Sidney Drell Explained

Birth Date:September 13, 1926
Birth Place:Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.
Nationality:American
Death Place:Palo Alto, California, U.S.
Field:Physics
Work Institution:Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
Alma Mater:Princeton University
University of Illinois
Doctoral Advisor:Sidney Dancoff
Doctoral Students:James Bjorken
Steven Frautschi
Roscoe Giles
Robert Jaffe
Heinz Pagels
Joel Primack
Thesis Title:Part I Magnetic internal conversion coefficient Part II Electrostatic scattering of neutrons Part III Anomalous magnetic moments of nucleons
Thesis Url:http://search.proquest.com/docview/301807599/
Thesis Year:1949
Known For:Drell–Yan process
Children:3, including Persis[1]

Sidney David Drell (September 13, 1926  - December 21, 2016) was an American theoretical physicist and arms control expert.

At the time of his death, he was professor emeritus at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) and senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. Drell was a noted contributor in the fields of quantum electrodynamics and high-energy particle physics. The Drell–Yan process, which was used to discover the Higgs boson, is partially named for him.[2]

Biography

Born in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 13, 1926,[2] Drell graduated from Atlantic City High School in 1943, at the age of sixteen.[3]

Drell entered Princeton for the summer term in July 1943, and worked with Josef-Maria Jauch in his junior year and completing his senior thesis "Radiating Electrons" with John Archibald Wheeler.[2] He earned his undergraduate degree in physics from Princeton University in 1946.[4] He was awarded a masters in physics in 1947 and received his PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1949. He co-authored the textbooks Relativistic Quantum Mechanics and Relativistic Quantum Fields with James Bjorken.[2]

Drell was active as a scientific advisor to the U.S. government, and was a founding member of the JASON Defense Advisory Group.[2] He was also on the board of directors of Los Alamos National Security, the company that operates the Los Alamos National Laboratory.[5] He was an expert in the field of nuclear arms control and cofounder of the Center for International Security and Arms Control, now the Center for International Security and Cooperation. He was a Senior Fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution and a trustee Emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.[6]

He was the father of Persis Drell, former head of SLAC national accelerator lab, former dean of the Stanford University School of Engineering, and (through Fall 2023) provost of Stanford University; Joanna Drell, Professor of History and chair of the Department of History at the University of Richmond;[7] and Daniel Drell, a program officer at the U.S. Department of Energy. Sidney Drell died in December 2016 at his home in Palo Alto, California at the age of 90.[8]

Awards and honors

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Schudel . Matt . December 24, 2016 . Sidney Drell, physicist and arms-control expert, dies at 90 . The Washington Post.
  2. Jaffe . Robert . Jeanloz . Raymond . Sidney David Drell (September 13, 1926–December 21, 2016): A Biographical Memoir . Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science . 19 October 2019 . 69 . 1 . 1–14 . 10.1146/annurev-nucl-020619-120837 . 2019ARNPS..69....1J . 209945149 . en . 0163-8998. free .
  3. Web site: American Institute of Physics. Aaserud, Finn. Finn Aesrud. Oral histories: Sidney Drell. July 1, 1986. 2022-02-02.
  4. News: Grimes . William . Sidney Drell, Who Advised Presidents on Nuclear Weapons, Dies at 90 . 28 March 2023 . The New York Times . 23 December 2016.
  5. Web site: Los Alamos National Security, LLC Announces Board of Governors . Bloomberg.com . 28 March 2023 . en . 19 January 2006.
  6. Web site: Drell awarded NNSA Administrator's Gold Medal of Excellence Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory . LLNL Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory . 28 March 2023 . en.
  7. Web site: Joanna Drell - History - University of Richmond.
  8. News: Kubota . Taylor . Sidney Drell, theoretical physicist and national security expert at Stanford, dies at 90 . 28 March 2023 . Stanford News . 22 December 2016 . en.
  9. Web site: Drell, Sidney D.. National Academy of Sciences. June 3, 2011.
  10. Web site: Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter D. American Academy of Arts and Sciences. June 3, 2011.
  11. Web site: APS Member History . 2022-05-09 . search.amphilsoc.org.
  12. http://heinzawards.net/recipients/sidney-drell The Heinz Awards, Sidney Drell profile