Laboratory scientist receives prestigious nuclear physics award

Contact: Todd Hanson, tahanson@lanl.gov, (505) 665-2085

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LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Jan. 3, 2002 -- Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist, J. David Bowman has been awarded the Tom W. Bonner Prize in nuclear physics. Granted annually by the American Physical Society, the Bonner Prize is the top American nuclear physics award. This is the second time that a Los Alamos scientist has received this honor.

Bowman is being recognized for his studies of parity nonconservation in compound nuclei -- a property of physical systems related to the forces that act between nucleons (neutrons and protons). The experiments were carried out at the Lujan Center of the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center, the premier facility worldwide for this class of experiment. The prize will be presented to Bowman at the spring national meeting of APS, to be held later this year in Albuquerque.

Congratulating Bowman, Laboratory Director John Browne said, "We are very proud of Dave's achievements and the recognition this brings to Los Alamos and to our nuclear physics program. His work exemplifies the cutting-edge science and technical capability that underpins our important contributions to the nation."

Bowman received his Ph.D. in Physics and Mathematics from the California Institute of Technology in 1967 and worked as a research fellow at the University of Bonn, Germany, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory before joining the staff of the Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility (LAMPF) in 1974. Bowman is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, a Laboratory Fellow and currently the leader of a team of scientists in Los Alamos' Neutron Science and Technology Group that carries out basic research in fundamental symmetries as well as applied physics. Bowman began his work on parity nonconservation shortly after coming to Los Alamos.

The Bonner Prize was established in 1964 as a memorial to Thomas Wilkerson Bonner, a former Professor of Physics at Rice University and member of the National Academy of Science. The prize is bestowed annually based on the recommendations of a committee of scientists. It consists of a $7,500 monetary award and a certificate citing the contributions made by the recipient to nuclear science.

The American Physical Society, an international organization of scientists with more than 40,000 members, sponsors national, divisional and regional meetings and publishes some of the world's most prestigious and widely read physics research journals.

Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.

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