Last modified: Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Germany's Humboldt Foundation honors IU physicist
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 5, 2007
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Hans-Otto Meyer, professor of physics at Indiana University Bloomington, has received a Humboldt Research Award in recognition of lifetime achievements in research.
The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany annually honors up to 100 internationally renowned scientists and scholars from abroad. Each awardee receives $80,000 and is invited to carry out research projects of his or her choice in cooperation with colleagues in Germany.
According to the citation read at the presentation of the award to Meyer in Berlin, "Professor Meyer is well known as an international authority in precision experiments on the interaction between nucleons using ion storage rings. He has made important contributions to the development and physics application of storage rings which are fundamental for antiproton physics at the new FAIR facility under design at GSI Darmstadt (Germany). Professor Meyer's work combines original and practical solutions with a deep understanding of nuclear and hadron physics."
Born in Basel, Switzerland, Meyer was educated at the University of Basel, from which he received a Ph.D. degree in 1970. After postdoctoral and visiting appointments at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility, the University of Washington at Seattle, and the University of Basel, he joined the IU physics faculty in 1978.
"The Indiana University Cyclotron Facility had begun research operation only a couple of years before Meyer arrived," said IU Distinguished Professor Emeritus Robert Pollock. "The trail of reports and publications from that time documents how quickly this energetic man became an essential part of our research program. The crowning achievement of this work was a series of experiments of exquisite complexity using a polarized beam and a polarized target, with fundamental importance still being realized."
In the years of design and construction of the IUCF Cooler ring, as well as during the Cooler's 14-year run as a site for new and innovative nuclear physics experiments, Meyer was the champion for the capabilities of the new facility.
"Meyer attracted other physicists to the laboratory and generated more ideas for new experiments than could be exploited. He traveled the world describing the new results, bringing them to the attention of physicists everywhere," said IUCF associate director Edward Stephenson.
"The Indiana Cooler represented a unique technological and intellectual achievement by a comparatively small group of dedicated people, working together with the desire to reach their common goal," Meyer said. "Studying how the new tool could be used for nuclear science was like opening the door to an unknown land, and tackling the technical challenges that presented themselves was a fascinating task for the scientists involved. During the following decade, the modest-sized Cooler project contributed a number of landmark experiments to nuclear and accelerator science, and became recognized as a world-class research facility. It was certainly a privilege for my Cooler colleagues and me to be a part of this effort."
Hans-Otto Meyer can be reached at 812-855-2883 and meyer1@indiana.edu; Robert Pollock at pollockr@indiana.edu; and Edward Stephenson at 812-855-5469 and stephene@indiana.edu. For assistance, contact Hal Kibbey at 812-855-0074 and hkibbey@indiana.edu.
