Dalitz, Richard Henry 1925-2006

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DALITZ, Richard Henry 1925-2006

PERSONAL:

Born February 28, 1925, in Dimboola, Victoria, Australia; died January 13, 2006, in Oxford, England; became a British citizen; son of F.W. and Hazel Blanche Dalitz; married Valda Suiter, August 8, 1946; children: Rodric, Katrine, Heather, Ellyn. Education: University of Melbourne, B.A. (first-class honors), 1944, B.Sc. (first-class honors), 1945; University of Cambridge, Ph.D., 1950; University of Melbourne, D.S., 1991. Hobbies and other interests: History, travel.

CAREER:

Birmingham University, Birmingham England, lecturer in mathematical physics, 1949-55, reader, 1955-56; University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, professor of physics, 1956-66; Oxford University, Oxford, England, Royal Society research professor, 1963-90, emeritus professor, 1990-2006; All Souls College, Oxford, fellow, 1964-90, emeritus, 1990-2006. Consultant to Rutherford Laboratory, Didcot, England, 1963-95.

MEMBER:

Australian Academy of Science, Royal Society (fellow), Polish Academy of Science, National Academy of India, U.S. National Academy of Science, Institute of Physics, American Physical Society, Macica Serbska (Bautzen), Sigma Xi.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Aitchison traveling scholarship, 1946; Jaffe Prize, Royal Society, 1966; Maxwell Medal, Institute of Physics, 1966; Hughes Medal, 1975; Royal Medal, Royal Society, 1982; Harry Maise Prize, Institute of Physics, 1990; D.Sc., University of Melbourne, 1991.

WRITINGS:

K Mesons and Hyperons: Reports on Progress in Physics, 1957.

Lectures on the Properties and the Symmetry Theories of the Resonant States, notes by S.N. Biswas and V.Gupta, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (Bombay, India), 1962.

Strange Particles and Strong Interactions, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (Bombay, India)/Oxford University Press (London, England), 1962.

Nuclear Interactions of the Hyperons, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (Bombay, India)/Oxford University Press (London, England), 1965.

(Editor, with A. Zichichi) International Conference on Meson Resonances and Related Meson Resonances and Related Electromagnetic Phenomena, Compositori (Bologna, Italy), 1972.

(Editor, with P.I.P. Kalmus) Quarks and Leptons: The New Elementary Particles?: Proceedings of a Royal Society Discussion Meeting Held on 14 June 1985, Royal Society (London, England), 1986.

(With R.E. Peierls) Dr. Paul Dirac: A Biographical Memoir, 1987.

(With R.B. Stinchcombe) A Breadth of Physics, 1988.

(Editor) The Collected Works of P.A.M. Dirac, 1924-1948, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1995.

(Editor, with Rudolf Peierls) Selected Scientific Papers of Sir Rudolf Peierls: With Commentary, World Scientific (River Edge, NJ), 1997.

(Editor, with Michael Nauenberg) The Foundations of Newtonian Scholarship, World Scientific (River Edge, NJ), 2000.

Also contributor to books, including Hawaii Topical Conference in Particle Physics, University of Hawaii Press (Honolulu, HI), 1968; contributor to scientific journals.

SIDELIGHTS:

Richard Henry Dalitz was a nuclear physicist who uncovered the behavior of strange and exotic particles, including quarks, and was also known for his work in the physics of hypernuclei. In addition to his research in physics, Dalitz wrote, cowrote, edited, and contributed to a number of books about physics. For example, he served as the editor of The Collected Works of P.A.M. Dirac, 1924-1948. Dirac was a physicist known for his work on the motion of electrons and positrons, as well as on quantum mechanics. "By editing Dirac's collected works from 1924 to 1948, Richard Dalitz … has helped reveal the breadth and depth of Dirac's interests," according to Louis Dolan and William J. Thompson in the American Scientist. The reviewers added: "Dalitz has arranged Dirac's collected works in a simple and lucid way." Dalitz also served as editor with Michael Nauenberg of The Foundations of Newtonian Scholarship, which is the proceedings of the 1997 Symposium on the Foundation of Newtonian Scholarship. Contributors to the volume discuss such topics as Newton's experiments on diffraction and his mathematical language. The book also includes a historical survey of Newtonian scholarship. "There is an air of nostalgia about this book," wrote Stephen D. Snobelen in Isis, adding: "All the contributors to this volume can be justly satisfied with their own triumphs and accomplishments."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Scientist, January-February, 1997, Louise Dolan and William J. Thompson, review of The Collected Works of P.A.M. Dirac, 1924-1948, p. 76.

Isis, December, 2001, Stephen D. Snobelen, review of The Foundations of Newtonian Scholarship, p. 782.