| | 1 | 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? : |
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| | | 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. | |
| 2 | Name: | Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson | | | Institution: | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | | | Year Elected: | 2007 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 106. Physics | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
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| | | 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. | |
| 3 | Name: | Dr. Daniel Kleppner | | | Institution: | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | | | Year Elected: | 2007 | | | Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | | | Subdivision: | 106. Physics | | | Residency: | Resident | | | Living? : |
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| | | 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. | |
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