Ward Plummer Explained

E. Ward Plummer
Birth Date:30 October 1940
Birth Place:Astoria, Oregon, US
Death Place:Baton Rouge, Louisiana, US
Work Institution:University of Pennsylvania
Louisiana State University
University of Tennessee
Alma Mater:Lewis & Clark College (B.A.)
Cornell University (Ph.D.)
Thesis Title:Binding of the 5d-transition elements on single crystal tungsten surfaces.
Thesis Year:1968
Thesis Url:https://cornell.on.worldcat.org/oclc/63229621
Doctoral Advisor:Thor Rhodin
Known For:Photoemission

Earl Ward Plummer (October 30, 1940 – July 23, 2020) was an American physicist. His main contributions were in surface physics of metals. Plummer was a professor of physics at Louisiana State University, University of Pennsylvania and the University of Tennessee - Knoxville.[1] [2] [3]

Biography

Plummer received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lewis & Clark College in 1962 and completed his Ph.D. degree in physics at Cornell University in 1967, working with Prof. Thor Rhodin.[1] [4] His thesis work was on atomic binding of 5-d transition-metal atoms using Field ion microscope (FIM).

Plummer accepted a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship at the National Bureau of Standards (now called The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)) in the fall of 1967 working with Russ Young, and he stayed as a staff scientist until the fall of 1973.[1] His work included field electron emission and photoemission studies of surfaces. NIST selected his 1969 paper "Resonance Tunneling of Field-Emitted Electrons Through Adsorbates on Metal Surfaces", co-authored with J. W. Gadzuk and R. D. Young, for inclusion in the agency's centennial collection of its top 100 articles of the 20th century. This paper reported the first-ever single electron spectroscopy work in which electronic energy levels of atoms at the surface of a metal were observed.

In 1973, Plummer accepted a position in the Physics Department at the University of Pennsylvania[1] [5] where his work mainly focused on angle-resolved photoemission, momentum-resolved inelastic electron scattering and nonlinear optical response from surfaces. In 1988, he was appointed the William Smith Professor of Physics and in 1990 became the director of the NSF-funded Materials Research Laboratory (Laboratory for Research on Structure of Matter).[1]

In January 1993, Plummer moved to a joint position at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.[1] His research interests shifted to the study on an atomic scale of phase transitions in reduced dimensionality and surfaces of highly correlated electron systems such as transition-metal oxides. His primary research tool was variable-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy. In 2000, Plummer became the director of the Tennessee Advanced Materials Laboratory, a state-funded Center of Excellence.[1]

Plummer served on many national and international committees both to review existing scientific programs and to identify future directions for science and technology. Recent examples include: Chair of DOE-sponsored Workshop on "Soft X-Ray Science in the Next Millennium: The Future of Photon-In/Photon-Out Experiments, Pikeville, Tennessee, March 15–18, 2000, and Chair of DOE-BESAC (Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee) subpanel for the evaluation of the Intense Pulsed Neutron Source (IPNS) at Argonne National Laboratory and the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) Manuel Lujan Jr. Neutron Scattering Center.[1] He also was a member of the DOE-Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee, 2001 - 2004.[1]

He was the author of more than 400 refereed papers and included in the list of the 1,000 Most Cited Physicists, a list compiled by the Institute for Scientific Information which is based on papers published between 1981 and 1997. But what Plummer was proudest of in his long and distinguished career was the mentoring of promising young scientists. This included advising or co-advising Ph.D. theses of 40 graduate students, hosting ~25 postdoctoral fellows, and assisting many young scientists in advancing their careers. He died in Baton Rouge on July 23, 2020.[6]

Awards and honors

Academic genealogy

Ward Plummer was a student of Thor Rhodin...[4]

Selected publications

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Biography of E. Ward Plummer. 2020-07-24. American Institute of Physics. en.
  2. Web site: LSU Physics and Astronomy listing of E. Ward Plummer. 2020-07-24. LSU Department of Physics and Astronomy. en.
  3. Web site: LSU Physics and Astronomy home page of E. Ward Plummer. 2020-07-24. LSU Department of Physics and Astronomy. en.
  4. Web site: Academic Tree of E. Ward Plummer. 2020-07-24. Academic Tree. en.
  5. Web site: Biography of Wilson Ho. 2020-07-24. AVS Science and Technology of Materials, Interfaces, and Processing. en.
  6. Web site: LSU Mourns the Passing of Internationally Renowned Professor E. Ward Plummer. LSU Department of Physics and Astronomy. 2020-07-24.
  7. Web site: Davisson-Germer Prize in Atomic or Surface Physics. 2020-07-24. American Physical Society. en.
  8. Web site: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation - E. Ward Plummer. 2020-07-24. John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. en.
  9. Medard W. Welch Award - E. Ward Plummer. 10.1063/1.1420512. en. free.
  10. Web site: E. Ward Plummer - Member of National Academy of Sciences. 2020-07-24. Member of National Academy of Sciences. en.
  11. Web site: American Academy of Arts and Sciences - E. Ward Plummer . 2020-07-24. American Academy of Arts and Sciences. en.
  12. Web site: Awardees of the 2017 China International Science and Technology Cooperation Award. 2020-07-24. Awardees of the 2017 China International Science and Technology Cooperation Award. en.
  13. Web site: China International Science and Technology Cooperation Award. 2020-07-24. China International Science and Technology Cooperation Award. en.
  14. Web site: E. Ward Plummer - LSU Boyd Professor. 2020-07-24. LSU Board of Supervisors. en.
  15. Web site: LSU Media - E. Ward Plummer - LSU Boyd Professor. 2020-07-24. LSU Media Center. en.

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