For release: Sept. 24 , 2007

Contacts: 
Karl Gschneidner, Jr., Materials and Engineering Physics,
(515) 294-7931
Kerry Gibson, Public Affairs, 515-294-1405

AMES LABORATORY’S GSCHNEIDNER RECEIVES
TOP MATERIALS AWARD

Acta Materialia Gold Medal just the latest for decorated metallurgist

AMES, Iowa – Karl A. Gschneidner, Jr., senior metallurgist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory, has been selected for the prestigious Acta Materialia Gold Medal, considered by many scientists and engineers to be the top award worldwide in the field of materials research. The honor is just the latest of many for Gschneidner, who earlier this year was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

The Acta Materialia Gold Medalis awarded annually by the Board of Governors of ActaMaterialia, Inc. with partial financial support from Elsevier, Ltd. Nominees are solicited each year from the Cooperating Societies and Sponsoring Societies of Acta Materialia, Inc., based on demonstrated ability and leadership in materials research. The candidates are placed on a ballot for a panel of international judges who select the winner. The award consists of the gold medal, an inscribed certificate, and a check from the Board of Governors. Gschneidner will receive the award during the 2008 annual meeting of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society in New Orleans, La. on March 11, 2008. The conference will feature a  symposium in Gschneidner’s honor, with the gold medalist delivering the keynote address. “It’s quite an honor,” Gschneidner said. “While I knew I’d been nominated, it was still a surprise to find out I’d been selected, there are so many other deserving scientists out there.”

He added he received a call “unofficially” notifying him of the award last February as he and his wife were waiting for a plane in Chicago. Ironically, it was during this same vacation trip when he was notified of his election to the National Academy just four days earlier.

“Karl's contributions to materials research are well known in the scientific community worldwide,” said Ames Laboratory Interim Director Alan Goldman. “This award is further recognition of his lifetime of achievement in this area.”

Throughout his illustrious career at Ames Laboratory and as an Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Materials Science and Engineering at Iowa State University, Gschneidner has been at the forefront in research of rare earth materials. He was the founding director of the Rare-earth Information Center at ISU’s Institute for Physical Research and Technology from 1966 to 1996, and director of the Metallurgy and Ceramics Program at the Ames Laboratory from 1974 to 1979.

Gschneidner’s research activity has been primarily concerned with the physical metallurgy of rare-earth metals and alloys, theory of alloy phase formation, electronic transformations of cerium, spin fluctuations in exchange enhanced solids, heavy fermions, superconductivity, magnetic refrigeration, and passive and active magnetic regenerator materials. He is author, or coauthor of 394 journal articles, 131 chapters in books, 28 reports and bulletins, 204 phase diagram evaluations, and has written or edited 42 books about these subjects. He holds 14 patents (plus six pending) for metallurgical or ceramic processes, and for magnetic refrigeration and cryocooler regenerator materials.

He has served as an invited speaker at numerous national and international conferences and 164 seminars on rare-earth materials, on the theory of alloy formation and on magnetic refrigeration. He has served on several government advisory committees and panels, and is a member of several editorial boards of scientific journals. He is the senior editor of a series of 36 volumes entitled the Handbook on the Physics and Chemistry of Rare Earths.
 
In addition to his election to the National Academy of Engineering for “contributions to the science and technology of rare-earth materials,” he has received several other nationally and internationally recognized awards and distinctions. These include the William Hume-Rothery Award of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (1978, for his contributions to the science of alloys); the Burlington Northern Award (for Excellence in Research) from Iowa State University (1989), the Frank H. Spedding Award from Rare Earth Research Conferences, Inc. (1991, for distinguished contributions in the field of rare earth science) and the Iowa State University David R. Boylan Eminent Faculty Award in Research (1997).

Ames Laboratory, celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2007, is operated for the Department of Energy by Iowa State University. The Lab conducts research into various areas of national concern, including energy resources, high-speed computer design, environmental cleanup and restoration, and the synthesis and study of new materials.

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