Sow-Hsin Chen
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Sow-Hsin Chen () (1935 – 26 June 2021),Professor Emeritus Sow-Hsin Chen, global expert in neutron science and devoted mentor, dies at 86
by the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 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 ...
; published 1 July 2021; retrieved 6 July 2021
was a Hoklo Taiwanese
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 ...
and Professor Emeritus at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 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 ...
(MIT). He was a recognized pioneer in the research of the dynamic properties of
supercooled Supercooling, also known as undercooling, is the process of lowering the temperature of a liquid or a gas below its melting point without it becoming a solid. It achieves this in the absence of a seed crystal or nucleus around which a crystal ...
and interfacial water with the use of neutron scattering techniques. As an educator, he was recognized for his training of young scientists in the use of those same techniques.''Press Release: Prof. Sow-Hsin Chen is the recipient of the 2008 Clifford G. Shull Prize of the Neutron Scattering Society of America''
The Neutron Scattering Society of America Press Release, 4 February 2008, accessed 28 October 2011.
Regarding hydrogen storage, his research focused on the use of activated carbon to allow hydrogen to be stored at room temperature.


Education

Chen received his BS in
physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
from National Taiwan University (1956), and his MS in physics from National Tsing Hua University (1958). He then moved to the U.S. with an
International Atomic Energy Agency The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was established in 1957 ...
Fellowship, and obtained an MS in nuclear science from the
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
(1962), and his Ph.D. in physics from McMaster University, Canada, (1964) under the Nobel Laureate, Prof. Bertram N. Brockhouse. He received his postdoctoral training at the
Atomic Energy Research Establishment The Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE) was the main Headquarters, centre for nuclear power, atomic energy research and development in the United Kingdom from 1946 to the 1990s. It was created, owned and funded by the British Governm ...
(AERE) in Harwell, U.K. with Professor Peter A. Egelstaff during 1966–1967, and between 1967 and 1968, he was a Research Fellow at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
with Nobel Laureate, Prof.
Nicolaas Bloembergen Nicolaas Bloembergen (March 11, 1920 – September 5, 2017) was a Dutch-American physicist and Nobel laureate, recognized for his work in developing driving principles behind nonlinear optics for laser spectroscopy. During his career, he was a p ...
, before joining the MIT faculty in 1968.


Academic career

Chen was promoted to Full Professor of Applied Radiation Physics at th
Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering
of MIT in 1974. During his tenure, he initiated and taught courses including "Applied Nuclear Physics" for engineers, "Quantum Theory of Interaction of Radiation with Matter," "Statistical Thermodynamics of Complex Liquids,"Chen, Sow-Hsin. 22.52J Statistical Thermodynamics of Complex Liquids, Spring 2004. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare), http://ocw.mit.edu (Accessed 1 Jul 2012). License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA and "Photons and Neutrons Scattering Spectroscopy in Condensed Matter Physics."


Research and achievements

Chen's major research activity was in the use of neutron, x-ray and laser scattering spectroscopy to investigate materials properties of complex fluids and soft condensed matter. His research work included photon correlation spectroscopy studies of the critical dynamics of a binary liquid mixture; neutron scattering studies of the thermodynamics and dynamics of confined water in supercooled states near hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces. Chen contributed significantly to the development of the technique of the
Photon Correlation Spectroscopy Dynamic light scattering (DLS) is a technique in physics that can be used to determine the size distribution profile of small particles in suspension or polymers in solution. In the scope of DLS, temporal fluctuations are usually analyzed using t ...
(PCS). He constructed the first 128-channel digital photon correlator in the U.S. in 1970 and applied it to investigate critical phenomenon in a binary liquid mixture. This type of digital correlator has since become the basic tool for the modern PCS. He applied PCS to studies of dynamic critical phenomena in binary liquid mixtures; the coexistence of critical phenomena and percolation transition in three-component microemulsions and copolymer micellar solutions; and ergodic to non-ergodic transitions when crossing the kinetic glass transition line of a copolymer micellar system with a short-range attraction. Since 2004, Chen et al. studied liquid state physics with regard to the structure and dynamics of supercooled water. They studied supercooled confined water by a high-resolution
Quasielastic neutron scattering Quasielastic neutron scattering (QENS) designates a limiting case of inelastic neutron scattering, characterized by energy transfers being small compared to the incident energy of the scattered particles. In a more strict meaning, it denotes scatte ...
(QENS) technique, and this led to the discovery of the likelihood of a second low-temperature critical point in water in 2005. He was reported in ''Nature'' as "A physicist ventures into the no-man's land of water to find the source of its unusual properties" Subsequently, one of his peer-reviewed scientific articles received the 2006 PNAS Editorial Board Cozzarelli Award for its outstanding scientific excellence and originality.2006 PNAS Cozzarelli Prize Recipients
/ref> In 2006, his group discovered a density minimum in deeply supercooled confined water which further demonstrated the plausibility of the existence of the second critical point in supercooled water. Recently, his work has been highlighted several times in MIT News.


Other activities

Chen was active as an organizer of domestic and over 20 international conferences and symposia as well as the NATO Advanced Study Institutes. He served as chairman of a Gordon Conference on Physics and Chemistry of Water in 1986. He was also active as a consultant to developing countries with regard to their nuclear power development programs. He served as an advisor to the National Science Council and the
Institute of Nuclear Energy Research The Institute of Nuclear Energy Research (INER; ) is the agency of the Atomic Energy Council of the Taiwan (ROC) dedicated to the research and development on nuclear safety, nuclear facility decommissioning, radioactive waste treatment and dispo ...
of the Republic of China (ROC), and the
Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) in Daejeon, South Korea was established in 1959 as the sole professional research-oriented institute for nuclear power in South Korea, and has rapidly built a reputation for research and developme ...
(KAERI) of the Republic of Korea on the matter of nuclear power planning and development in the respective countries since 1972. In 2006 and 2008, Chen was the organizer and U.S. Chairman of the first and second Joint Symposia on Neutron Sciences and Technology in China, jointly sponsored by the US
National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...
and the Chinese counterpart agencies. He was a member of numerous national advisory or review committees, including the U.S. National Pulsed Neutron Sources, IPNS/LANSCE at
Argonne National Laboratory Argonne National Laboratory is a science and engineering research United States Department of Energy National Labs, national laboratory operated by University of Chicago, UChicago Argonne LLC for the United States Department of Energy. The facil ...
, the Solid State and Chemical Technology Divisions of
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 and ...
, the U.S. National Science Foundation's Engineering Research Center, the Basic Energy Sciences Division of the Department of Energy, and the Collaborative Instrumentation Block Grant of the
National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...
. Since 2009, he has been a Beamline Advisory Team (BAT) member of
National Synchrotron Light Source The National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in Upton, New York was a national user research facility funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Built from 1978 through 1984, and officially shut down o ...
(NSLS)-II of Brookhaven National Laboratory.


Personal life

Chen met Dr. Ching-chih Chen in 1959 while both were studying at the University of Michigan. They married in 1961 and moved to Canada the following summer where he completed his doctorate at McMaster University. Together they raised two daughters and a son.


Peer-reviewed publications

Chen's publications include over 360 peer-reviewed journal publications and approximately 80 non-journal publications (books, monographs, review articles, and conference proceedings). These coincide with his diversified research interests, which include bulk and confined water, cement hydration kinetics, colloids, critical phenomena, dynamic light scattering, group theory, hydrogen storage materials, neutron and x-ray inelastic scattering, protein dynamics, x-ray and neutron diffraction and reflectivity, and others. He served as a member of the Editorial Board (Liquid Section) of the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter (JPCM ) (U.K.) from 1992 to 1998, and he was an active guest editor of special issues of JPCM and
PHYSICA A Physica may refer to: * Physics (Aristotle) The ''Physics'' (Ancient Greek, Greek: Φυσικὴ ἀκρόασις ''Phusike akroasis''; Latin: ''Physica'', or ''Naturales Auscultationes'', possibly meaning "Natural philosophy, lectures on ...
. Beginning in 1995, special scientific meetings were organized every five years to bring together over 100 colleagues, former and current students, and friends to honor Chen for his continuing contributions to the field of soft-matter physics. The scientific presentations from these meetings have been published in peer-reviewed special journal issues in his honor (1995, Puerto Rico; 2000, Messina, Italy; 2005, Florence, Italy; an
2010, Florence, Italy


Honors and awards

Chen was 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 ...
(1985), 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 ...
, and the Neutron Scattering Society of America.


Selected honors

:2008 - Elected as Academician of
Academia Sinica Academia Sinica (AS, la, 1=Academia Sinica, 3=Chinese Academy; ), headquartered in Nangang, Taipei, is the national academy of Taiwan. Founded in Nanking, the academy supports research activities in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from ...
,Adademia Sinica, Academicians by Residence
accessed 28 October 2011.
and Recipient of the 2008 Clifford G. Shull Prize in Neutron Science from the Neutron Scattering Society of America. : :2006 - Outstanding Alumni Award from National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan. In the same year, Chen and his co-authors received the 2006 PNAS Editorial Board Cozzarelli Prize for the paper "The violation of Stokes-Einstein relation in supercooled water", .-H. Chen, F. Mallamace, C.-Y. Mou, M. Broccio, C. Corsaro, A. Faraone, and L. Liu, "The violation of Stokes-Einstein relation in supercooled water," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103,12974-12978 (2006)for its outstanding scientific excellence and originality. : :2002 - MIT Nuclear Science and Engineering Department Career Achievement Award for his contribution and achievement. : :1995 - As a Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, he spent a month in Kyoto University in addition to conducting a lecture tour to many Japanese universities and research institutes. : :1987-88 - The
Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, p ...
Senior Distinguished U.S. Scientist Award, in recognition of scientific achievement in research and teaching, from Germany and the "revisit" award in the summer of 1995.


See also

*
Arrhenius equation In physical chemistry, the Arrhenius equation is a formula for the temperature dependence of reaction rates. The equation was proposed by Svante Arrhenius in 1889, based on the work of Dutch chemist Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff who had noted in 18 ...
*
Glass transition The glass–liquid transition, or glass transition, is the gradual and reversible transition in amorphous materials (or in amorphous regions within semicrystalline materials) from a hard and relatively brittle "glassy" state into a viscous or rubb ...
temperature *
Nanopore A nanopore is a pore of nanometer size. It may, for example, be created by a pore-forming protein or as a hole in synthetic materials such as silicon or graphene. When a nanopore is present in an electrically insulating membrane, it can be used as ...
* Properties of Water * Relaxation Time * Stokes-Einstein relation *
Hydrogen Storage Hydrogen storage can be accomplished by several existing methods of holding hydrogen for later use. These include mechanical approaches such as using high pressures and low temperatures, or employing chemical compounds that release H2 upon demand ...
*
Activated Carbon Activated carbon, also called activated charcoal, is a form of carbon commonly used to filter contaminants from water and air, among many other uses. It is processed (activated) to have small, low-volume pores that increase the surface area avail ...


References


External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Sow-Hsin 1935 births 2021 deaths American nuclear physicists Taiwanese people of Hoklo descent Hokkien scientists Fellows of the American Physical Society Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science MIT School of Engineering faculty Members of Academia Sinica McMaster University alumni National Taiwan University alumni National Tsing Hua University alumni 20th-century Taiwanese physicists Taiwanese emigrants to the United States University of Michigan alumni People from Chiayi