This is a timeline assembled from the information I could gather in the archives. There is, of course, more to each of these stories, and there are stories that are not mentioned at all, but I've tried to assemble a relatively accurate summary of the events in Physics at the University of Nebraska.
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| 1869 | The University comes into existence, and organization begins for classes to start in September 1871. |
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| 1871 | Classes begin when the University opens officially on the first Thursday of September. 70 students attend that first semester. S. Aughey is the professor of Natural Science, one of only five faculty members; he was the second choice for the position ater Reveran Henry W. Kuhns, who declined. The sciences occupy rooms 103 and 104 in the Old Main (the only building). |
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| 1872 | In June, the Agricultural College is established under S.R. Thompson. It expands and earns the nickname "The Farm". Its initial duty, as charged by the Board of Regents, is to plant trees and arrange walks on campus. The University holds commencement even though there are no graduates.
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| 1873 | Harvey Culbertson earns his Bachelors of Agriculture. S. Aughey offers his resignation because he is accused of being too often absent from his post (he explains he's been doing analyses for citizens who request them), but the University refuses to accept it. Tuition for University students is free for in-state students $5 per term for out of state students, and there is a $5 matriculation fee. |
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| 1874 | G.E. Bailey becomes a professor of Physics and Chemistry, as well as Secretary of Faculty to the Department of Literature, Science & Art. The Chancellor offers to pay half of Bailey's salary if it ensures the university will hire him. |
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| 1875 | The school gains state recognition and an elective regency. |
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| 1876 | Hiram Collier is hired as Professor of Astronomy, Chemistry, Mechanics, Meteorology & Physics. |
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| 1878 | An "Engineering Course" is added to the science department offerings. The Department submits a request for a Dictionary of Chemistry. Bailey organizes the "Nebraska Volunteer Weather Service". |
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| 1880 | The Chair of Chemistry and Physics is vacant as Hiram Collier is out with a severe illness. |
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| 1881 | Alonzo Collins becomes a Professor of Chemistry and Physics when Collier dies. |
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| 1882 | Collins resigns in the Spring and returns to Cornell College. Hudson Henry Nicholson becomes a member of the UNL faculty and in July is named Professor of Chemistry and Physics. He is one of six new faculty in the second expansion under President Gere. Nicholson is a good investment as he brings his own equipment for the department to use, as well as an extensive personal library. He also pushes much harder for additional space and equipment. Total attendance for the University is 284. |
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| 1883 | LFM Easterday is appointed to teach Physics and Astronomy. His presence expands the department from two terms of physics and one in astronomy to include a course each for mechanics, acoustics, optics, heat, electricity and astronomy. G.D. Swezey designs an observatory for Crete, where he teaches at Doane until 1894; while in Crete, he gave numerous scientific lectures to the community, as he was also interested in entomology and other natural sciences.
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| 1884 | G.D. Swezey becomes Director of the Nebraska Weather Service, which he will be until 1896.
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| 1885 | DeWitt Bristol Brace joins the faculty, he will lead it both informally and formally until 1905.
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| 1886 | The Physics lab is in dire straits: its list of required materials reaches $1000. The general faculty resolve on developing a separate Physics department.
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| 1887 | The Physics department is all in one room in Chemistry Hall, but is not cramped as there is no equipment. An electrical course is adopted. Brace becomes the first true professor of the Physics department, and he takes his appointment as a charge to build the program into a formidable force. The department offers only six courses in Physics.
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| 1888 | The department offers between ten and thirteen courses. The first full-fledged physical lab is opened in January, and an electrical lab is open to advanced students in February. Physics is separated from the Chemistry department. The department expands to include three rooms in Chemistry Hall and six for a junior lab in the Main building.
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| 1889 | The Science Hall is occupied. The physics department gains another instructor, H. Newman Allen. Brace lobbies for a $5000 budget, but receives just $2000; he estimates the cost for building up the electricity coursework and physics proper at $16,000 and $21,000 respectively.
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| 1890 | H.N. Allen begins doctoral work. Apparently, sometime during the first few years of Brace's presence at the University, the Chancellor decided to knock down the Physics Apparatus shed (I can only find a mention of it in an article about Brace from 1905).
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| 1891 | The Regents grant Brace a $16,500 appropriation for an electrical engineering lab: it is used to hire an electrical engineering professor, build an Electrical Engineering building and a plant. The ratio of physics students to professors is between two and three times greater than any other science department's.
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| 1892 | After the trying process of building the department in the 1880s, the demands of Physics & Electrical courses are not as severe.
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| 1893 | B.J. Spencer, with only a sixth-grade education, proves to be very useful at constructing apparatus; he leaves during 1904-05, but other than that remains at the University until his death in 1923. During the winter, the roof leaks and the walls crumble slightly in University Hall, damaging apparatus.
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| 1894 | Courses in physics include Elementary General Physics, Experimental Physics, Theoretical Physics, Elemental Descriptive Astronomy, Electrical Engineering and Steam Engineering. R.B. Owens is now mostly in charge of the Electrical Engineering, and lobbies for a split of the departments; Brace lobbies against it. Both recommend an increase in Owens's salary, but decide that he should not become a professor since having two professors in the same department seems pretentious. Brace recommends giving the Experiment Station $3000 in extra funds over the general $5000 budget, and also calls for Swezey to come to the main station; Swezey will be the Lincoln Experiment Station Meteorologist until 1906.
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| 1895 | The University officially establishes a graduate school (the first west of the Mississippi). X-rays are discovered in December; by March of 1896, Brace has duplicated the results, and shows X-ray pictures to a local scientific society. G.D. Swezey is president of Sigma Xi.
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| 1896 | Thomas E. Doubt earns the first M.A. in Physics. H.N. Allen gets the first doctoral degree from NU, but no more physics PhDs will be recorded at UNL until 1939. Swezey joins the faculty as an astronomy instructor; the astronomy equipment and "department" are housed in a $500 makeshift building. C.A. Loveland arrives from Crete to help with meteorology.
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| 1897 | Having devoted the first decade of his time at NU to building the department, Brace now dedicates himself to serious research. He encourages the new faculty and graduate students to be very active in this as well, and so the publication rate rises significantly over the next decade.
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| 1898 | C.A. Skinner joins the faculty.
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| 1899 | Brace introduces his sensitive strip spectropolariscope (which determines the plane of polarization 150 times more accurately than the previous best instrument), constructed by the University carpenter. The instrument is used to prove there is no ether, because there is no effect made by the earth's rotation. G.D. Swezey, one of the charter members, becomes the President of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences. B.J. Spencer, having proved his worth as storekeeper and constructor for the department, becomes a Demonstrator.
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| 1900 | Due to Brace's substantial efforts, the University's Physics lab budget is only exceeded by Harvard, Cornell and MIT. J.E. Almy returns to NU after receiving his doctorate in Berlin.
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| 1902 | D.B. Brace is elected the Vice President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. B. Spencer's position is renamed "Expert and Instructor in Construction".
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| 1903 | Brace publishes the first of three papers he writes on his sensitive strip spectropolariscope. B. Spencer's position is renamed "Instructor in Construction".
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| 1904 | Construction begins on the Physics & Astronomy building.
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| 1905 | D.B. Brace dies suddenly at age 46 from septecemia in a tooth. The newly erected Physics Hall is renamed in honor of Brace (this is suggested by Almy, who has not yet come to NU from Iowa College in Grinell). C.A. Skinner becomes Chair of the Department, a position he will hold until 1919. G.D. Swezey corresponds with several other schools about the costs and equipment for an observatory; he even has a lens ground for a telescope and has the engineering department construct a mounting. However, the University cannot afford the other equipment and the building for an observatory, which has a total estimated cost of $12,500. Loveland, the Nebraska Section Director of the Department of Agriculture Climate & Crop of the Weather Bureau, discusses a co-op with the University.
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| 1906 | After Andrews steps down from the Chancellorship, research declines at the University.
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| 1907 | Over the next three decades, faculty numbers will stay almost static. About four professors, supplemented by masters students, will teach for the department.
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| 1908 | Research publications decline drastically while the faculty numbers say steady and enrollment steadily increases. B. Spencer's position is renamed "Demonstrator & Teacher of Construction in Physics".
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| 1909 | Alice M. Purinton is the first woman to earn her M.A. in Physics.
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| 1917 | The plans for an observatory again come to the university's attention. G.D. Swezey and Charles Chowin, a campus building supervisor, draw up blueprints and plans for the building. However, the $25,000 allocated for the project are appropriated at the last minute for a different building that went over its budget.
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| 1918 | The doctoral program in Physics is dropped, although Leo G. Raub earns one in 1922 for work on helium and argon with wire cathodes, and John C. Jensen earns one in 1939 for work on lightning. America becomes involved in the first World War.
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| 1919 | C.A. Skinner becomes Chief of the Optical Division of the National Bureau of Standards. J.E. Almy takes over as Chair of the department, a position he will hold until 1922. T.T. Smith joins the faculty; he will remain associated with the department until the mid 1970s.
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| 1920 | Quantum mechanics begin to stir interest at the University.
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| 1922 | H.H. Marvin becomes Chair department; he will hold the position until 1949.
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| 1924 | C.A. Loveland leaves to become head of the New England Weather Bureau in Boston.
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| 1927 | "My graduate work was a continuation of my training in classical physics with hardly a whisper of the tremendous advances taking place in physics in the years while I was a student in the department. The Physics department was mainly a service department for the rest of the university providing courses for engineers, pre-medical, and pre-dental students." (T.P. Jorgensen, 43-4)
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| 1929 | Again, the observatory plans are reviewed, but it comes to nothing. G.D. Swezey gives up lobbying for the building; Peru Normal will eventually use the plans, before NU reconsiders them in the late 1960s.
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| 1931 | The lens ground by Dr. Charles S. Minnich in 1906 for Swezey's telescope is valued at $15,000. Although it is kept for many years after this, it is eventually lost, stolen or destroyed.
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| 1932 | Staff salaries decrease by 10% in response to the Depression. G.D. Swezey retires, and the Astronomy department is absorbed by the Mathematics department. O.C. Collins from the Math department serves as Astronomy instructor.
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| 1933 | In June, salaries of the NU staff decrease by 22%. The School of Fine Arts and part of the University hospital in Omaha close. Sixty-two total faculty positions are eliminated at NU, and most tuitions scholarships are dropped. Physics MAs actually double, however, during the 1930s v. the 1920s; research increases by fifteen times from 1931-1935 v. 1921-1925.
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| 1936 | O.C. Collins is on leave of absence at Yerkes Observatory at University of Chicago.
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| 1938 | T.P. Jorgensen returns to the department after earning his doctorate. He is disappointed by the stagnation the department is experiencing due to lack of research facilities and stimulating interactions among colleagues.
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| 1939 | Anticipation of U.S. involvement in the war changes university atmosphere.
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| 1940 | Physics programs begin to expand in anticipation of the country's involvement in World War II.
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| 1941 | T. Blair publishes his book on world climates. World War II will be a "Physicists' War" and thus the monetary rewards offered by a degree in the field are substantial. Two faculty members carpool to Omaha in December to offer physics assistance to the U.S. Army General.
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| 1942 | T.P. Jorgensen works at Los Alamos on three years' leave.
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| 1943 | The newly constructed Love Library becomes a barracks. Many of the soldiers take supplementary coursework in the sciences.
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| 1944 | Most of the soldiers are now off campus.
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| 1945 | World War II ends, in part due to contributions from the Los Alamos laboratory.
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| 1946 | Reuben G. Gustavson becomes Chancellor; he emphasizes faculty growth and the development of research facilities. The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and Office of Naval Research (ONR) are both established in 1946, and soon are offering significant research awards. A $5000 appropriation is given for Jorgensen's ion accelerator.
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| 1947 | Funding increases significantly as the ramp up for the Cold War begins.
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| 1948 | A.S. Skapski, a Polish war refugee, joins the department.
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| 1949 | Jorgensen obtains a contract for the AEC to study relations of ions' movement range in gases and initial energies; her receives $10,000 per year until 1967, when it is increased to $51,000 per year. H. Jehle, a refugee from 1941, joins the faculty. Marvin steps down from the chair; Jorgensen becomes Chair. The doctoral program is reinitiated.
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| 1950 | The National Science Foundation (NSF) comes into existence. Most of the research projects funded, and most of the grants noted below include only one year's worth of funding - the grants actually last several years with the amounts described given each year of the project.
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| 1952 | Jorgensen steps down from the Chair; the Dean has strong ideas about the department, and so appoints Professor Nels Bengston of the Geography department as "Executive Secretary" of Physics.
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| 1953 | Moore becomes the acting Chair, but is not allowed to become the Chair officially.
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| 1954 | The Department receives a $10,000 NSF grant to study "Specific Interactions of Biological Signals". Jean Claire Davis (Wirsig) is the first woman to earn a B.S. in Physics (she also majored in Math), and was probably the first woman to take the electronics course: |
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| "One day when she received an electric shock, the class stopped and watched to see what females do in such a situation. It seemed appropriate to her, she relates, to say "Damn!" and that seemed to relax everyone." (M.E. Rudd, Science on the Great Plains). |
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| 1955 | Because of tensions with the college administration, Moore leaves to work at Schlumberger Well Surveying Corp. R.L. Chasson informally takes the Chair.
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| 1956 | In February, Chasson becomes an associate professor and Chair of the department; he will stay in these positions until 1962.
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| 1957 | Daitch leaves for an industrial position which pays two and one-half times the salary.
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| 1958 | O.C. Collins retires, causing the discontinuation of Astronomy coursework.
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| 1959 | H. Jehle leaves to work at George Washington University.
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| 1960 | The Physics department establishes the Institute of Computational Sciences. Behlen Lab is proposed (the Behlen family of Columbus provides one-third of the funding in honor of Walter Behlen, the "Corn-Belt Edison").
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| 1961 | President Kennedy vows to put a "man on the moon"; because of the new resources devoted to physics, by 1969 twice as many schools around the country offered doctoral degrees in physics. The boom in employment also lasts until the end of the decade, then rapidly salaries decrease in response to an applicant glut in the job market. R. Chasson is invited to present "Fine Structure of Forbush Decreases of Cosmic Rays" & "Characteristics of Solar Flare Cosmic Rays During IGY" at the International Conference on Cosmic Rays & the Earth Storm in Kyoto in September.
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| 1962 | R. Chasson leaves the department for University of Denber; other key faculty also leave around this time, all citing funding, administrative indifference and lack of opportunity at Nebraska. E.J. Zimmerman becomes the Chair; he will hold the position until 1966. Construction on Behlen Lab begins.
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| 1963 | T.P. Jorgensen wins a Distinguished Teaching Award.
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| 1964 | D. Joseph and P. Byerly join the department.
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| 1965 | Behlen Laboratory is dedicated.
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| 1966 | H.S. Valk becomes Chair of the department; he will stay in the position until 1970. R. Katz pioneers the models of tracks of high energy particles in emulsions between 1966 and 1975, leading to the use of neutrons and heavy ions for radiation therapy. In 2000, this will remain the only predictive model of relative biological efficiency, having significant impact on the fields of radiobiology and carcinogenesis.
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| 1967 | K. Smith becomes a Regents professor. M.E. Rudd is recruited to help build up the atomic program.
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| 1968 | D. Jaecks, S. Jaswal and R. Hardy, three faculty members who will stay with the department for over thirty years each, join the department.
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| 1969 | Burns attempts to start a branch of the Society for Physics Students and to reactivate the chapter of Sigma Pi Sigma, the Physics Honor Society. The NSF gives a Department Development Grant; the department uses it to reinstitute the Astronomy Program and add ten professors. Four Soviet physicists visit atomic labs in the United States; Lincoln is their first stop. T.P. Jorgensen becomes a fellow of UNL's Centennial Education Program.
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| 1970 | M.E. Rudd becomes the acting Chair for a two-year period.
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| 1971 | Behlen Observatory is constructed at an old army building outside town; the University is able to procur a 30" telescope at reduced price. Don Jaecks and Joe Macek lay the theoretical foundations for a new type of atomic collisions experiment-the atomic photon-particle coincidence measurement that will become the first reference in any major review or book and the basis for experiments performed worldwide. In 2000, the work will be included in the American Institute of Physics' list of the 200 most seminal papers in the field of atomic physics during the Twentieth Century.
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| 1972 | L. Sartori becomes Chair of the department, a position he will hold until 1978. K. Leung becomes Director of Behlen Observatory. R. Katz is on leave at London's Hammersmith Hospital.
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| 1973 | The rapidly growing department expands into Ferguson Hall, the old Electrical Engineering building. UNL hosts the Astronomical Conference April 5-6 with the dedication of Behlen Observatory.
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| 1974 | D.H. Jaecks starts a "Saturday Science Class" for youth.
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| 1975 | J. Weymouth uses a proton magnetometer for anthropological digs - it determines areas which had prolongued exposure to heat, such as that by a fire place. K. Leung attends a symposium at Cambridge on "Structure and Evolution of Close-Binary Systems". T.P. Jorgensen "retires", but continues working.
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| 1976 | J. Samson receives a Fulbright-Hays fellowship.
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| 1977 | K. Leung is the university's liason for the Energy Research & Development Administration's Office for Nuclear Energy in D.C.
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| 1978 | The National Science Foundation contributes $77,000 towards a $164,000 Helium liquification system for the department. It is eventually placed in the hallway. P. Burrow and N. Simon both win Outstanding Teaching Awards. The Physics & Astronomy Department is named the "most meritorious" in the College of Arts & Sciences. R. Fuller is president of the American Association of Physics Teachers, and Burns an associate dean of the college. M.E. Rudd is president of Division of Electronic & Atomic Particle Physics. J. Samson is on leave in Hawaii one semester; A. Starace is in Germany one semester; L. Sartori is on leave for three years at the U.S. Arms Control & Disarmament Agency, and with the Strategic Affairs Division of the Bureau of International Security Programs. D.J. Sellmyer becomes Chair of the Department; he will hold it until 1984.
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| 1979 | L. Sartori is a senior advisor to the U.S. delegation negotiating the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT). The University of Nebraska State Museum holds an "Einstein Centenniel". R. Katz takes a two-month round the world tour to lecture, attend conferences, and tour labs: he progresses from Japan, to India, to Israel, to Poland, to France, to Germany, to Denmark. M.E. Rudd, J. Macek, D. Burns and A. Starace attend the International Atomic Physics conference in Kyoto. R. Fuller receives a $60,000 grant for videodisk teaching materials. "Fuller cubed"--Robert Fuller, his brother Richard at Gustavus Adolphus and his father Harold at University of Missouri-Rolla--publish Physics Including Human Applications.
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| 1980 | The Physics & Astronomy department publishes its first newsletter; in 1984 it will be officially named "Spectrum". Kam-Ching Leung is invited by the Chinese Academy of the Sciences to visit all the major observatories and astronomy institutes in China.
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| 1981 | J. Samson becomes Charles Mach Regents Professor. E. Pearlstein wins a teaching award. The department launches a cooperative venture with the Chinese educational system, encouraging student exchange.
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| 1982 | J.R. Hardy is named the Outstanding Research Professor.
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| 1983 | L. Sartori becomes Chair elect of the American Physics Society Forum on Physics & Society. Mr. & Mrs. James C. Coe of Phoenix endow a $24,000 annual gift to the department for equipment. The department, when looking to add shelves to its library, finds the floor to be already overloaded by 45%. Burrow is one of the professors who supports students by joining in a sit-in outside the Chancellor's office to protest lack of computer science funding.
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| 1984 | A.F. Starace takes the Chair; he will hold the position through 1995.
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| 1985 | Although the original lens for Swezey's telescope has now been lost, the grandson of Dr. Minnich sends the department a 6" lens in gratitude after a visit to the campus. E.G. Smith takes over as Director of Behlen Observatory. J. Samson wins a Distinguished Teaching Award and R. Fuller receives a Distinguished Service Citation from the AAPT. The Society for Physics Students is reactivated. Behlen Observatory plans half a dozen open houses in connection with Halley's Comet. Byerly retires.
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| 1986 | In the spring, D. Jaecks is on leave in England to study old telescopes in Oxford's Museum of the History of Science. J.H. Macek is named George Homes Professor of Physics. R.G. Fuller is one of only six in the nation honored by the American Association for Higher Education in Washington, D.C.; he also wins a Distinguished Teaching Award. D. Sellmyer receives a $230,000 grant from the Department of Energy (DOE) to work on magnetism. D. Burns and D. Jaecks receive a $291,000 NSF grant to work on "Inelastic Processes in Atomic Collisions", with renewed funding for similar amounts over the next few years. J. Macek receives a $124,000 NSF grant to work on "Theory of Atomic Collisions", and J. Samson receives a $124,000 NSF grant to work on "Photoionization Studies of Atoms". S.S. Jaswal recieves a Fulbright to lecture and research in Vienna.
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| 1987 | D. Sellmyer becomes George Holmes Professor of Physics. J. Samson receives an Outstanding Research & Creativity Award, and W. Campbell receives a Distinguished Teaching award. M.E. Rudd and D. Jaecks receive a five-year $1.2 million NSF grant to work on atomic collisions. J.R. Hardy receives a $109,000 ONR grant to work on "Dielectric Properties of Ferroelectrics", available for renewal over the next few years. UNL becomes part of a network of supercomputers with 11 other schools in the country. Insight names R. Fuller as one of America's Ten Best Professors.
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| 1988 | In August, the department hosts an international meeting on "Pulsating Stars & Fundamental Problems". R. Katz receives a rare Certificate of Appreciation from the DOE. The department hosts a conference on Particle-Track Physics in honor of Katz in October. Macek leaves for University of Tennessee - Knoxville; Schlitt leaves for City College of CUNY. T. Jorgensen's accelerator is refurbished. M.E. Rudd is on leave to work on his book of departmental history. The Astronomical Computing Center with the smaller Minnich telescope is dedicated. The Center for Materials Research & Analysis is established. J. Hardy and F. Ullman receive a $130,000 Army Research Office (ARO) grant to study "Incommensurate Phases & Superlattice Production". G. Snow joins the DZERO team to work on top quarks. R. Fuller is co-author of the first physics book written strictly for use with spreadsheets and computers. P. Burrow becomes an APS fellow. The Lipsky Computer Sciences gives $100,000 for an upgrade of Behlen Observatory. Jorgensen comes out of retirement to teach an Honors freshmen seminar; he wins an Alumni Achievement Award from the college.
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| 1989 | M.E. Rudd writes Science on the Great Plains: The History of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. R. Fuller receives a $590,000 grant from the US Department of Education to work on the the AAPT Industrial Materials Center and the National Interactive Media Project for Secondary Physical Science Courses; he also receives a $113,000 NSF grant to work on "Transforming Physics Content using New Technologies". D. Jaecks receives the Burlington Northern Distinguished Teacher-Scholar Award. J. Hardy receives an Outstanding Research & Creativity Award, and a $104,000 grant to work on "Theoretical Studies of Fundamental Lattice Absorption in Highly Transparent Solids". D. Sellmyer receives a $120,000 grant to work on "Vacuum Spluttering Chambers". E. Zimmerman and J. Weymouth retire. The Agricultural Meteorology department comes into existence. By the end of his first semester, Sy-Hwang Liou has six papers in the works. C. Bettis poses questions for the "Mr. Wizard" program for children.
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| 1990 | Phi Beta Kappa names J. Samson an honorary member. Fuller's instructional videodisks are mailed out using pizza boxes. A. Starace becomes Chair of the Division of Atomic, Molecular & Optical Physics of APS.
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| 1991 | M.E. Rudd is named an Outstanding Teacher-Scholar by the University. The University begins to develop plans to share research for a super collider in Texas with universities in Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming, Arizona, Minnesota, and Oregon. The American Association of Physics Teachers gives $1.48 million to the physics program for an Instrument Materials Center. R. Kirby and C. Bettis receive special recognition for developing the "Saturday Science Program". A. Starace receives a visiting fellowship from the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics of the National Institute of Standards of Technology at the University of Colorado. Jorgensen wins a Doc Elliot Award from the Alumni Association.
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| 1992 | The "Burton Evans Moore Professorship in Physics" is established with a $15,000 gift for a $200,000 principle. M.E. Rudd's book on the history of the department becomes available for sale, mostly to alumni, etc. The Horticulture department offers apple trees supposedly grown from Newton's original tree. R. Fuller is awarded the AAPT Millikan Medal; he also receives a $469,000 NSF grant to work on "Every Physics Teacher's CD-ROM Toolkit". Fuller, R. Kirby, N. Simon and Marilyn T. McDowell all receive Recognition Awards for Contributions to Students. E.G. Schmidt receives the college's Distinguished Teaching Award. J. Hardy receives two awards from the ARO: a $100,000 grant to work on "Studies of Ionic Molecular Solids", and a $150,000 award from ARO and EPSCOR to study "Structural Instabilities in Complex Ionic Solids". D. Jaecks receives a $170,000 grant to work on "Correlation Studies of Three Massive Coulomb-Interacting Particles". D. Sellmyer receives a $124,000 NEO grant for "Development of New Permanent Magnet Materials for Engery-Related Applications". N. Simon receives a $137,000 NASA grant for "A Test of New Radiative Opacities & Their Incorporation into Improved Cepheid Pulsation Models".
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| 1993 | The plan for the supercollider in Texas falls through after Congress cuts the (comparatively small) $11 billion expense; UNL has difficulty reacting to the sudden alteration in its plans for three faculty new faculty members. G. Snow decides to stay. NASA plans to use S. Ducharme's ellipsometer to study degredation of material in space. The NSF sponsors plans for a dome and new telescope to be located on top of Ferguson Hall.
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| 1994 | T.P. Jorgensen publishes The Physics of Golf; by 2006, it will be translated into 11 languages.
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| 1995 | G. Snow's and D. Claes' team, DZERO, discovers the top quark. D. Sellmyer chairs the search committee for a new chancellor. D. Leslie-Pelecky is a presenter for the UNL Speakers Bureau; she gives jargon-free presentations to emphasize the role of science in everyday life, the increasing need for technological literacy and skills and the role of women in science. Fire restrictions for Ferguson Hall halt plans for the construction of the observatory.
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| 1996 | R.D. Kirby takes up the Chair of the department. The department hosts its first annual Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) in Nanostructured Materials. The department celebrates Jorgensen's 90th birthday party in November. P. Dowben receives a $133,000 DOE grant for "Fabrication & Characterization of Micron Scale Ferromagnetic Features". R. Fuller receives a $112,000 NSF grant for "Research & Development in Hypermedia for Knowing Physics". T. Gay receives a $172,000 NSF grant for "Polarized Electron Physics". D. Leslie-Pelecky receives a $152,000 NSF grant for "Strengthening Graduate Education in Science & Engineering Through Systematic Involvement in Research & Outreach Activities". J. Samson receives a $116,000 NSF grant for "Photoionization Studies of Atoms". D. Sellmyer receives a $1.05 million grant from EPSCoR for "Materials Research on Nano-Structured & Complex Systems"; he also wins an Outstanding Research & Creativity Award. The department offers a "Physics Phun" class for the Bright Lights outreach program for grade-school and middle-school students. M. Gaskell finds evidence of binary black holes. R. Fuller is a presenter for the Speakers Bureau; he works on "Preparing the University for Paperless Pedagogy". The Center for Materials Research & Analysis hosts the 44th Annual Midwest Solid State Conference in October. A. Starace is honored as a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. |
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| 1997 | R. Fuller offers the first "paperless course", a combination of Physics 211 & 220. Comet Hale-Bopp takes three months to traverse the sky; Behlen Observatory opens the 30" telescope to the public every evening from 8 to 11 p.m. to view the comet. UNL hosts a conference for physics educators sponsored by Project Kaleidoscope. The observatory plans are relocated to the top of the new Memorial Stadium parking garage, with construction due to finish in mid-October; a new astrophysics course is planned for Spring 1998. The success of the open-viewing nights at Behlen Observatory leads to a schedule for similar nights at the new observatory.
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| 1998 | After his retirement, M.E. Rudd begins to clean and catalogue equipment from the attic in Brace. UNL hosts the 61st summer meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers. R. Fuller designs a study abroad program offered at five European Universities: "Investigations of the Scientific or Cultural Aspects of the Bicycle Using Multimedia". J. Woollam (an electrical engineer and solid-state physicist) and his Nebraska team, in collaboration with NASA space scientists, work to cure problems with Hubble and Mir telescopes. Norman F. Ramsey, winner of the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physics, speaks at the University in April. The American Association of Physics Teachers conducts its summer meeting at the Ramada in August. T. Gay is a member of the Speakers Bureau; he presents "Why isn't Nature Ambidexterous?" and "Why Send your Kid to College?" The University, with a grant from NSF, establishes the Research Computing Center. G. Snow becomes Chair of the Fermilab's Users Executive Council. Lisa Wiese, who receives her PhD in May, is one of five finalists for the Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award given by the Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics of the American Physical Society.
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| 1999 | T. Gay stars in several 45-second spots about the physics of footbal at Husker games in Memorial Stadium. A newly discovered asteroid is named for D.B. Brace. L. Sartori retires. UNL hosts the first Aerospace Days in May. The department builds an exchange program with Salfor University in Manchester. The Elbridge & Mary Stowell Scholarship Fund is established. D. Leslie-Pelecky receives a $320,000 Career Development grant from NSF. S. Jaswal endows the Banti & Mela Ram Jaswal Scholarship Fund for Undergraduates. D. Sellmyer starts the David J. & Catherine J. Sellmyer Endowment Fund for Condensed Matter & Materials Physics. P. Burrow receives a $110,000 NSF grant for "Temporary Anions & Dissociative Attachment Probes of Intra- and Intermolecular Interactions". P. Dowben and S. Adenwalla receive a $180,000 NSF grant for "Development of Spin Polarized Electron Scattering". Dowben, Adenwalla and Sy-Hwang Liou receive a $114,000 NSF grant for "The Non-metal Transition in Magnetic Local Moment Systems". Liou also receives a $134,000 Midwest Superconducting Consortium grant for "Homologous-Series Superconductors & Multilayer Junctions". D. Sellmyer receives a grant from the ARO for $250,000 for "Advanced Magnets for Power Systems" and a $170,000 grant from the DOE for "Fundamental & Magnetic-Hardening Studies of Nanocrystalline & Nanocomposite Magnets". Sellmyer, B. Doudin, Dowben, R. Kirby and Lious receive a $250,000 Nebraska Research Initiative (NRI) grant for "Nanoscale Materials for Information Technologies". Marsha Torr joins the faculty when she becomes Vice Chancellor for Research.
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| 2000 | D. Claes & G. Snow start the Cosmic Ray Observatory Project with a substantial grant from the NSF. M. Gaskell is a finalist for Outstanding Educator of the Year by student government. UNL hosts the second annual Air & Space Days in May. L. Sartori receives the James A. Lake Academic Freedom award from the Academic Senate on for his defense of academic freedom during the Cold War. R. Fuller is awarded the Commander's Award for Public Service by West Point. M. Torr leaves to accept a Vice Presidency at Virginia Commonwealth. G. Snow is part of the Speakers Bureau; he presents "News Flash! Nebraska High School Students Detect Cosmic Rays!" and "The Particle Zoo." 1957 physics alumnus Alan Heeger receives the Nobel Prize in chemistry.
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| 2001 | A. Starace becomes a George Holmes University Professor. UNL Hosts the Electron-Molecule Scattering Symposium in July. D. Leslie-Pelecky, along with R. Kirby and several professors in other departments, receives a $1.44 million NSF grant for work on the K-12 program FULCRUM. Four professors win Department of Defense grants: P. Dowben for "Spin-polarization at Ferromagnetic-insulator Interfaces;" D. Leslie-Pelecky for "Cluster-assembled Soft Magnets for Power Electronics Applications;" Y. Qiang for "Control Dynamics of Interacting Spins in Nanoscale Metamaterials;" and R. Skomski for "Advanced Nanostructured Magnetic Materials." H. Batelaan's team becomes the first to observe the Kapitza-Dirac effect. Batelaan receives a $130,000 NSF grant for "Matter Optics with Intense Laser Light", and a $107,000 NRI grant with A. Starace and D. Sellmyer for "Quantum Information Technology". D. Claes and G. Snow receive $180,000 NSF grant for "Experimental High Energy Physics". S. Ducharme, P. Dowben and S. Adenwalla receive a $183,000 NRI grant for "Ultrathin Polymer Films for Microelectronic Devices". R. Fuller, Plano-Clark & Spiegel receive a $166,000 NSF grant for "Collaborative Proposal-Reforming Physics: Algebra-Based Physics with Human Applications". T. Gay receives a $260,000 NSF grant for "Polarized Electron Physics". D. Jaecks receives a $237,000 NSF grant for "Mass Dependent Effects in Correlated Motion of Massive Coulomb Interacting Particles: Quantitative". Lious, Doudin, Qiang, Rajca and Sellmyer receive a $158,000 grant for "Acquisition of a Focused Ion Beam Workstation for Processing of Single Crystals & Nanometer-Size Materials". Sellmyer receives a $160,000 Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) grant for "Acquisition of a Squid Magnometer", and a $981,000 ONR grant for "Nanoscale Magneto-Electric Structures & Devices". T Gay is retained by the NFL to tape twenty-one segments on the physics of footbal "Blast". Mahantappa Jogad, a senior lecturer in physics at Sharanabasaveshwar College of Science in Karnataka, India, is lecturing and researching on a Fulbright during the spring semester in physics and astronomy. G. Snow is part of the Speakers Bureau; he presents "Students Track 'Little Pieces of Stars'" and "Big Science, Big Politics."
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| 2002 | The Materials researchers receive a $5.4 million NSF grant to establish a Materials Research Science & Engineering Center at UNL, making it one of 27 such elite centers in the nation. P. Dowben becomes a Charles E. Bessey Professor. The Kurt Meyer Physics Scholarship is established. Vanvilai K., the first woman PhD of the Department (1983), establishes the Cheunjit Katkanant Memorial Scholarship fund. The university eliminates the sciences' branch libraries. D. Leslie-Pelecky receives a $170,000 NRI grant for "Magnetic Nanopart for Biomedical Applications". Sellmyer, Skomski & Liu receive a $110,000 grant for "Novel Magnetic Nanostructures". G. Snow receives a $100,000 UN Foundation grant for "Scientific and Information Technology Equipment". A. Starace receives a $120,000 DOE grant for "Dynamics of Few-Body Atomic Processes". E. Tsymbal receives a $157,000 NRI grant for "Nanoscale Junctions for Magnetoelectronic Applications".
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| 2003 | The W.M. Keck Center for Mesospin & Quantum Information Systems is dedicated. Eric Cornell, winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics lectures at UNL in February. 1996 doctoral alumnus Imaddin Al Omari receives the Abdul Hameed Shoman Award for Young Arab Scientists in Physics. The Center for Materials Research & Analysis develops a tiny neutron detector. H. Batelaan wins Sigma Xi's Outstanding Young Scientist Award; his group succeeds in preserving a qubit - a bit of quantum memory by capturing polarized light. James W. Cronin, who shared the 1980 Nobel Prize in physics, gives the address at UNL commencement. The Elizabeth Anne, Stephen M. & Robert M. Eddy Scholarship fund is established. C.M. Gaskell receives a $102,000 NSF grant for "Variability of Active Galactic Nuclei". E. Schmidt & Lee receive a $112,000 NSF grant for "Development of Interactive Simulation Environs for Inquiry Astronomy Teaching". S. Liou receives a $150,000 UCLA subcontract from DARPA-MOSAIC for "Scanning Probes for Electon Spin Detection". P. Dowben, B. Doudin and Robertson receive a $129,000 NSF grant for "Development of a Novel Inorganic Dielectric Barrier Layer for Magneto-Resistent Junctions". Sellmyer receives a $252,000 NSF grant for the "Acquisition of an X-Ray Diffractometer for Nanoscale Materials Research & Education", a $900,000 NSF-MRSEC grant for "MRSEC: Quantum & Spin Phenomena in Nanomagnetic Structures", and a $284,000 NU grant for "Nanoscale Science & Technology Program of Excellence". A. Starace receives a $133,000 NU grant for "Atomic, Molecular & Optic Physics Programs of Excellence". E. Tsymbal and S. Jaswal receive a $100,000 NSF grant for "Theory of Electric, Magnetic & Transport Properties of Nanoscale Magnetic Junctions". Jacobs establishes the Ted Jorgensen Fund.
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| 2004 | Amiran Knuskivadze, a doctoral student about to graduate, is killed in an automobile accident in January. T. Gay is removed from the Husker Vision lineup after Coach Solich is fired. P. Dowben, G. Snow & D. Umstadter are all named APS fellows. B. Doudin receives an Outstanding Young Scientist Award from Sigma Xi.
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| 2005 | UNL hosts the American Physical Society's Division of Atomic, Molecular & Optic Physics annual meeting. UNL is chosen as the site for a major computing facility "Tier-2" to host and process data from the new Large Hadron Collider at CERN. In August the group receives a five-year, $2 million grant from the NSF for work with the Compact Muon Solenoid, or CMS. C. Binek, K. Bloom and A. Dominguez all receive NSF CAREER awards. T.P. Jorgensen turns 100 in November. A. Starace wins an Outstanding Research & Creativity Award.
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| 2006 | Xiao Cheng Zeng, a chemistry professor, is named a fellow in APS. Plans for a new physics complex are approved. Researchers from two national laboratories and 10 universities across the United States, including UNL, participate in a test of the first truly worldwide grid-computing infrastructure; the test measures data transfer rates between the sites - data is transferred around the world at a rate of up to one gigabyte (1 billion bytes) per second. D. Sellmyer receives Sigma Xi's Outstanding Scientist Award. T.P. Jorgensen dies at the age of 100. D. Umstadter builds a 100 Terawatt Laser Lab to house the Diocles Laser.
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| 2007 | A UNL research group of A. Sokolov, E. Tsymbal, J. Redepenning, former professor B. Doudin and graduate student C. Zhang breaks ground in spin electronics by proving a magnetoresistance phenomenon on the nanoscale. G. Snow presents for the Speakers Bureau with "Did a Giant Asteroid Kill the Dinosaurs?" and "E=mc2: The Most Famous Scientific Formula." C. Binek receives Sigma Xi's Outstanding Young Scientist award.
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| 2008 | D. Leslie-Pelecky publishes The Physics of NASCAR: How to Make Steel + Gas + Rubber = Speed. Axel Enders receives a five-year $400,000 Faculty Early Career Development Award from the NSF. Three UNL papers are included in a list of the best physics research of the year: "Quantized Magnetoresistance," by UNL professors A. Sokolov, E. Tsymbal, J. Redepenning, former professor B. Doudin and graduate student C. Zhang; "Tevatron's Higgs Quest Quickens," with contribution by A. Dominguez, G. Snow, K. Bloom and D. Claes; and "The Highest-Energy Cosmic Rays," with collaboration by G. Snow. The UNL computing center expands (supercomputers PrairieFire, Red, Homestead and Merritt) into the South Stadium Schorr Center.
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