Francis Eugene Low (October 27, 1921 – February 16, 2007) was an American

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experime ...

. He was an Institute Professor at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

, and served as provost there from 1980 to 1985. He was a member of the influential JASON Defense Advisory Group.

Biography

Early career

During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, Low worked on the

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...

. He was based at what is now the

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a U.S. multiprogram science and technology national laboratory sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and administered, managed, and operated by UT–Battelle as a federally funded research an ...

, working on the mathematics of

uranium enrichment Enriched uranium is a type of uranium in which the percent composition of uranium-235 (written 235U) has been increased through the process of isotope separation. Naturally occurring uranium is composed of three major isotopes: uranium-238 (238 ...

. He later entered the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

and served in the

10th Mountain Division The 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) is a light infantry division in the United States Army based at Fort Drum, New York. Formerly designated as a mountain warfare unit, the division was the only one of its size in the US military to rec ...

. After the war, Low completed his studies at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, earning a Ph.D. in Physics in 1950. He then worked at the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent schola ...

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of w ...

, before taking up a faculty position at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Uni ...

Career at MIT

Low joined the MIT physics faculty in 1957. There his Ph.D. students included

Alan Guth Alan Harvey Guth (; born February 27, 1947) is an American theoretical physicist and cosmologist. Guth has researched elementary particle theory (and how particle theory is applicable to the early universe). He is Victor Weisskopf Professor of ...

Mitchell Feigenbaum Mitchell Jay Feigenbaum (December 19, 1944 – June 30, 2019) was an American mathematical physicist whose pioneering studies in chaos theory led to the discovery of the Feigenbaum constants. Early life Feigenbaum was born in Philadelphia, Pe ...

and

Robert K. Logan __NOTOC__ Robert K. Logan (born August 31, 1939), originally trained as a physicist, is a media ecologist. Career He received from MIT a BS in 1961 and a PhD in 1965 under the supervision of Francis E. Low. After two post-doctoral appointme ...

. He was a director of MIT's Center for Theoretical Physics and the Laboratory for Nuclear Science. In 1969, Low helped found the

Union of Concerned Scientists The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) is a nonprofit science advocacy organization based in the United States. The UCS membership includes many private citizens in addition to professional scientists. Anne Kapuscinski, Professor of Environmenta ...

, and briefly served as its chairman. He stepped down after a disagreement with other members, who refused to consider studying whether

nuclear reactors A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat from ...

could be made safe and reliable. In 1980, Low was appointed provost of MIT. During his five-year tenure, he was instrumental in bringing the

Whitehead Institute Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research is a non-profit research institute located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States that is dedicated to improving human health through basic biomedical research. It was founded as a fiscally indepe ...

to MIT, and expanded humanities education at the Institute. Low retired from MIT in 1991, but continued to teach for another few years. His tex
''Classical Field Theory: Electromagnetism and Gravitation''
was published in 1997 by

John Wiley & Sons John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American multinational publishing company founded in 1807 that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company produces books, journals, and encyclopedias, i ...

Personal life

In 1948, Low married Natalie Sadigur. Low had a son Peter, two daughters, Julie and Margaret, and six grandsons; he liked to joke that this was statistically improbable. He became a widower in 2003.

References

External links

* *
Francis E Low Foundation

Francis E. Low Memorial Fund

''Francis E. Low: Coming of Age as a Physicist in Postwar America''
by

David Kaiser David I. Kaiser is an American physicist and historian of science. He is Germeshausen Professor of the History of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), head of its Science, Technology, and Society program, and a full profes ...

. MIT Physics Annual. 2001
National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir
{{DEFAULTSORT:Low, Francis Massachusetts Institute of Technology provosts MIT Center for Theoretical Physics faculty 1921 births 2007 deaths Scientists from New York City People from Belmont, Massachusetts Harvard University alumni Columbia University alumni Members of JASON (advisory group) Manhattan Project people