Nicholas P. Samios

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Nicholas P. Samios (born March 15, 1932, in NYC) is an American physicist and former director of the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York.[1]

Biography[edit]

He majored in physics at Columbia College of Columbia University, from which he graduated in 1953; he earned his PhD at Columbia in 1957. He worked on the Columbia faculty for three years before joining Brookhaven's physics department, where he was appointed laboratory director in May 1982.[2] A major achievement of his tenure was the construction of the RHIC, the first heavy-ion collider.[3] He stepped down as director in 1997 after a dispute on leaked radioactivity in the laboratory, but continued to work as a researcher.[4] In 2003 he became director of the RIKEN BNL Research Center.[1]

Scientific achievements[edit]

Samios has specialized in the physics of high-energy particles. He is especially known for his study of elementary particles, in particular for the discovery of the Omega minus particle in 1964 as postulated by Murray Gell-Mann and Yuval Ne'eman, as well as the first charmed baryon.[3] These discoveries have contributed to the understanding of the spectrum of particles and have carried to the formulation of Quantum Chromodynamics and the Standard Model of particle physics.[5]

Awards[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c AIP (ed.). "Nicholas P. Samios. Biography". Physics History Network. Retrieved 2018-10-17.
  2. ^ Neutrino Facilities Assessment Committee; Board on Physics and Astronomy; Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences (13 May 2003). Neutrinos and Beyond: New Windows on Nature. National Academies Press. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-309-08716-2.
  3. ^ a b Gettler, Joe (17 October 2014). "Brookhaven Lab Names Former Director Nicholas Samios Senior Scientist Emeritus". Brooklyn National Laboratory. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  4. ^ John T. McQuiston (1997-03-08). "Lab Director In Dispute Steps Down". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2015-05-27.
  5. ^ "People". CERN Courier. 42 (6): 34. July–August 2002. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  6. ^ "Nicholas P. Samios, 1980". The Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award. U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC). Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  7. ^ a b McNulty Walsh, Karen; Genzer, Peter (4 June 2009). "Physicist Nicholas Samios Awarded Gian Carlo Wick Gold Medal". Brooklyn National Laboratory. Retrieved 20 July 2020.

Further reading[edit]