Symons, James
Oral history interview with James Symons, 2021 May 3.
Interview with Timothy James Symons, Senior Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and recently retired as Associate Laboratory Director for Physical Sciences, for which he ran the Labs programs in high energy and nuclear physics. Symons explains how the Lab has responded to the pandemic and the wide range of physics research he is following at Berkeley and beyond. He recounts his childhood in England and his early interests in science and the opportunities that led to his undergraduate education at Oxford where a tutor focused his interests in nuclear physics. Symons explains his reasons for remaining at Oxford for graduate school and the relevance of the SU(3) shell model for his thesis. He describes his postdoctoral work at the UK Science Research Council, and the opportunities that initially led him to Berkeley to work with David Scott on low energy nuclear structure. Symons provides a history of the Bevatron and the many reasons that compelled him to take a staff position. He describes the challenges in replacing the Bevelac, and the import of the ISABELLE cancellation at Brookhaven on Berkeleys decisions. He provides detail on the interplay between laboratory experiments and DOE policy decisions and he explains the significant administrative pull of his work for NSAC. Symons reviews broadly the state of U.S. nuclear physics in the 1990s and the value of the APS as a sounding board in shaping policies for the decade. He does the same for rare isotopes in the early 2000s and how the Lab became involved in DUSEL. Symons describes his world as Associate Lab Director and he discusses his interactions with the Lab Director which gave him a high-altitude appreciate for the broad range of research across the Lab. He explains the Labs contributions in energy research which stems from Steve Chus directorship. At the end of the interview, Symons reflects on the significant changes in the Labs scope and mission over his career, the overall trend that once-disparate research areas are now increasingly on a path of convergence, and he conveys optimism on the fundamental discoveries that are within reach for the near future of nuclear physics.
James Symons is a Senior Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and recently retired as the Associate Laboratory Director for Physical Sciences. He completed his graduate studies in at Oxford and conducted postdoctoral research at the UK Science Research Council.
Allen, Kenneth William, 1923-1997
Alvarez, Luis W., 1911-1988
Chu, Steven
Scott, D. K. (David Knight), 1940-
Seaborg, Glenn T. (Glenn Theodore), 1912-1999
Witherell, Michael S.
American Physical Society
Brookhaven National Laboratory.
DOE/NSF Nuclear Science Advisory Committee.
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Science Research Council (Great Britain)
United States. Department of Energy
University of California, Berkeley
University of Oxford
Bevatron.
COVID-19 (Disease)
Nuclear physics
Nuclear shell theory
Particle accelerators
Particles (Nuclear physics)
Interviews. aat
Oral histories. aat
Transcripts. aat
Zierler, David, 1979- interviewer.
AIP-ICOS
American Institute of Physics. Niels Bohr Library & Archives. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA