David Robert Nygren (born December 30, 1938) is a particle physicist known for his invention of the

time projection chamber In physics, a time projection chamber (TPC) is a type of particle detector that uses a combination of electric fields and magnetic fields together with a sensitive volume of gas or liquid to perform a three-dimensional reconstruction of a particle ...

. He is a Presidential Distinguished Professor of Physics,

University of Texas at Arlington The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA or UT Arlington) is a public research university in Arlington, Texas. The university was founded in 1895 and was in the Texas A&M University System for several decades until joining the University of Te ...

now. He has worked at

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), commonly referred to as the Berkeley Lab, is a United States Department of Energy National Labs, United States national laboratory that is owned by, and conducts scientific research on behalf of, t ...

since 1973. He has been called "the most distinguished developer of particle detection instruments in the country". Nygren earned his B.A. degree at Whitman College in 1960, and his Ph.D. at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

in 1967. He is a fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

Honors and awards

* 2018 -

IEEE Marie Sklodowska-Curie Award The IEEE Marie Sklodowska-Curie Award is a Technical Field Award that was established by the IEEE Board of Directors in 2008. This award may be presented for outstanding contributions to the field of nuclear and plasma sciences and engineering ...

* 2015 - APS ''Division of Particles and Fields Instrumentation Award'' * 2015 - Aldo Menzione award from Frontier Detectors for Frontier Physics Society awarded at 13th Pisa Meeting on Advanced Detectors * 2015 - Fellow of the

National Academy of Inventors The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) is a US non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging inventors in academia, following the model of the National Academies of the United States. It was founded at the University of South Florida in 2010. ...

* 2013 - Lifetime Achievement Award from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory * 2008 - Honorary doctorate, Stockholm University * 2000 - Member,

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

* 1998 - W.K.H. Panofsky Prize in Experimental Particle Physics * 1995 - Distinguished Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory * 1985 -

Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award The Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award was established in 1959 in honor of a scientist who helped elevate American physics to the status of world leader in the field. E. O. Lawrence was the inventor of the cyclotron, an accelerator of subatomic parti ...

References

External links

Interview with Alexandro Bettini in Jot Down Magazine, September, 2012
* 1938 births Living people American people of Swedish descent Whitman College alumni University of Washington alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Winners of the Panofsky Prize Fellows of the American Physical Society 21st-century American physicists {{US-physicist-stub