APS Member History

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1	Name:	Dr. Gordon Alan Baym
	Institution:	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign & Niels Bohr Institute
	Year Elected:	2000
	Class:	1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences
	Subdivision:	106. Physics
	Residency:	Resident
	Living? :	Living
	Birth Date:	1935

	Gordon Baym received a Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University in 1960. He was an NSF postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Theoretical Physics in Copenhagen (1960-62), and then a lecturer and assistant research physicist at the University of California, Berkeley (1962-63). In 1963, he moved to the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign where he has served as Center for Advanced Study Professor of Physics and George and Ann Fisher Distinguished Professor of Engineering. He is currently Professor Emeritus and Research Professor at University of Illinois, as well as Adjunct Professor at the Niels Bohr Institute of the University of Copenhagen. He was an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research fellow (1965-67) and an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation fellow (1983-88). A theoretical physicist of unusual depth and breadth, he pioneered the application of field-theoretic methods to quantum condensed matter systems. He is a leading theorist of quantum solids and liquids, nuclei, astronomical objects, and ultracold trapped atomic systems. His papers on neutron stars described the unusual matter they contain, their structure, and formation in supernova explosions. He played a key intellectual role in building the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven. Active in the history of science, he chaired the American Physical Society Forum on the History of Physics (1995-97). Dr. Baym is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. Among his awards are three from the American Physical Society: the Hans A. Bethe Prize in 2002, the Lars Onsager Prize in 2008, and the Medal for Exceptional Achievement in Research in 2021. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2000.

2	Name:	Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone
	Institution:	National Academy of Sciences; University of California, Irvine
	Year Elected:	2000
	Class:	1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences
	Subdivision:	105. Physical Earth Sciences
	Residency:	Resident
	Living? :	Deceased
	Birth Date:	1943
	Death Date:	November 5, 2016

	Ralph Cicerone received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering, with a minor in physics, from the University of Illinois in 1970. He joined the faculty of the University of Michigan in 1972 as a research scientist and assistant professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering. In 1978 he moved to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, where he was a research chemist. He served as a senior scientist and Director of the Atmospheric Chemistry Division at the National Center for Atmospheric Research from 1980-89. He then became the Daniel G. Aldrich Professor of Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine, where he chaired the department of Earth System Science from 1989-94. Dr. Cicerone was appointed Chancellor of the University of California, Irvine in 1998. In 2005 he became President of the National Academy of Sciences and was reelected in 2011. He served until 2016. Ralph Cicerone's research has greatly increased our understanding of the biogeochemical cycling of trace gases through the atmosphere, especially concerning ozone depletion and increased greenhouse gases such as methane. He was one of the first to point out the potential for global ozone depletion by stratospheric chlorine. With Ramanathan and with Dickinson, he wrote early papers on the radiative forcing of global climate change due to trace gases and he lectured widely on human causes of climate change and energy usage. In addition to the cumulative body of research, he was a leader in science policy issues. Dr. Cicerone received the United Nations Environment Program Ozone Award in 1997, the Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science from the Franklin Institute in 1998, and the American Geophysical Union's 2002 Roger Revelle Medal in recognition of outstanding research contributions to the understanding of the Earth's atmospheric processes, and the 2004 Einstein Prize for Science from the World Cultural Council. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the Accademia dei Lincei and the Russian Academy of Sciences, he also served as president of the American Geophysical Union. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2000. Ralph Cicerone died November 5, 2016, at the age of 73.

3	Name:	Dr. Mary K. Gaillard
	Institution:	University of California, Berkeley
	Year Elected:	2000
	Class:	1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences
	Subdivision:	106. Physics
	Residency:	Resident
	Living? :	Living
	Birth Date:	1939

	Mary Gaillard is a theoretical physicist who has specialized in the physics of elementary particles. Since 1964 she has been a prolific contributor (well over 100 papers) to the understanding of the weak, the electroweak, and the strong interactions. Many of her early papers show how to use the weak decay interactions to examine the symmetries and dynamics of the strong. Several of her papers from the 1970s have turned out to be highly prescient and have become standard references in the field. Most recently she has been attempting to extract real physics from superstrings. In addition to these highly technical contributions, Dr. Gaillard has contributed greatly to the field in other ways. She has served on innumerable advisory and program committees for many different laboratories and national organizations. She was also chair of a committee of the American Physical Society to examine the status of women in physics and served on another which examined academic positions for women in physics and astronomy. A member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences and the American Physical Society, Dr. Gaillard has served as a professor of physics at the University of California, Berkelely since 1981. In 2015 she published her autobiography, A Singularly Unfeminine Profession: One Woman's Journey in Physics.

4	Name:	Dr. Harry B. Gray
	Institution:	California Institute of Technology
	Year Elected:	2000
	Class:	1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences
	Subdivision:	102. Chemistry and Chemical Biochemistry
	Residency:	Resident
	Living? :	Living
	Birth Date:	1935

	Harry Gray's research career has touched nearly every aspect of inorganic chemistry. His earliest work dealt with mechanisms of ligand substitution reactions in coordination complexes, and the principles that he and his coworkers elucidated are now found in every standard inorganic textbook. Dr. Gray's research then moved from mechanism to electronic structure, where he was a pioneer in the study of spectroscopy and bonding in transition metal complexes. More recently, Dr. Gray has brought his profound understanding of inorganic chemistry to the elucidation of the behavior of metal centers in proteins. Arnold O. Beckman Professor of Chemistry since 1981, Dr. Gray was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1986, the Wolf Prize in 2004, the Othmer Gold Medal of the Chemical Heritage Foundation in 2013, the Feynman Teaching Prize in 2018, and the Cotton Medal in 2018 for his achievements.

5	Name:	Dr. Walter L. Robb
	Institution:	Vantage Management, Inc. & General Electric
	Year Elected:	2000
	Class:	1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences
	Subdivision:	103. Engineering
	Residency:	Resident
	Living? :	Deceased
	Birth Date:	1928
	Death Date:	March 23, 2020

	Walter Robb received a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois and went on to work for GE. Robb retired from General Electric as a Senior Vice President-Corporation Research and Development and became President of Vantage Management, Inc. Robb was the recipient of many awards and honors, including the National Medal of Technology in 1993 for his leadership in developing the leading CT and MRI scanners. In addition, he was the author of numerous technical publications and the holder of twelve patents. He served on the board of many private companies and serves as a Director of Celgene, and Mechanical Technology. Walter Robb died March 23, 2020 in Schenectady, New York at the age of 91.

6	Name:	Dr. Maarten Schmidt
	Institution:	California Institute of Technology
	Year Elected:	2000
	Class:	1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences
	Subdivision:	101. Astronomy
	Residency:	Resident
	Living? :	Deceased
	Birth Date:	1929
	Death Date:	September 17, 2022

	Maarten Schmidt's discovery of the true distance of quasi-stellar objects expanded the dimensions of the known universe at the time (1963) by many orders of magnitude. His early work in galactic structure and in developing mass models for the Galaxy is also of great import. Dr. Schmidt and his collaborators have carried out several innovative surveys for quasars, improving in sensitivity and probing further in space as technological improvements permitted. He developed an optimal statistical technique (the V/V max test) for estimating the mean distance of a complete brightness limited sample, which has found widespread application in many fields. In 2008 he was awarded the first Kavli Prize in astrophysics for this work. In addition to holding many administrative positions within the California Institute of Technology, Dr. Schmidt served as president of the American Astronomical Society from 1984-86 and as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Association of Universities Research in Astronomy from 1992-95. He has been Francis L. Moseley Professor of Astronomy Emeritus at Cal Tech since 1996.

7	Name:	Dr. J. Anthony Tyson
	Institution:	University of California, Davis
	Year Elected:	2000
	Class:	1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences
	Subdivision:	101. Astronomy
	Residency:	Resident
	Living? :	Living
	Birth Date:	1940

	J. Anthony Tyson received a Ph.D. in physics at the University of Wisconsin in 1967. He joined the technical staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories in 1969 and was Distinguished Member of Technical Staff (now Lucent Technologies) from 1985-2004. Since 2004 he has been Distinguished Professor in the Department of Physics at University of California, Davis. He is currently director of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope project. Dr. Tyson's research emphasis has been in experimental gravitation and cosmology. Applying advanced imaging with CCDs, he discovered "faint blue galaxies." Using this backdrop of billions of galaxies, he developed a technique for imaging foreground dark matter concentrations via their gravitational lensing of the distant galaxies. Gravitational lensing, it is believed, will go a long way toward solving the question of how much dark matter there is in the universe and where it is. Eventually, gravitational lensing will help to understand how structure formed in the universe. Dr. Tyson is the recipient of the Gravity Research Foundation Essay Award (1970), IR100 Award, Industrial Research (1985), and the Aaronson Memorial Prize (1996). He is a member of American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2000.

8	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.