A. M. Sessler

Biography

Abstract

Andrew Sessler was Distinguished Scientist Emeritus and Director Emeritus at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (2002-2014). Other institutional affiliations included Ohio State University. His research in accelerator physics led to the development of storage rings, a deeper understading of collective phenomena, and the design of linear colliders, muon colliders, and free electron lasers.

Important Dates

December 11, 1928Birth, New York (N.Y.).

1949Obtained BA in Mathematics, Harvard University, Cambridge (Mass.).

1951Obtained MS, Columbia University, New York (N.Y.).

1953Obtained PhD in Physics, Columbia University, New York (N.Y.).

1953 – 1954National Science Foundation (NSF) Fellow, Cornell University.

1954 – 1961Assistant Professor to Associate Professor of Physics, Ohio State University, Columbus (Ohio).

1961 – 2014Theoretical Physicist (1961-1973); Director (1973-1980); Theoretical Physicist (1980-1994); Distinguished Senior Scientist (1994-2001); Distinguished Guest Scientist (2001-2002); and Distinguished Scientist Emeritus and Director Emeritus (2002-2014), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley (Calif.).

1969 – 1972Member, High Energy Physics Advisory Panel, United States Atomic Energy Commission.

1971 – 1973Member, Committee on High Energy Physics, Argonne National Laboratory.

1976 – 1978Chair, Science Policy Board, Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, Stanford University.

1978 – 1981Chair, Advanced Fuels Advisory Committee, Electric Power Research Institute.

1979 – 1982Member, Council, Federation of American Scientists.

1980 – 1982Chair, Isabelle Committee, Brookhaven National Laboratory.

1981 – 1985Member, Review Committee, Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University.

1984 – 1987Member, Council, Committee of Concerned Scientists.

1985 – 1986Member, Study on Directed Energy Weapons, American Physical Society.

1985 – 1991Member, Council, Federation of American Scientists.

1988Chair, Panel on Public Affairs, American Physical Society.

1988 – 1991Chair, Council, Federation of American Scientists.

1990Member, National Academy of Sciences.

1991 – 1993Member, Committee on the Applications of Physics, American Physical Society.

1991 – 1994Member, Board of Trustees, Associated Universities, Inc.

1991 – 1996Member, Science Policy Board, Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, Stanford University.

1997Awarded Robert R. Wilson Prize for Achievement in the Physics of Particle Accelerators, American Physical Society.

1998President, American Physical Society.

2014Awarded Enrico Fermi Award, United States Department of Energy.

April 17, 2014Death.

Occupation

Accelerator physicist.

Places

Birth

New York (N.Y.)

Undergraduate Education

Cambridge (Mass.)

Graduate Education

New York (N.Y.)

Employment

Columbus (Ohio)

Berkeley (Calif.)

Subjects

Accelerators.

Elementary particles.

Nuclear structure.

Particle beams.

Storage rings.

Relationships

People

Advisors & Collaborators

Bethe, Hans A. (Hans Albrecht), 1906-2005

Post-doc advisor and both employed at Cornell University.

Foley, Henry Michael, 1917-1982

PhD advisor at Columbia University, "The Hyperfine Structure of Helium-3."

Colleagues

Alivisatos, P.

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Chu, Steven

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Clarke, John, 1942-

Both employed at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Clauser, John F. (John Francis), 1942-

Both employed at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.

Cohen, Marvin L.

Both employed at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Corson, Dale R.

Both employed at Cornell University.

Diamond, R. M.

Both employed at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Drell, Persis S.

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.

Dyson, Freeman J.

Both employed at Cornell University.

Falcone, Roger W.

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Furth, H. P.

Both employed at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory.

Greisen, Kenneth

Both employed at Cornell University.

Grunder, Hermann

Both employed at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.

Hardy, John Christopher

Both employed at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory.

Krumhansl, J. A. (James A.)

Both employed at Cornell University.

Lee, Yuan Tseh, 1936-

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.

Lyneis, Claude, 1943-

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

McDaniel, Boyce D. (Boyce Dawkins), 1917-

Both employed at Cornell University.

McMillan, Edwin M. (Edwin Mattison), 1907-

Both employed at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.

Morrison, Philip

Both employed at Cornell University.

Nagamiya, S. (Shoji)

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.

Nygren, David R.

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Oddone, Piermaria J.

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Overhauser, Albert Warner, 1925-

Both employed at Cornell University.

Perlman, Isadore

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.

Perlmutter, Saul

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Poskanzer, A. M. (Arthur M.), 1931-

Both employed at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Randall, Lisa

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.

Rosenfeld, Arthur H., 1926-

Both employed at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.

Shank, C. V. (Charles V.)

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Shirley, David Arthur, 1934-

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Smith, Neville, 1942-2006

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Stephens, F. S. (Frank Samuel)

Both employed at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Taylor, Richard Edward, 1929-2018

Both employed at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory.

Trilling, George H.

Both employed at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Wilson, Robert R., 1914-2000

Both employed at Cornell University.

Wojcicki, Stanley G., 1937-

Both employed at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory.

Additional

Cooksey, Donald

Gamow, George, 1904-1968

Heisenberg, Werner, 1901-1976

Teller, Edward, 1908-2003

Institutions

Major Positions

Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory

Theoretical Physicist and Director.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Distinguished Senior Scientist; Distinguished Guest Scientist; and Distinguished Scientist Emeritus and Director Emeritus.

Lawrence Radiation Laboratory

Theoretical Physicist (Berkeley campus).

Ohio State University. Department of Physics

Assistant Professor to Associate Professor of Physics.

Professional Activities & Affiliations

American Physical Society

President; Member, Study on Directed Energy Weapons; Chair, Panel on Public Affairs; Member, Committee on the Applications of Physics; and received 1997 Robert R. Wilson Prize for Achievement in the Physics of Particle Accelerators.

Argonne National Laboratory

Member, Committee on High Energy Physics.

Associated Universities, Inc.

Member, Board of Trustees.

Brookhaven National Laboratory

Chair, Isabelle Committee.

Columbia University. Department of Physics

Obtained MS (1951) and PhD (1953).

Committee of Concerned Scientists

Member, Council.

Cornell University. Department of Physics

National Science Foundation (NSF) Fellow.

Electric Power Research Institute

Chair, Advanced Fuels Advisory Committee.

Federation of American Scientists

Member and Chair, Council.

Harvard University. Department of Mathematics

Obtained BA (1949).

Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory

National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)

Member.

Princeton University. Plasma Physics Laboratory

Member, Review Committee.

Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory

Member and Chair, Science Policy Board.

U.S. Atomic Energy Commission

Member, High Energy Physics Advisory Panel.

United States. Department of Energy

Received 2014 Enrico Fermi Award.

Resources

Archival Resources

Author

Andrew Sessler and Stephen Libby biographical memoir on Edward Teller, 2007.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

LBL Accelerator and Fusion Research Division Collider Physics Group correspondence and records of Andrew Sessler, 1970-1990.

Archives and Records Office

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

One Cyclotron Road, Bldg. 69-107, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

LBL Office of the Director logbooks of Donald Cooksey, 1945-1980.

Archives and Records Office

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

One Cyclotron Road, Bldg. 69-107, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

LBL Office of the Director research and development administrative files of Andrew Sessler, 1973-1980.

Archives and Records Office

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

One Cyclotron Road, Bldg. 69-107, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

Oral history interview with Andrew M. Sessler, 1975.

The Bancroft Library

University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, CA, 94720-6000, USA

Symposium in honor of H. Richard Crane [sound recording] / at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, 1997 November 8.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Symposium of the Forum on Physics and Society [sound recording] : prize session / 1983 April 19.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Subject

American Physical Society Committee on Applications in Physics records, 1975-1999.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

LBL Office of the Director records of Andrew M. Sessler, 1973-1980.

Archives and Records Office

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

One Cyclotron Road, Bldg. 69-107, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

Proceedings of the ECFA-RAL topical meeting : The challenge of ultra-high energies, 1982.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Published Resources

Author

Beam dynamics issues of high-luminosity asymmetric collider rings : Berkeley, CA 1990 / editor, Andrew M. Sessler.

Engines of discovery / a century of particle accelerators / Andrew Sessler, Edmund Wilson.

The development of colliders / editors, Claudio Pellegrini, Andrew M. Sessler.

Subject

"Andrew M. Sessler: 1928-2014", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences

Andrew Marienhoff Sessler Physics Today obituary.

The Physics of Beams: Andrew Sessler Symposium (Woodbury, NY: AIP Press, 1996)