Four Los Alamos physicists honored by American Physical Society

Contact: Jim Danneskiold, jdanneskiold@lanl.gov, (505) 667-1640 (05-009)

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LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Feb. 15, 2005 -- The American Physical Society has honored four Los Alamos National Laboratory physicists for their outstanding contributions to physics, naming them fellows of the society.

Steve Elliot, David Montgomery, David Moore and John Singleton were among 201 scientists nationwide elected as American Physical Society fellows in 2004.

"This achievement is something of which the Laboratory can be very proud," said Tom Bowles, chief science officer, in congratulating the quartet. "I'm particularly pleased that their peers have chosen to recognize Steve, David, David and John in this manner. The range of scientific contributions made by these four scientists admirably reflects the importance that the Laboratory associates with having a broad science basis that supports the nation's needs."

No more than one in 200 APS members are recognized as fellows because they have made advances in knowledge through original research and publication or made significant innovative contributions in the application of physics to science and technology. They also may have made significant contributions to the teaching of physics or they may serve and participate in APS activities.

The new APS fellows will receive certificates at the annual meeting of the division that sponsored their nominations. Those citations will specify the achievements for which they were nominated.

The four Los Alamos physicists, the groups in which they work at the Laboratory, research for which they were elected APS fellows are as follows:

STEVE ELLIOTT, NEUTRON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (P-23)

APS' nuclear physics unit nominated Elliott "for significant contributions in neutrino physics, in particular for solar neutrino experiments that have demonstrated that neutrinos have nonzero mass and for his research on double beta decay."

Research into neutrinos, which are nearly undetectable and yet permeate every nook and cranny of the universe, is key to understanding astrophysics and of the fundamental nature of all matter. Elliott first came to the Laboratory as a postdoctoral fellow working on the Soviet-American Gallium Experiment. After a stint teaching at the University of Washington in Seattle, he returned to the Laboratory as a staff member in summer 2002. He is an active member of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory experimental team. Elliott holds doctoral and master's degrees in physics from the University of California, Irvine.

DAVID MONTGOMERY, PLASMA PHYSICS (P-24)

Nominated by the plasma physics unit of APS, Montgomery was recognized "for outstanding contributions to the understanding of stimulated scattering processes in laser produced plasmas through innovative new experimental methods and for the first observation of electron acoustic waves in laser-plasmas."

Montgomery came to the Laboratory's Physics Division in 1996, following 12 years in the Inertial Confinement Fusion Program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. His research career has focused primarily on the control of plasma instabilities for laser-driven thermonuclear fusion experiments. He holds a bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics from Northeastern State University, Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

DAVID S. MOORE, MATERIALS DYNAMICS (DX-2)

David S. Moore was nominated by the APS' Shock Compression Topical Group "for breakthroughs in the use of nonlinear optical and ultrafast spectroscopies to understand the behavior of molecules under shock compression."

Moore came to the Laboratory in 1980 as a director's postdoctoral fellow and has worked in several divisions, although remaining focused throughout his research career on spectroscopy, shock physics and shock chemistry, with the goal of improving the safety of explosives. He holds a doctorate in physical chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

JOHN SINGLETON, NATIONAL HIGH MAGNETIC FIELD LABORATORY (MST-NHMFL)

In his nomination, the Condensed Matter Unit at APS recognized Singleton "for elucidation of many-body and reduced-dimensionality effects in molecular organic crystals and semiconductor systems, featuring creative use of optical and magnetic field techniques and clear technical exposition."

Singleton first came to the Laboratory in 2000. His research seeks for new types of materials for future electronic devices, as well as novel materials and processes that could improve radios or other signal transmitting equipment. Singleton holds doctoral and master's degrees in physics from Oxford University in the United Kingdom.

Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by the University of California for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) of the U.S. Department of Energy and works in partnership with NNSA's Sandia and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories to support NNSA in its mission.

Los Alamos develops and applies science and technology to ensure the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear deterrent; reduce the threat of weapons of mass destruction, proliferation and terrorism; and solve national problems in defense, energy, environment and infrastructure.

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