Texas A&M Professor Chosen for $1-Million Endowed Chair in Physics
COLLEGE STATION —
Dimitri Nanopoulos, a Texas A&M physics professor and one of the world’s most noted researchers in high-energy physics, has been appointed to a new endowed chair associated with the university’s George P. and Cynthia W. Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics.
Dr. Nanopoulos will hold the Mitchell-Heep Chair in High-Energy Physics, which is endowed with $500,000 from the Mitchells, both of The Woodlands, and $500,000 from the Herman F. Heep and Minnie Belle Heep Foundation in College Station.
The chair was created in conjunction with the Mitchell Institute, a prestigious new forum that will bring Stephen Hawking and several other world-class physicists to Texas A&M this spring for a month-long conference exploring the Nature of the universe. George and Cynthia Mitchell gave the Texas A&M College of Science $2.7 million to create the institute and two chairs in physics: the Mitchell-Heep Chair and the Stephen Hawking Chair, held by physics professor Christopher Pope.
Nanopoulos is a distinguished professor at Texas A&M, meaning his peers consider him to be among the top 5 percent of scientists in his field. His work in high-energy physics, which deals with atomic particles accelerated to high speeds, has made him one of the most frequently cited physicists ever in the field. He has written more than 500 papers, and fellow researchers have cited his work some 26,000 times, making him the fourth most cited high-energy physicist ever.
“It is a great honor for me to be the first holder of the Mitchell-Heep Chair in High-Energy Physics,” Nanopoulos said. “I’ll try my best so that the generosity of Mr. Mitchell and of the Heep Foundation will be matched by the quality of my research in this great university.”
Nanopoulos joined the Texas A&M faculty in 1989 after receiving his bachelor’s degree from the University of Athens, in Greece, and his Ph.D. at the University of Sussex in England. His research interests include grand unified theories, superstrings and astroparticle physics.
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Contact: Mark Minton, Communications Specialist (979) 862-1237 or mminton@science.tamu.edu; Dimitri Nanopoulos (in Athens) 011-30-210-6867199 or dimitri@physics.tamu.edu
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