This medal is presented to individuals, without age limitation, for contributions to the advancement of science, engineering or human welfare through the application of acoustic principles or through research accomplishments in acoustics. The Silver Medal in Physical Acoustics has been awarded to only eight other people during the award's 25-year history.
The 7,000 member Acoustical Society of America is the premier international scientific society in acoustics dedicated to increasing knowledge of acoustics and its practical applications.
Last year, Swift, of Los Alamos' Condensed Matter and Thermal Physics Group, along with Chris Espinoza and Scott Backhaus of the same group, received an R & D 100 award from R & D magazine for their Acoustic Stirling Heat Engine.
The Acoustic Stirling Heat Engine -- http://www.lanl.gov/mst/engine/index.html -- consists of a long, baseball-bat-shaped resonator with an oval "handle" on one end. Filled with compressed helium and constructed of inexpensive steel pipe, the device creates acoustic energy in the form of sound waves by applying heat to the compressed helium contained within the system through a heat exchanger located on the "handle." The intense acoustic energy can be used directly in acoustically powered refrigerators or to generate electricity. Because the acoustic Stirling heat engine contains no moving parts and is constructed of common materials, it requires little or no maintenance and can be manufactured inexpensively.
Swift is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. A 1993 Fellows Prize winner at the Laboratory, Swift was elected for his experiments leading to a better understanding of the superfluid state and for the development of thermoacoustic engines. He also won a Los Alamos Distinguished Performance Award in 1997; he is a Laboratory Fellow and a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America. He has been at Los Alamos since 1981, when he arrived as a post-doctoral fellow.
Swift will receive the Silver Medal Dec. 6 at the Acoustical Society of America meeting in Newport Beach, Calif.
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