Hans Rudolf Griem (October 7, 1928 – October 2, 2019) was a German-American

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

who specialized in experimental plasma physics and spectroscopy.

Early life and career

Griem received his doctorate from the University of Kiel in 1954 and in the same year accepted a

Fulbright Fellowship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

to work on the physics of the

upper atmosphere Upper atmosphere is a collective term that refers to various layers of the atmosphere of the Earth above the troposphere and corresponding regions of the atmospheres of other planets, and includes: * The mesosphere, which on Earth lies between the ...

. He then returned to the University of Kiel for a two-year appointment dealing with high temperature physics. In 1957, he began working at the University of Maryland, first as an assistant professor in plasma physics before becoming an

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. Overview In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a ...

in 1961 and then

full professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

in 1963. He retired as

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

in 1994. From 1976 to 1994, Griem was a consultant at

Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, ...

Honors and awards

In 1967, Griem was elected 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 ...

. In 1991, he received the James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics for "''his numerous contributions to experimental plasma physics and spectroscopy, particularly in the area of improved diagnostic methods for high temperature plasmas, and for his books on plasma spectroscopy and spectral line broadening in plasmas that have become standard references in the field"''. Griem also received a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

, a

Humboldt Award The Humboldt Prize, the Humboldt-Forschungspreis in German, also known as the Humboldt Research Award, is an award given by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany to internationally renowned scientists and scholars who work outside of G ...

and the

William F. Meggers Award The William F. Meggers Award has been awarded annually since 1970 by the Optical Society (originally called the Optical Society of America) for outstanding contributions to spectroscopy. Recipients Source: See also * List of physics awards Thi ...

of the Optical Society.

Books

* * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Griem, Hans Rudolf 1928 births 2019 deaths Experimental physicists 20th-century American physicists 20th-century German physicists Fellows of the American Physical Society Plasma physicists