Texas A&M Researcher Earns Prestigious Nuclear Physics Prize

Texas A&M University Professor of Physics Dr. John C. Hardy has been recognized by the American Physical Society (APS) with its 2006 Tom W. Bonner Prize in Nuclear Physics.

Hardy, who is the first Texas A&M faculty member to receive what is the APS’ only award for nuclear physics, shares this year’s Bonner Prize with longtime collaborator Dr. Ian Towner of Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The two are cited for their high-precision studies, in which they used nuclei to probe one of the four fundamental forces of nature, the so-called “weak force.” Physicists use what they call the “standard model” to describe this force, and Hardy and Towner have been subjecting that model to some of its most demanding tests.

Hardy and Towner, who co-authored their first published paper together 40 years ago as post-doctoral fellows at Oxford University, will be presented with the award next week during a special ceremonial session as part of the APS April 2006 meeting, scheduled for April 22-25 in Dallas.

Endowed in 1964 as a memorial to Tom W. Bonner by his friends, students and associates, the prize is awarded annually to recognize and encourage outstanding experimental research in nuclear physics, including the development of a method, technique or device that significantly contributes in a general way to nuclear physics research. The prize consists of $7,500 and a certificate of citation.

“This is a great honor for Dr. Hardy and a real plus for our department,” said Dr. Edward S. Fry, professor of physics and head of the Department of Physics. “I congratulate John on being recognized as one of North America’s best.”

A Fellow of the American Physical Society as well as the Royal Society of Canada, Hardy has been a member of the Texas A&M faculty and a group leader at the University’s prestigious Cyclotron Institute since 1997. His current research involves nuclear tests of the weak interaction via super-allowed beta decay as well as internal conversion with specific concentration on high-precision measurements. Past interests include exotic nuclei, atomic masses, delayed-particle decay and transfer reactions. He has published more than 250 papers in physics.

Prior to coming to Texas A&M, Hardy spent 27 years at the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), where he rose to division director responsible for the Tandem Accelerator Superconducting Cyclotron (TASCC) faculty. During his career there, Hardy also spent a year’s sabbatical (1976-77) with the On-Line Isotope Mass Separator (ISOLDE) group at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva.

World renowned for his expertise in nuclear physics, Hardy has served on many Program Advisory Committees (PAC) for national laboratories as well as advisory committees to many funding agencies across the United States and Canada. He currently chairs the PAC for the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and is a past member of the executive committee of APS’ Nuclear Physics Division (2002-04) as well as a former vice president of the Royal Society of Canada’s Academy of Science (1992-95).

“John Hardy was an established researcher with an excellent reputation when we recruited him to Texas A&M University,” said Dr. Robert E. Tribble, professor of physics and director of Texas A&M’s Cyclotron Institute. “Since his arrival, he has developed a very strong research program at the Cyclotron Institute — one that is recognized worldwide — in the area of fundamental interactions in nuclei. We are extremely fortunate to have him on our faculty.”

Hardy’s previous professional honors include the Royal Society of Canada’s Rutherford Medal in Physics (1981), the Canadian Association of Physicists’ Herzberg Medal (1976) and McGill University’s D.W. Ambridge Prize (1965). Earlier this month, he also was recognized by Texas A&M and The Association of Former Students with a 2006 Distinguished Achievement Award for Research, one of only six bestowed annually University-wide across all disciplines.

Hardy earned his bachelor of science (honors mathematics and physics), master of science (nuclear physics) and Ph.D. (nuclear physics) from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, where he also was born. He was a post-doctoral Overseas Fellow at the Oxford University Nuclear Physics Laboratory (1965-67) as well as a Miller Fellow (1967-69) and staff member (1969-70) at the University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence Radiation Laboratory.

-aTm-

Contact: Shana K. Hutchins, (979) 862-1237 or shutchins@tamu.edu or Dr. John C. Hardy, (979) 845-1411 or hardy@comp.tamu.edu