Frauenfelder is the only Foreign Member being elected to the Academy at this time and takes this appointment to fill a vacancy left in the 18-member Chemistry class after the 1998 death of Sir Alan Walsh, a pioneer in the field of atomic absorption. This is a lifetime appointment.
"I am delighted," said Frauenfelder, "and proud to have been elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. My first contact with Swedish scientists occurred around 1951, when I was working in nuclear physics. Kai Siegbahn asked me then to write a review on perturbed angular correlation, an effect that I had just discovered. My contacts with Swedish scientists have continued and I gained a new circle of friends when I moved into biological physics. The honor will challenge me to increase my interaction and collaboration with my Swedish friends."
Department of Energy Secretary Bill Richardson commented on Frauenfelder's appointment, "The DOE has a long tradition of attracting world-class people like Dr. Frauenfelder to its institutions and he is a prime example of the many terrific scientists we have working on the complex problems society now faces."
John Browne, Los Alamos director, congratulated Frauenfelder on his appointment to the Royal Swedish Academy. "To me, Hans is representative of the extraordinary people we have working here. Not only are these individuals dedicated to their work at the Laboratory, but they actively involve themselves in the scientific societies, councils and academies that serve their professions. Everyone at Los Alamos is proud to have Hans here and I congratulate him on being elected to this very prestigious appointment."
Frauenfelder was born in Switzerland and studied at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich under such famous scientists as Paul Scherrer, Gregor Wentzel, and Wolfgang Pauli. He received his Ph.D. in 1950 in surface physics and moved to the University of Illinois in 1952 where he stayed until retiring in 1992, after which he came to Los Alamos National Laboratory.
During his nearly 50 years of research in physics, Frauenfelder has studied nuclear energy levels, explored the surface effects with radioactivity, discovered perturbed angular correlation, helped elucidate parity violation in the weak interactions and investigated the physics of proteins. His current interest is in biomolecular physics. He recently presented a well-received paper at the 1999 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Anaheim discussing the bridge between biology and physics by using proteins and other biomolecules as models for studying complex physical systems.
In addition to his teaching and research, Frauenfelder has served in various leadership positions with the American Institute of Physics, the Board of Physics and Astronomy of the National Research Council, the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics commission on Biological Physics, and the Physics Section of the National Academy of Sciences.
Frauenfelder's life work has been recognized by his election to the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Academy Leopoldina, and the American Philosophical Society. He holds honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, the Technical University of Munich, and the University of Stockholm.
Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a team composed of Bechtel National, the University of California, The Babcock & Wilcox Company, and Washington Group International for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.
Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.