Richard Allen Isaacson (1941 - )

Education

1962
A.B., Physics, Columbia University
1964
M.S., Physics, Stanford University
1967
Ph.D., Physics, University of Maryland — Gravitational radiation in the limit of high frequency

Positions

1968 - 1971
Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics, Illinois Institute of Technology
1971 - 1975
Assistant Professor of Physics, Illinois Institute of Technology

Biography

Richard Isaacson was born on October 6, 1941. He graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1958 and then attended Columbia University, earning an A.B. in 1962. He pursued postgraduate studies at Stanford University (M.S. 1964) and the University of Maryland (Ph.D. 1967). Following a National Academy of Sciences Research Associateship, Isaacson spent three years as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics at Illinois Institute of Technology. In 1971, he was appointed to an Assistant Professor position which he held until 1975. In 1973, Isaacson accepted a temporary position at the National Science Foundation as the Associate Director of Theoretical Physics Programs. In 1975, he transitioned to a permanent position at the National Science Foundation and resigned from Illinois Tech. Isaacson's research contributed to the theory of gravitational wave generation and propagation, and over his long and distinguished career at the National Science Foundation as Program Director of Gravitational Physics he oversaw the development of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), the largest single enterprise ever undertaken by the NSF. [1] In 2018, Isaacson's contributions were recognized by the American Physical Society with the establishment of the Richard A. Isaacson Award in Gravitational-Wave Science. [2]

Notable Publications

  1. "Gravitational radiation in the limit of high frequency I: The linear approximation and geometrical optics", R.A. Isaacson , Phys. Rev. 166, 1263 (1968). {cited 526 times}
  2. "Gravitational radiation in the limit of high frequency II: Nonlinear terms and the effective stress tensor", R.A. Isaacson , Phys. Rev. 166, 1272 (1968). {cited 463 times}
  3. "Harmonic and null descriptions of gravitational radiation", R.A. Isaacson and J. Winicour, Phys. Rev. 168, 1451 (1968). {cited 22 times}
  4. "Shear-free gravitational radiation", L. Derry, R.A. Isaacson and J. Winicour, Phys. Rev. 185, 1647 (1969). {cited 31 times}
  5. "Gravitational radiation and observational cosmology", R.A. Isaacson and J. Winicour, Astrophys. J. 184, 49-56 (1973). {cited 3 times}

References

[1] The Transition of Gravitational Physics - From Small to Big Science LIGO Magazine (6) 14-17 (2015).
[2] New APS Award Honors Richard Isaacson (March 28, 2018)