David Wixon Pratt is an American physicist, Professor of Chemistry at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

. He was awarded an A.B. in Chemistry by

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

in 1959 and, after serving as a fleet officer in the U.S. Navy from 1959 to 1962, gained a Ph.D. in 1967 from the

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...

magnetic resonance Magnetic resonance is a process by which a physical excitation (resonance) is set up via magnetism. This process was used to develop magnetic resonance imaging and Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy technology. It is also being used to ...

. He then did postdoc research at the

University of California at Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the Un ...

optical spectroscopy Spectroscopy is the field of study that measures and interprets the electromagnetic spectra that result from the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and matter as a function of the wavelength or frequency of the radiation. Matter wav ...

before moving in 1968 to become Professor of Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh. He was awarded the status of Fellow in 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 ...

, after he was nominated by the Division of Chemical Physics in 1990, for "significant contributions to molecular spectroscopy, particularly the elucidation of intramolecular relaxation in intermediate molecules, and the development of laser-induced phosphorescence spectroscopy and ultrahigh-resolution spectroscopy in supersonic jets". He is a fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

and a member of the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all d ...

. He was awarded the 1999 APS

Earle K. Plyler Prize for Molecular Spectroscopy The Earle K. Plyler Prize for Molecular Spectroscopy and Dynamics is a prize that has been awarded annually by the American Physical Society since 1977. The recipient is chosen for "''notable contributions to the field of molecular spectroscopy an ...

for "pioneering work in ultrahigh resolution ultraviolet spectroscopy of cold molecules in beams that elucidated the structure and isomerization dynamics of a wide range of large molecules, molecular vibrational dynamics, and hydrogen bonding".

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American physicists Princeton University alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Pittsburg State University faculty Fellows of the American Physical Society Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science {{Physicist-stub