Herman Brenner White (born 28 September 1948) is an American physicist who works at Fermilab. He won the 2010 American Physical Society Edward A Bouchet Award.
Herman Brenner White | |
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![]() White in Fermilab in 2005 | |
Born | 28 September 1948 |
Alma mater | Michigan State University Earlham College |
Scientific career | |
Institutions | Fermilab North Central College |
Early life and education
editWhite was born in Tuskegee, Alabama.[1] His mother, Susie Mae Fort White, worked at John Andrew Hospital and his father, Herman Brenner White Senior, served in the military.[1] He studied at the Tuskegee Institute High School, where he became interested in nuclear engineering.[1] He was raised in a segregated community.[2] He saw his role in the civil rights movement as being an exceptional student who could prove that black people deserved equal access to education.[1] He studied nuclear physics at Earlham College, before joining Michigan State University, earning a bachelor's degree in physics in 1970.[1][3] White was awarded an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship to study at CERN, and also worked as a research associate at Argonne National Laboratory.[1][2] He completed his master's degree in 1974.[1] He joined Fermilab in 1974, where he was the first African-American physicist to be appointed.[4]
Research and career
editWhite held various roles at Fermilab since joining in 1974.[3] Working with his supervisor, Ray Stefanski, he developed a simple formula to calculate neutrino flux.[5] In 1976 he joined Yale University as a research fellow. He joined Florida State University for his doctoral studies, earning a PhD in 1991.[3] He joined the Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí to work on kaons. In 1994, White was appointed the Illinois Research Corridor Fellow and adjunct professor at North Central College.[3][6] He also worked on the neutrino oscillation experiment (E701) and SciBooNE.[7] He studies neutrino cross-sections and muon conversion.[2][8] In 2006 his life story was recorded by the HistoryMakers of Chicago as part of the oral history archives.[3]
White supports students from diverse backgrounds in their careers in physics.[9] In 2010 White was awarded the American Physical Society Edward A. Bouchet Award for his work on the Tevatron experiment and outstanding public service.[10] He serves on the advisory board for QuarkNet, National Society of Black Physicists and the Illinois Institute of Technology.[6][2] He is a member of the Teachers Academy for Mathematics and Science in Chicago.[11] He served on the advisory panel for the United States Department of Energy and National Science Foundation.[7] He ran for congress in the 11th congressional district of Illinois in 2016.[12] In 2017 he appeared in a series of online videos for Science the Day!.[13][14] He took part in The Story Collider in Batavia, Illinois in 2018.[15][16]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g "Biography Page for Herman White". www.idvl.org. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
- ^ a b c d Roberson, Stephen. "Herman White, Jr". www.nsbp.org. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
- ^ a b c d e "Herman Brenner White, Jr. | The HistoryMakers". www.thehistorymakers.org. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
- ^ "Fermilab's First Black Particle Physicist - Dr. Herman B. White | The Chicago Council on Science and Technology". www.c2st.org. 3 February 2017. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
- ^ "Ray Stefanski retires after 41 years | News". news.fnal.gov. 5 January 2011. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
- ^ a b "Fermilab's 2007 Nature of Science Symposium". ed.fnal.gov. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
- ^ a b "Fermilab Today". www.fnal.gov. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
- ^ "The $100 muon detector". symmetry magazine. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
- ^ "6th International Conference on Women in Physics: U.S. Delegation". uswip.org. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
- ^ "2018 Norman F. Ramsey Prize in Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, and in Precision Tests of Fundamental Laws and Symmetries Recipient". www.aps.org. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
- ^ "Herman White | Fermilab Community Advisory Board". www.fermilabcommunity.org. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
- ^ "Herman White for Congress | 11th Congressional District". www.hermanwhiteforcongress.com. Archived from the original on 2018-09-30. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
- ^ Science The Day! (2017-02-03), Fermilab's First Black Particle Physicist - Dr. Herman B. White, retrieved 2018-09-30
- ^ Science The Day! (2017-02-09), Dr. Herman B. White: Particle Physics & Romantic Love, retrieved 2018-09-30
- ^ "Batavia, IL - Physics". The Story Collider. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
- ^ "The Story Collider – Leaving Home: Stories about the places we're from – 33:08". Retrieved 2018-09-30.