Mary Hockaday (physicist) explained

Mary Hockaday
Birth Name:Mary Yvonne Pottenger Hockaday
Workplaces:Los Alamos National Laboratory
Alma Mater:University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
New Mexico State University
Thesis Title:An experimental measurement of metal multilayer X-ray reflectivity degradation due to intense X-ray flux
Thesis Url:https://worldcat.org/en/title/82261185
Thesis Year:1987

Mary Yvonne Pottenger Hockaday (born 1957) is an American physicist who works at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. She was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2014 and the American Physical Society in 2022.

Early life and education

Hockaday was an undergraduate student in physics at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She moved to New Mexico State University for her doctoral research, where she studied the degradation of X-Ray reflectivity from metals due to an intense X-Ray flux.[1] [2]

Research and career

In 1986, Hockaday joined Los Alamos National Laboratory. She was appointed a staff member in the Fast Transient Plasma group and developed X-ray diagnostics for the Nevada Test Site.[3] As nuclear testing slowed down, she switched her focus to high-powered lasers. She was one of the first researchers to deploy proton radiography to image the inside of a nuclear explosion, which she achieved using the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE).[4] [5] Hockaday was involved with the development of the Dual-Axis Radiographic Hydrotest Facility (DAHRT).[6]

Hockaday was a long-standing member of the Weapons Physics Directorate. She was responsible for developing the inertial confinement fusion campaign. In 2013, Hockaday was named associate director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory.[7] She was responsible for MaRIE (Making, Measuring, and Modeling Extremes), a facility that worked to create a free electron laser.[8] [9]

In 2018, Hockaday was made lead of the Nuclear Engineering and Nonproliferation Division. She develops nuclear safeguards and instrumentation to monitor nuclear materials.[10]

Awards and honors

Notes and References

  1. PhD. Mary Yvonne Pottenger . Hockaday. 1987 . An experimental measurement of metal multilayer X-ray reflectivity degradation due to intense X-ray flux . 2022-12-12. 82261185 . worldcat.org . en. .
  2. Web site: LANL News: Los Alamos Physicist Hockaday Honored for National Security Contributions . 2022-12-12 . govdelivery.com. Los Alamos National Laboratory . en.
  3. Web site: NERS Colloquia Series: Special Wednesday Seminar Happening @ Michigan . 2022-12-12 . events.umich.edu . en.
  4. Web site: Shandor . John . 1999-10-29 . Los Alamos Shoots First Ever "Motion Picture" of Implosion . 2022-12-12 . HPCwire . en-US.
  5. Anderson . W. . Armijo . E. . Barthell . B. . Bartos . J. . Bush . H. . Foreman . L. . Garcia . F. . Gobby . P. . Gomez . V. . Gurule . V. . Hatch . D. . Henneke . B. . Manzanares . R. . Moore . J. . Reeves . G. . November 1994 . Loads for Pulsed Power Cylindrical Implosion Experiments . Fusion Technology . en . 26 . 3P2 . 486–492 . 10.13182/FST94-A40203 . 1994FuTec..26..486A . 0748-1896.
  6. Web site: U.S. completes DAHRT nuke bomb monitor . 2022-12-12 . upi.com . en.
  7. Web site: LANL: Mary Hockaday, Cheryl Cabbil Named Associate Directors . 2022-12-12 . ladailypost.com.
  8. Web site: Energy . Los Alamos National Laboratory, Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, for the U. S. Department of . In the News . 2022-12-12 . lanl.gov . en.
  9. Hockaday . Mary Y. . 2013-07-23 . MaRIE 1.0: Matter Radiation Interactions in Extremes 1.0 . 10.2172/1088908 . 1088908 . English. free .
  10. Web site: VISTA Performance through science .
  11. Web site: New AAAS Fellows Recognized for Their Contributions to Advancing Science American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) . 2022-12-12 . aaas.org . en.
  12. Web site: Archive New Mexico State University Alumni . 2022-12-12 . nmsualumni.org.
  13. Web site: Labs . Los Alamos National . 3 Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists elected 2022 American Physical Society Fellows . 2022-12-12 . Discover Los Alamos National Laboratory . en.