FSU Physics Home

Physics News

Physics Education/Outreach

2009 Florida State Physics News

• Kirby Kemper named APS Outstanding Referee
• With NSF Grant, Researchers Put Their 'Spin' on Electron Research
• Book sheds light on the life of Paul Dirac
• Circus brings fun to physics
• Bernd Berg elected Secretary-Treasurer of DCOMP
• Ben Thayer Receives Prestigious National Fellowship in Theoretical Particle Physics
• Serbia lauds native son with award in physical science
• Two professors and a scholar/scientist named APS ‘Outstanding Referees’
• Physicists get first look at single top quarks
• A Pioneer in Physics: Philip J. Wyatt
• Physicist tapped to lead Electron Magnetic Resonance program
• Florida State physics professors join prestigious ranks of AAAS fellows
• Researchers named American Physical Society fellows

Researchers named American Physical Society fellows

	FSU Photo Lab/Ryals Lee	FSU Photo Lab/Bill Lax
	Samuel L. Tabor	Alexander V. Gurevich

Their scientific research takes them in different directions, but two faculty members at The Florida State University now have one important thing in common: Both have just been elected as fellows of the American Physical Society (APS).

With 46,000 members, the APS (www.aps.org) is the nation’s largest and most prestigious professional society dedicated to the advancement of physics research and knowledge. Election to fellowship in the APS is limited to no more than one-half of 1 percent of the society’s membership and is a significant recognition by a scientist’s peers of his or her outstanding contributions to physics.

The Florida State physics faculty members selected as APS fellows for 2008, and the language provided on their APS citations, are as follows:

• Alexander V. Gurevich, Scholar/Scientist and Principal Investigator, Applied Superconductivity Center at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, “for significant contributions to the theory of superconductivity, particularly the effect of crystalline defects on critical currents, vortex dynamics, and upper critical fields of high-temperature superconductors and MgB2.”
• Samuel L. Tabor, Norman P. Heydenburg Professor of Physics and Director, John D. Fox Superconducting Accelerator Laboratory, “for pioneering and sustained contributions to the understanding of the structure of f-p-g shell nuclei and pioneering measurements elucidating the effects of neutron excess on nuclear shell structure near N=16.”

Tabor joined the Florida State faculty in 1979. During his tenure, he has conducted research that has helped to unravel some of the mysteries of the way protons and neutrons combine to form nuclei, the hearts of atoms. In particular, Tabor has focused on the changes caused by large imbalances in the numbers of protons and neutrons, which play a crucial role in the way elements are formed in astrophysical processes.

“My election as a fellow of the American Physical Society is an honor for me and for The Florida State University,” he said. “It provides national recognition both of my work and that of our nuclear physics group at FSU, which has been ranked eighth in the nation among public institutions.”

Gurevich, a condensed matter/materials theorist, came to Florida State along with the Applied Superconductivity Center, which moved here from the University of Wisconsin in 2006. His research focuses on the theoretical understanding of superconductors under extreme conditions of strong electric currents, high magnetic fields and strong radio-frequency electromagnetic fields. The results of these theoretical works are important for the development of new superconducting materials for power applications, particularly powerful high-field magnets and new generations of particle accelerators.

“It is indeed a great honor for every physicist to be elected an APS fellow,” Gurevich said. “It also recognizes the invaluable contributions of my colleagues from the Applied Superconductivity Center and collaborators from other groups all over the world who have made my work possible.”