#96-93
Mailed 12/19/96
BROOKHAVEN LAB PHYSICIST WINS PRESIDENTIAL AWARD
Upton, NY - John Hill, an associate physicist at the U.S. Department of
Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, was one of 60 researchers from
around the nation to be honored with the Presidential Early Career Award
for Scientists and Engineers. The newly created award recognizes outstanding
scientists and engineers in the early stages of their careers who show exceptional
potential for leadership in their fields.
NOTE TO EDITORS: (For a complete list of winners, please see the attached
press release issued by the White House.)
John H. Gibbons, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology,
and Charles Curtis, Deputy Secretary of Energy, presented the award to Dr.
Hill at a White House ceremony on December 16.
Dr. Hill was also one of six researchers who received the newly instituted
Young Scientist Award issued by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of
Energy Research for extraordinary scientific and technical achievement.
Out of those six so honored, four had gone on to receive the Presidential
Award.
By investigating how magnetism changes under different temperatures at the
microscopic level, Dr. Hill has provided insight into the phases of magnetism
in a variety of materials. In addition, he studies the motion of electrons
in metals using x-rays as a probe. Electrons do not remain bound to individual
atoms in metals, as they do in other materials, but move freely in a liquid-like
state. This is the reason why metals are good conductors of heat and electricity.
Dr. Hill performs his experiments in basic physics at two of Brookhaven's
premiere research facilities: the National Synchrotron Light Source and
the High Flux Beam Reactor.
John Hill earned a B.Sc. in physics from Imperial College in London, England,
in 1986, and a Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
in 1992. That same year, he joined the staff in the Physics Department at
Brookhaven, and, in 1993, he became an assistant physicist. In 1995, he
was promoted to associate physicist.
Brookhaven National Laboratory carries out basic and applied research in
the physical, biomedical and environmental sciences and in selected energy
technologies. Brookhaven is operated by Associated Universities, Inc., a
nonprofit research management organization, under contract with the U.S.
Department of Energy.
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