William F. Brinkman

Biography

Abstract

William F. Brinkman is a Physicist known for his work in advanced optical and wireless technologies at Bell Laboratories. Currently, he is the Director of the Office of Science in the U.S. Department of Energy. He is also a past president of the American Physical Society (2002).

Important Dates

July 20, 1938Birth, Washington (Mo.).

1960Obtained BS, University of Missouri, Columbia, Columbia (Mo.).

1965Obtained PhD in Physics, University of Missouri, Columbia, Columbia (Mo.).

1965 – 1966Resident Fellow in Physics, Oxford University.

1966 – 1984Member, Technical Staff (1966-1972); Head, Infared Physics and Electronics Research Department (1972-1974); Director, Chemical Physics Research Laboratory (1974-1981); and Director, Physics Research Laboratory (1981-1984), Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill (N.J.).

1984Member, National Academy of Sciences.

1984 – 1987Vice President, Research, Sandia National Laboratories.

1987 – 1996Executive Director, Physics Research Division (1987-1994) and Vice President, Physical Sciences Research (1994-1996), AT & T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill (N.J.).

1994Awarded George E. Pake Prize, American Physical Society.

1996 – 2001Vice President, Physical Science Research (1996-2000) and Vice President, Research (2000-2001), Lucent Technologies (Bell Labs Innovations), Murray Hill (N.J.).

2001 – 2009Senior Research Physicist, Princeton University, Princeton (N.J.).

2002President, American Physical Society.

2009 – presentDirector, Office of Science, United States Department of Energy, Washington (D.C.).

Occupation

Condensed matter physicist.

Places

Birth

Washington (Mo.)

Undergraduate Education

Columbia (Mo.)

Graduate Education

Columbia (Mo.)

Employment

Murray Hill (N.J.)

Princeton (N.J.)

Washington (D.C.)

Subjects

Condensed matter.

Fermi liquids.

Helium 3.

Metal-insulator transitions.

Solid state physics.

Relationships

People

Colleagues

Aeppli, Gabriel

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Ahlers, G. (Günter)

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Aizenman, Michael

Both employed at Princeton University.

Alivisatos, P.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Al'tshuler, B. L.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Anderson, P. W. (Philip W.), 1923-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Appelbaum, J. A. (Joel A.)

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Ashkin, Arthur, 1922-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Aspnes, D. E.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Austin, Robert H.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Bialek, William S.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Birgeneau, Robert J. (Robert Joseph), 1942-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Bishop, David John, 1951-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Bode, Hendrik W. (Hendrik Wade), 1905-1982

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Boyle, Willard S., 1924-2011

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Brattain, Walter H. (Walter Houser), 1902-1987

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Buchsbaum, Solomon J.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Bucksbaum, Philip H.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Callan, Curtis G.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Cava, Robert J.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Chabal, Yves Jean, 1952-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Chaikin, Paul M.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Chemla, D. S.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Chu, Ching-wu, 1941-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Chu, Steven

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Chynoweth, A. G.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Clogston, Albert McCavour

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Coppersmith, Susan Nan

Both employed at AT & T Bell Laboratories.

Cutler, Cassius Chapin

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Darlington, Sidney, 1906-1997

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

David, Edward E.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

DiSalvo, Francis

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Dolan, Gerald

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Dynes, Robert C.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Eigler, Donald

Both employed at AT & T Bell Laboratories.

Eisenstein, James P. (James Philip)

Both employed at Bell Laboratories.

Fisch, N. J.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Fisk, James B. (James Brown), 1910-1981

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Fitch, Val L., 1923-2015

Both employed at Princeton University.

Fleury, Paul A.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Fulton, Theodore Alan

Both employed at Bell Laboratories.

Galt, John Kirtland, 1920-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Geballe, Theodore H.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Gossard, A. C.

Both employed at Bell Laboratories.

Greene, Laura H.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Hagstrum, Homer D.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Haldane, F. Duncan M.

Both employed at Princeton University and AT & T Bell Laboratories.

Halperin, Bertrand I.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Hamann, Donald, 1939-

Both employed at Bell Laboratories.

Happer, William, 1939-

Both employed at Princeton University.

Herring, William Conyers, 1914-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Hohenberg, Pierre C.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Hopfield, John J.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Isaacs, Eric D.

Both employed at AT & T Bell Laboratories and Lucent Technologies.

Jackson, Shirley Ann, 1946-

Both employed at Bell Laboratories.

Johnson, Peter D., 1952-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Kompfner, Rudolf, 1909-1977

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Lander, James J., 1914-1996

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Laughlin, Robert B.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories and Stanford University.

Lax, Melvin J.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Lee, P. A. (Patrick A.), 1946-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Lieb, Elliott H.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Matthias, Bernd T., 1918-1980

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

McMillan, William L.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Millis, Andrew J.

Both employed at AT & T Bell Laboratories.

Murray, Cherry Ann

Both employed at Bell Laboratories.

Narath, Albert, 1933-

Both employed at Bell Laboratories.

Osheroff, Douglas D.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Page, Lyman A.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Patel, C. Kumar N.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Penzias, Arno A.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Pfann, William G.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Phillips, J. C.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Phillips, Julia M.

Both employed at Bell Laboratories.

Pinczuk, Aron

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Polyakov, A. M.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Raghavachari, Krishnan

Both employed at Bell Laboratories and Lucent Technologies.

Rice, Thomas Maurice, 1939-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Rowell, John Martin, 1935-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Shank, C. V. (Charles V.)

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Smith, George E., 1930-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Smith, Neville, 1942-2006

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Steinhardt, Paul J.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Stillinger, F. H.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Störmer, Horst

Both employed at Bell Laboratories.

Tank, David William, 1953-

Both employed at Princeton University and Bell Laboratories.

Tauc, J. (Jan)

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Taylor, Joseph H. (Joseph Hooton)

Both employed at Princeton University.

Tersoff, J.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Thomas, D. G. (David Gilbert), 1928-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Tsui, D. C. (Daniel Chee), 1939-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Weeks, John David

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Wilkinson, David T.

Both employed at Princeton University.

Willett, Robert L.

Both employed at AT & T Bell Laboratories and Lucent Technologies.

Wilson, Robert Woodrow, 1936-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Institutions

Major Positions

AT & T Bell Laboratories

Executive Director, Physics Research Division and Vice President, Physical Sciences Research.

Bell Labs Innovations

Vice President, Physical Science Research and Vice President, Research.

Bell Telephone Laboratories

Member, Technical Staff; Head, Infared Physics and Electronics Research Department; Director, Chemical Physics Research Laboratory; and Director, Physics Research Laboratory.

Princeton University. Department of Physics

Senior Research Physicist.

Sandia National Laboratories

Vice President, Research.

United States. Department of Energy

Director, Office of Science.

Professional Activities & Affiliations

American Physical Society

President and received 1994 George E. Pake Prize.

National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)

University of Missouri--Columbia. Department of Physics and Astronomy

Obtained BS in 1960 and PhD in 1965.

University of Oxford. Department of Physics

Resident Fellow in Physics.

Resources

Archival Resources

Author

Oral history interview with William F. Brinkman, 2006 March 7 and April 26.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Subject

Bloch symposium: a Stanford centennial symposium celebrating the work of Felix Bloch [video recording], 1989.

Department of Special Collections and University Archives

Stanford University

Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA

Oral history interview with Arno A. Penzias, 2006 January 19, March 21 and 22.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Published Resources

Subject

William Brinkman, Director of the Office of Science, Department of Energy.