Mario J. Molina | | | Institution: | University of California, San Diego | | | Year Elected: | 2007 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1943 | | | Death Date: | October 7, 2020 | | | | | | |
Mario Molina Autobiography From Les Prix Nobel. The Nobel Prizes 1995, Editor Tore Frängsmyr, [Nobel Foundation], Stockholm, 1996. Updated in 2005. I was born in Mexico City on March 19, 1943; my parents were Roberto Molina Pasquel and Leonor Henríquez de Molina. My father was a lawyer; he had a private practice, but he also taught at the National University of Mexico (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) ). In his later years, after I had left Mexico, he served as Mexican Ambassador to Ethiopia, Australia and the Philippines. I attended elementary school and high school in Mexico City. I was already fascinated by science before entering high school; I still remember my excitement when I first glanced at paramecia and amoebae through a rather primitive toy microscope. I then converted a bathroom, seldom used by the family, into a laboratory and spent hours playing with chemistry sets. With the help of an aunt, Esther Molina, who was a chemist, I continued with more challenging experiments along the lines of those carried out by freshman chemistry students in college. Keeping with our family tradition of sending their children abroad for a couple of years, and aware of my interest in chemistry, I was sent to a boarding school in Switzerland when I was 11 years old, on the assumption that German was an important language for a prospective chemist to learn. I remember I was thrilled to go to Europe, but then I was disappointed in that my European schoolmates had no more interest in science than my Mexican friends. I had already decided at that time to become a research chemist; earlier, I had seriously contemplated the possibility of pursuing a career in music - I used to play the violin in those days. In 1960, I enrolled in the chemical engineering program at UNAM, as this was then the closest way to become a physical chemist, taking math-oriented courses not available to chemistry majors. After finishing my undergraduate studies in Mexico, I decided to obtain a Ph.D. degree in physical chemistry. This was not an easy task; although my training in chemical engineering was good, it was weak in mathematics, physics, as well as in various areas of basic physical chemistry - subjects such as quantum mechanics were totally alien to me in those days. At first I went to Germany and enrolled at the University of Freiburg. After spending nearly two years doing research in kinetics of polymerizations, I realized that I wanted to have time to study various basic subjects in order to broaden my background and to explore other research areas. Thus, I decided to seek admission to a graduate program in the United States. While pondering my future plans, I spent several months in Paris, where I was able to study mathematics on my own and I also had a wonderful time discussing all sorts of topics, ranging from politics, philosophy, to the arts, etc., with many good friends. Subsequently, I returned to Mexico as an Assistant Professor at the UNAM and I set up the first graduate program in chemical engineering. Finally, in 1968 I left for the University of California at Berkeley to pursue my graduate studies in physical chemistry. During my first year at Berkeley, I took courses in physics and mathematics, in addition to the required courses in physical chemistry. I then joined the research group of Professor George C. Pimentel, with the goal of studying molecular dynamics using chemical lasers, which were discovered in his group a few years earlier. George Pimentel was also a pioneer in the development of matrix isolation techniques, which is widely used in the study of the molecular structure and bonding of transient species. He was an excellent teacher and a wonderful mentor; his warmth, enthusiasm, and encouragement provided me with inspiration to pursue important scientific questions. My graduate work involved the investigation of the distribution of internal energy in the products of chemical and photochemical reactions; chemical lasers were well suited as tools for such studies. At the beginning I had little experience with the experimental techniques required for my research, such as handling vacuum lines, infrared optics, electronic instrumentation, etc. I learned much of this from my colleague and friend Francisco Tablas, who was a postdoctoral fellow at that time. Eventually I became confident enough to generate original results on my own: my earliest achievement consisted of explaining some features in the laser signals - that at first sight appeared to be noise - as "relaxation oscillations," predictable from the fundamental equations of laser emission. My years at Berkeley have been some of the best of my life. I arrived there just after the era of the free-speech movement. I had the opportunity to explore many areas and to engage in exciting scientific research in an intellectually stimulating environment. It was also during this time that I had my first experience dealing with the impact of science and technology on society. I remember that I was dismayed by the fact that high-power chemical lasers were being developed elsewhere as weapons; I wanted to be involved with research that was useful to society, but not for potentially harmful purposes. After completing my Ph.D. degree in 1972, I stayed for another year at Berkeley to continue research on chemical dynamics. Then, in the fall of 1973, I joined the group of Professor F. Sherwood (Sherry) Rowland as a postdoctoral fellow, moving to Irvine, California. Sherry had pioneered research on "hot atom" chemistry, investigating chemical properties of atoms with excess translational energy and produced by radioactive processes. Sherry offered me a list of research options: the one project that intrigued me the most consisted of finding out the environmental fate of certain very inert industrial chemicals - the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) - which had been accumulating in the atmosphere and which at that time were thought to have no significant effects on the environment. This project offered me the opportunity to learn a new field --atmospheric chemistry-- about which I knew very little; trying to solve a challenging problem appeared to be an excellent way to plunge into a new research area. The CFCs are compounds similar to others that Sherry and I had investigated from the point of view of molecular dynamics; we were familiar with their chemical properties, but not with their atmospheric chemistry. Three months after I arrived at Irvine, Sherry and I developed the "CFC-ozone depletion theory." At first the research did not seem to be particularly interesting - I carried out a systematic search for processes that might destroy the CFCs in the lower atmosphere, but nothing appeared to affect them. We knew, however, that they would eventually drift to sufficiently high altitudes to be destroyed by solar radiation. The question was not only what destroys them, but more importantly, what the consequences are. We realized that the chlorine atoms produced by the decomposition of the CFCs would catalytically destroy ozone. We became fully aware of the seriousness of the problem when we compared the industrial amounts of CFCs to the amounts of nitrogen oxides which control ozone levels; the role of these catalysts of natural origin had been established a few years earlier by Paul Crutzen. We were alarmed at the possibility that the continued release of CFCs into the atmosphere would cause a significant depletion of the Earth's stratospheric ozone layer. Sherry and I decided to exchange information with the atmospheric sciences community: we went to Berkeley to confer with Professor Harold Johnston, whose work on the impact of the release of nitrogen oxides from the proposed supersonic transport (SST) aircraft on the stratospheric ozone layer was well known to us. Johnston informed us that months earlier Ralph Cicerone and Richard Stolarski had arrived at similar conclusions concerning the catalytic properties of chlorine atoms in the stratosphere, in connection with the release of hydrogen chloride either from volcanic eruptions or from the ammonium perchlorate fuel planned for the space shuttle. We published our findings in Nature, in a paper which appeared in the June 28, 1974 issue. The years following the publication of our paper were hectic, as we had decided to communicate the CFC - ozone issue not only to other scientists, but also to policy makers and to the news media; we realized this was the only way to insure that society would take some measures to alleviate the problem. To me, Sherry Rowland has always been a wonderful mentor and colleague. I cherish my years of association with him and my friendship with him and his wife, Joan. While he was on sabbatical leave in Vienna during the first six months of 1974, we communicated via mail and telephone. There were many exchanges of mail during this short period of time, which illustrated the frantic pace of our research at that time while we continued to refine our ozone depletion theory. Soon after, Sherry and I published several more articles on the CFC-ozone issue; we presented our results at scientific meetings and we also testified at legislative hearings on potential controls on CFCs emissions. In 1975, I was appointed as a member of the faculty at the University of California, Irvine. Although I continued to collaborate with Sherry, as an assistant professor I had to prove that I was capable of conducting original research on my own. I thus set up an independent program to investigate chemical and spectroscopic properties of compounds of atmospheric importance, focusing on those that are unstable and difficult to handle in the laboratory, such as hypochlorous acid, chlorine nitrite, chlorine nitrate, peroxynitric acid, etc. Although my years at Irvine were very productive, I missed not doing experiments myself because of the many responsibilities associated with a faculty position: teaching courses, supervising graduate students, meetings, etc. After spending seven years at Irvine as Assistant and then Associate Professor, I decided to move to a non-academic position. I joined the Molecular Physics and Chemistry Section at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1982. I had a smaller group - only a few postdoctoral fellows - but I also had the luxury of conducting experiments with my own hands, which I enjoyed very much. Indeed, I spent many hours in the laboratory in those years, conducting measurements and developing techniques for the study of newly emerging problems. Around 1985, after becoming aware of the discovery by Joseph Farman and his co-workers of the seasonal depletion of ozone over Antarctica, my research group at JPL investigated the peculiar chemistry which is promoted by polar stratospheric clouds, some of which consist of ice crystals. We were able to show that chlorine-activation reactions take place very efficiently in the presence of ice under polar stratospheric conditions; thus, we provided a laboratory simulation of the chemical effects of clouds over the Antarctic. Also, in order to understand the rapid catalytic gas phase reactions that were taking place over the South Pole, experiments were carried out in my group with chlorine peroxide, a new compound which had not been reported previously in the literature and which turned out to be important in providing the explanation for the rapid loss of ozone in the polar stratosphere. In 1989 I returned to academic life, moving to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where I have continued with research on global atmospheric chemistry issues. Although I no longer spend much time in the laboratory, I very much enjoy working with my graduate and postdoctoral students, who provide me with invaluable intellectual stimulus. I have also benefited from teaching; as I try to explain my views to students with critical and open minds, I find myself continually being challenged to go back and rethink ideas. I now see teaching and research as complementary, mutually reinforcing activities. When I first chose the project to investigate the fate of chlorofluorocarbons in the atmosphere, it was simply out of scientific curiosity. I did not consider at that time the environmental consequences of what Sherry and I had set out to study. I am heartened and humbled that I was able to do something that not only contributed to our understanding of atmospheric chemistry, but also had a profound impact on the global environment. One of the very rewarding aspects of my work has been the interaction with a superb group of colleagues and friends in the atmospheric sciences community. I truly value these friendships, many of which go back 20 years or more, and which I expect to continue for many more years to come. I feel that this Nobel Prize represents recognition for the excellent work that has been done by my colleagues and friends in the atmospheric chemistry community on the stratospheric ozone depletion issue.
Mario Molina was awarded the 2013 Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. | |
| 7 | Name: | Dr. Rashid Alievich Sunyaev | | | Institution: | Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Germany; Russian Space Research Institute | | | Year Elected: | 2007 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 101. Astronomy | | | Residency: | International | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1943 | | | | | | |
Rashid Alievich Sunyaev is director of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics and chief scientist of the Russian Academy of Sciences's Space Research Institute. Hailing from the former Asian Soviet Republic of Uzbekistan, he became one of the most important and prolific members of the Moscow group that pioneered relativistic astrophysics. Together with its leader Yakov Zel'dovich, he studied the relic radiation from the Big Bang, formulating the so-called Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect, which has led to early tests of cosmological models that are still valid and which have provided impetus to one of the most active areas of observational cosmology. Through continuing collaborations around the globe, Sunyaev has served as a particularly effective scientific bridge between East and West. In 2010, he was appointed to a three year term as the Maureen and John Hendricks Visiting Professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study. In addition to the 2008 Crafoord prize, he has received a range of awards including the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1995), the Gruber Cosmology Prize (2003), the Heineman Prize in Astrophysics (2003), the King Faisal International Prize for Science (2009), the Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences (2011), and the Franklin Medal from the Franklin Institute (2012). He is a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society of London, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, the German Academy of Natural Sciences Leopoldina, and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He was elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society in 2007. | |
| 8 | Name: | Dr. Karen K. Uhlenbeck | | | Institution: | University of Texas, Austin | | | Year Elected: | 2007 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 104. Mathematics | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Living
| | | Birth Date: | 1942 | | | | | | |
Many objects in mathematics and physics are described by nonlinear partial differential equations. The solutions to these equations often undergo a qualitative change, sometimes called ""bubbling off"" or ""blowing up"". Before Karen Uhlenbeck, no one knew how to treat this phenomenon rigorously. Then, in a series of papers, some of which were joint with Sacks, Uhlenbeck discovered how to predict these qualitative changes from the partial differential equation. In the intervening 25 years, Uhlenbeck's work has had a very large impact in mathematics and mathematical physics. The second woman ever (after Emmy Noether in 1932) to give a plenary address at the International Congress of Mathematicians, Uhlenbeck has done many things to further the education of women in mathematics, including the creation of the Program for Women and Mathematics run by the Institute for Advanced Study and Princeton University. In 2019 she became the first woman awarded the Abel Prize for Mathematics by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Karen Uhlenbeck has been Professor and Sid W. Richardson Foundation Regents Chair in Mathematics at the University of Texas, Austin, where she has taught since 1987. Since 2014 she has been Visitor at the Institute for Advanced Studies. She was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2007. | |
| 9 | Name: | Dr. William A. Wulf | | | Institution: | University of Virginia | | | Year Elected: | 2007 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 107 | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1939 | | | Death Date: | March 10, 2023 | | | | | | |
William Wulf was president of the National Academy of Engineering for the past eleven years. He recently returned to the University of Virginia - where he earned his Ph.D. in 1968 - as University Professor and AT&T Professor of Engineering. Previously Wulf spent thirteen years on the faculty of Carnegie Mellon University and six years as chairman and chief executive officer of Tartan Laboratories, Inc. A former assistant director of the National Science Foundation, he has served on the University of Virginia faculty since 1988. For the 2008-09 academic year he is also serving as a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar. Through his technical innovations, publications, and national science policy leadership, William Wulf has had a profound impact on the science and practice of computing and engineering. His technical work revolved around the hardware/software interface that spans programming systems and computer architectures. His specific technical impacts include Bliss, a systems implementation language adopted by the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC); architecture (with others) of the DEC PDP-11, a highly successful minicomputer; a new approach to computer security; and the development of a technology for constructing high quality optimizing compilers. In addition to his many technical books and papers, he has initiated national dialogues on topics such as the state of higher education, "Engineering Ethics and Society," and "Some Thoughts on Engineering as a Humanistic Discipline." As head of the National Academy of Engineering, he has advanced and articulated the role of engineering in serving society and improving people's lives. Wulf's many honors include the University of Pennsylvania's Distinguished Service Medal; the Kenneth Andrew Roe Award; and the Ralph Coats Roe Award of the ASME. He became a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1993 and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 1995. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2007. | |
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