Michael Stewart Witherell
Michael Stewart Witherell | |
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Born |
22 September 1949 Toledo, Ohio, U.S. |
Nationality | American |
Fields | Physics (high-energy particle physics) |
Institutions | Fermilab |
Alma mater | University of Michigan |
Michael Stewart Witherell (born 22 September 1949 in Toledo, Ohio) is a American experimental particle physicist.[1]
Witherell received in 1968 his bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan and in 1969 his master's degree and in 1973 his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. He was in 1973–1975 an instructor and n 1975–1981 an assistant professor at Princeton University. At the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) he was in 1981–1983 an assistant professor, in 1983–1986 an associate professor, and from 1986 a full professor. From 1999 to 2005 he was the director of the Fermilab, whose Physics Advisory Committee he joined in 1985. In 2005 he became the vice chancellor for research at UCSB.[1] His research has been mostly conducted at Fermilab, but also at SLAC, Brookhaven National Laboratory and at the particle physics laboratory at Cornell University.
In 1990 Witherell received the Panofsky Prize for his work on charm quarks at Fermilab. He developed at Fermilab new instrumentation (silicon vertex detectors, high-speed data acquisition systems). In the 1990s he participated in the BaBar experiment at SLAC.
He was a member from 1991 to 1993 of the Physics Advisory Committee of the Superconducting Super Collider and from 1992 to 1996 of the Scientific Policy Committee of SLAC (and from 1994 to 1996 the Chair of that committee). From 1997 to 1999 he was on the High Energy Physics Advisory Panel of the United States Department of Energy.[1]
His wife Beth Witherell is a literary historian and director of The Writings of Henry D. Thoreau project at UCSB.[2]
Awards and honors
- 1986: elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society
- 1988: Guggenheim Fellow for the academic year 1988–1989[3]
- 1990: awarded the Panofsky Prize
- 1998: elected a Member of the National Academy of Sciences
- 2004: Gold Award of the US Secretary of Energy
References
- 1 2 3 Michael S. Wetherall | Array of Contemporary Physicists
- ↑ Nelson, Marcia Z. (4 July 1999). "Power Couple: Michael, Beth Witherell Bring Professional Wattage To Their New Jobs". Chicago Tribune.
- ↑ John Simon Guggenheim Foundation | Michael S. Witherell
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Michael Witherell. |
- Witherell's web page at the University of California, Santa Barbara
- Fermi News, March 1999, appointment of Witherell as Director of Fermilab
- Science Blog — Distinguished Physicist Michael Witherell Appointed Director of Fermilab
- with Helen Quinn: The asymmetry between matter and antimatter. Scientific American, October 1998