Michael Thoennessen

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Michael Thoennessen is a University Distinguished Professor at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams of Michigan State University (MSU) and an elected Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS).

Contents

Education and Career

Michael Thoennessen received his Ph.D. in experimental nuclear physics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1988. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the Joint Institute for Heavy Ion Research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee he joined the faculty of Michigan State University in the Department of Physics & Astronomy and the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL). He served as the Editor-in-Chief of the American Physical Society's Physical Review journals from 2017 [1] until 2022. [2]

Research

For his Ph.D. thesis Michael Thoennessen performed the first measurement of the giant dipole resonance built on highly excited state in heavy fissile nuclides. [3] [4] At MSU he focused on the study of extremely proton- and neutron-rich nuclides. [5] As a founding member of the Modular Neutron Array collaboration his research group measured the properties of nuclides at and beyond the dripline. [6] Especially noteworthy was the discovery of 26O. [7] Overall, Prof. Thoennessen co-authored the discovery of 50 isotopes. [8]

Honors

Thoennessen received the Benjamin J. Dasher Award [9] (1998) and the William Elgin Wickenden Award [10] (1990) of the American Society for Engineering Education. He was elected fellow of the APS [11] in 2005 he also received the University Distinguished Faculty Award at MSU. [12] He won the GENCO (GSI Exotic Nuclei Community) Membership Award [13] in 2005 and the APS Division of Nuclear Physics Mentoring Award [14] in 2009. He was named Physical Review Outstanding Referee [15] in 2013 and appointed University Distinguished Professor in 2013. [16]

Scientific Publications

Related Research Articles

Hassium is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Hs and atomic number 108. It is highly radioactive: its most stable known isotopes have half-lives of about ten seconds. One of its isotopes, 270Hs, has magic numbers of protons and neutrons for deformed nuclei, giving it greater stability against spontaneous fission. Hassium is a superheavy element; it has been produced in a laboratory in very small quantities by fusing heavy nuclei with lighter ones. Natural occurrences of hassium have been hypothesized but never found.

Meitnerium is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Mt and atomic number 109. It is an extremely radioactive synthetic element. The most stable known isotope, meitnerium-278, has a half-life of 4.5 seconds, although the unconfirmed meitnerium-282 may have a longer half-life of 67 seconds. The element was first synthesized in August 1982 by the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research near Darmstadt, Germany, and it was named after Lise Meitner in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neutron</span> Subatomic particle with no charge

The neutron is a subatomic particle, symbol
n
 or
n0
, that has no electric charge, and a mass slightly greater than that of a proton. Protons and neutrons constitute the nuclei of atoms. Since protons and neutrons behave similarly within the nucleus, they are both referred to as nucleons. Nucleons have a mass of approximately one atomic mass unit, or dalton. Their properties and interactions are described by nuclear physics. Protons and neutrons are not elementary particles; each is composed of three quarks.

Darmstadtium is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Ds and atomic number 110. It is extremely radioactive: the most stable known isotope, darmstadtium-281, has a half-life of approximately 14 seconds. Darmstadtium was first created in November 1994 by the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in the city of Darmstadt, Germany, after which it was named.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Island of stability</span> Predicted set of isotopes of relatively more stable superheavy elements

In nuclear physics, the island of stability is a predicted set of isotopes of superheavy elements that may have considerably longer half-lives than known isotopes of these elements. It is predicted to appear as an "island" in the chart of nuclides, separated from known stable and long-lived primordial radionuclides. Its theoretical existence is attributed to stabilizing effects of predicted "magic numbers" of protons and neutrons in the superheavy mass region.

Moscovium is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Mc and atomic number 115. It was first synthesized in 2003 by a joint team of Russian and American scientists at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, Russia. In December 2015, it was recognized as one of four new elements by the Joint Working Party of international scientific bodies IUPAC and IUPAP. On 28 November 2016, it was officially named after the Moscow Oblast, in which the JINR is situated.

<i>r</i>-process Nucleosynthesis pathway

In nuclear astrophysics, the rapid neutron-capture process, also known as the r-process, is a set of nuclear reactions that is responsible for the creation of approximately half of the atomic nuclei heavier than iron, the "heavy elements", with the other half produced by the p-process and s-process. The r-process usually synthesizes the most neutron-rich stable isotopes of each heavy element. The r-process can typically synthesize the heaviest four isotopes of every heavy element; of these, the heavier two are called r-only nuclei because they are created exclusively via the r-process. Abundance peaks for the r-process occur near mass numbers A = 82, A = 130 and A = 196.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ISOLDE</span> Physics facility at CERN

The ISOLDE Radioactive Ion Beam Facility, is an on-line isotope separator facility located at the centre of the CERN accelerator complex on the Franco-Swiss border. Created in 1964, the ISOLDE facility started delivering radioactive ion beams (RIBs) to users in 1967. Originally located at the Synchro-Cyclotron (SC) accelerator, the facility has been upgraded several times most notably in 1992 when the whole facility was moved to be connected to CERN's ProtonSynchroton Booster (PSB). ISOLDE is currently the longest-running facility in operation at CERN, with continuous developments of the facility and its experiments keeping ISOLDE at the forefront of science with RIBs. ISOLDE benefits a wide range of physics communities with applications covering nuclear, atomic, molecular and solid-state physics, but also biophysics and astrophysics, as well as high-precision experiments looking for physics beyond the Standard Model. The facility is operated by the ISOLDE Collaboration, comprising CERN and sixteen (mostly) European countries. As of 2019, close to 1,000 experimentalists around the world are coming to ISOLDE to perform typically 50 different experiments per year.

Dubnium (105Db) is a synthetic element, thus a standard atomic weight cannot be given. Like all synthetic elements, it has no stable isotopes. The first isotope to be synthesized was 261Db in 1968. Thirteen radioisotopes are known, ranging from 255Db to 270Db, along with one isomer (257mDb); two more isomers have been reported but are unconfirmed. The longest-lived known isotope is 268Db with a half-life of 16 hours.

Hassium (108Hs) is a synthetic element, and thus a standard atomic weight cannot be given. Like all synthetic elements, it has no stable isotopes. The first isotope to be synthesized was 265Hs in 1984. There are 13 known isotopes from 263Hs to 277Hs and up to six isomers. The most stable known isotope is 271Hs, with a half-life of about 46 seconds, though this assignment is not definite due to uncertainty arising from a low number of measurements. The isotopes 269Hs and 270Hs respectively have half-lives of about 12 seconds and 7.6 seconds. It is also possible that the isomer 277mHs is more stable than these, with a reported half-life 130±100 seconds, but only one event of decay of this isotope has been registered as of 2016.

Meitnerium (109Mt) is a synthetic element, and thus a standard atomic weight cannot be given. Like all synthetic elements, it has no stable isotopes. The first isotope to be synthesized was 266Mt in 1982, and this is also the only isotope directly synthesized; all other isotopes are only known as decay products of heavier elements. There are eight known isotopes, from 266Mt to 278Mt. There may also be two isomers. The longest-lived of the known isotopes is 278Mt with a half-life of 8 seconds. The unconfirmed heavier 282Mt appears to have an even longer half-life of 67 seconds.

Darmstadtium (110Ds) is a synthetic element, and thus a standard atomic weight cannot be given. Like all synthetic elements, it has no stable isotopes. The first isotope to be synthesized was 269Ds in 1994. There are 11 known radioisotopes from 267Ds to 281Ds and 2 or 3 known isomers. The longest-lived isotope is 281Ds with a half-life of 14 seconds. However, the unconfirmed 282Ds might have an even longer half-life of 67 seconds.

Roentgenium (111Rg) is a synthetic element, and thus a standard atomic weight cannot be given. Like all synthetic elements, it has no stable isotopes. The first isotope to be synthesized was 272Rg in 1994, which is also the only directly synthesized isotope; all others are decay products of heavier elements. There are seven known radioisotopes, having mass numbers of 272, 274, and 278–282. The longest-lived isotope is 282Rg with a half-life of about 2 minutes, although the unconfirmed 283Rg and 286Rg may have longer half-lives of about 5.1 minutes and 10.7 minutes respectively.

Moscovium (115Mc) is a synthetic element, and thus a standard atomic weight cannot be given. Like all synthetic elements, it has no known stable isotopes. The first isotope to be synthesized was 288Mc in 2004. There are five known radioisotopes from 286Mc to 290Mc. The longest-lived isotope is 290Mc with a half-life of 0.65 seconds.

Livermorium (116Lv) is a synthetic element, and thus a standard atomic weight cannot be given. Like all artificial elements, it has no stable isotopes. The first isotope to be synthesized was 293Lv in 2000. There are six known radioisotopes, with mass numbers 288–293, as well as a few suggestive indications of a possible heavier isotope 294Lv. The longest-lived known isotope is 293Lv with a half-life of 70 ms.

Oganesson (118Og) is a synthetic element created in particle accelerators, and thus a standard atomic weight cannot be given. Like all synthetic elements, it has no stable isotopes. The first and only isotope to be synthesized was 294Og in 2002 and 2005; it has a half-life of 0.7 milliseconds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuclear drip line</span> Atomic nuclei decay delimiter

The nuclear drip line is the boundary beyond which atomic nuclei are unbound with respect to the emission of a proton or neutron.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artemis Spyrou</span> Experimental nuclear astrophysicist

Artemisia (Artemis) Spyrou is a Cypriot experimental nuclear astrophysicist and professor at Michigan State University. She is also the Associate Director for Education and Outreach at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory. She was the recipient of a NSF CAREER Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans Geissel</span> German experimental nuclear physicist (1950–2024)

Hans Geissel was a German experimental physicist who studied the atomic and nuclear interaction of energetic heavy ions with matter. In particular, his research focused on the discovery of new isotopes and the investigation of their properties. Geissel was an adjunct professor at the II Institute of Physics at JLU Giessen and was head of the FRS / Super-FRS department at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt, where he was a Helmholtz Professor.

References

  1. ↑ Voss, David (June 2017). "Michael Thoennessen Appointed New APS Editor in Chief". American Physical Society.
  2. ↑ "Randell Kamien named APS editor in chief". 7 December 2022.
  3. ↑ "Giant dipole resonance in highly excited lead and thorium nuclei". ProQuest   303750463.
  4. ↑ Paul, P; Thoennessen, M (1994). "Fission Time Scales from Giant Dipole Resonances". Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science. 44 (44): 65–108. Bibcode:1994ARNPS..44...65P. doi:10.1146/annurev.ns.44.120194.000433.
  5. ↑ Thoennessen, M (2004). "Reaching the limits of nuclear stability". Reports on Progress in Physics. 67 (7): 1187–1232. Bibcode:2004RPPh...67.1187T. doi:10.1088/0034-4885/67/7/R04.
  6. ↑ Baumann, T; Spyrou, A; Thoennessen, M (2012). "Nuclear structure experiments along the neutron drip line". Reports on Progress in Physics. 75 (3): 036301. Bibcode:2012RPPh...75c6301B. doi:10.1088/0034-4885/75/3/036301. PMID   22790419.
  7. ↑ Lunderberg, E; DeYoung, PA; Kohley, Z; et al. (2012). "Evidence for the Ground-State Resonance of 26O". Physical Review Letters. 108 (14): 142503. arXiv: 1202.3973 . Bibcode:2012PhRvL.108n2503L. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.142503. PMID   22540789.
  8. ↑ "Discovery of isotopes search".
  9. ↑ "Benjamin J. Dasher Award".
  10. ↑ "William Elgin Wickenden Award".
  11. ↑ "APS Fellows Archive". www.aps.org. Retrieved 2025-01-07.
  12. ↑ "MSU Distinguished Faculty Award".
  13. ↑ "GSI Exotic Nuclei Community". February 2019.
  14. ↑ "APS/DNP Mentoring Award".
  15. ↑ "Physical Review Outstanding Referee".
  16. ↑ "MSU University Distinguished Professor".
  17. ↑ Thoennessen, Michael (2016). The Discovery of Isotopes: A Complete Compilation. Bibcode:2016dicc.book.....T. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-31763-2. ISBN   978-3-319-31761-8.,
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