Alan Mark Portis (July 17, 1926 – September 6, 2010[1]) was an American solid-state physicist and founder of the Berkeley Physics Laboratory.

Alan Mark Portis
Born17 July 1926
Died6 September 2010
Scientific career
InstitutionsUC Berkeley
Notable studentsEarl D. Shaw

Career

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Alan Portis was the dean of engineering at Berkeley as well as an engineering professor.[2] He was an early researcher in electron paramagnetic resonance.[3] He also founded the Berkeley Physics Laboratory.[4][5] For the development of laboratory courses and curricula at UC Berkeley, he received the Millikan Medal from the American Association of Physics Teachers.[2] Portis was the doctoral advisor of the 2000 Nobel Prize laureate in Chemistry Alan J. Heeger,[6] as well as Nai Phuan Ong and Myron Salamon, both of whom were elected Fellows of the American Physical Society.

Portis was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1965.[7] Portis was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in February 1976.[8] He was also a Fellow of the American Physical Society.[1]

Portis was also the first director of Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science, and one of the founders of the Search for Excellence in Science and Mathematics (SESAME) Group at UC Berkeley.[citation needed]

References

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  1. ^ a b Death notice. Alan M. Portis, Physics Today, March 4, 2011. American Institute of Physics.
  2. ^ a b "Scientists Decry a Slick New Packaging of Creationism". William J. Bennnetta. The Science Teacher. May 1987. pp. 36–43 (43).
  3. ^ Eaton, Gareth R.; Eaton, Sandra S. (1998-01-01). Foundations of Modern EPR. World Scientific. ISBN 9789810232955.
  4. ^ Kittel, Charles; Knight, Walter D.; Ruderman, Malvin A.; Helmholz, A. Carl; Moyer, Burton J. (1973-01-01). Mechanics. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 9780070048805.
  5. ^ "Use of the Berkeley Physics Laboratory to Teach an Advanced Physics Course". The Physics Teacher. James David Logan. Mar 73. Vol. 11 issue 3. pp. 147–149.
  6. ^ Nobel laureates, Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley.
  7. ^ AAAS Annual Elections, Science, 22 August 1980: Vol. 209 no. 4459, pp. 895–915
  8. ^ AAAS Council Meeting, 1976 . Science, 16 April 1976: Vol. 192 no. 4236, pp. 277–281.
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