Albert Rich Erwin Jr

Albert Rich Erwin Jr, professor of physics emeritus at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, passed away on 5 April 2011 in Madison.Albert was born on 1 May 1931 in Charlotte, North Carolina, to two educators: His father was a school principal, and his mother a school teacher. He graduated from Duke University in 1953 with a BS in physics. He earned a doctorate in 1959 from Harvard University. His thesis, titled “Σ+–K+ production in 990 MeV π+–p collisions,” was done under the guidance of Anatole Shapiro. Albert joined the faculty at the University of Wisconsin in 1959 and became a full professor in 1965.An experimental high-energy particle physicist, Albert carried out experiments at Argonne, Brookhaven, and Fermi National Laboratories over his 50-year career. He was an early adopter and innovator of useful new technologies. Some of his early experiments used the bubble chamber technique, in which photographs of particle reactions were analyzed by computer-interfaced film-scanning and measuring machines, which he built at Wisconsin. His most famous result in that early period was the discovery, with William Walker, of the rho meson in 1961.By the early 1970s Albert’s research at Fermilab had moved into electronic detection methods, by which he was able to collect and analyze higher event rates than was possible with bubble chambers. Albert worked on early parton scattering experiments developed at Fermilab with several coworkers and with collaborators from Argonne, Lehigh University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Rice University. At that time the existence of jets of hadrons and their connection to the underlying scattering in which quarks were knocked out of the proton were far from universally accepted. The Fermilab experiments were the first to use calorimeters to trigger on and observe jet production in hadron collisions. To reconstruct the jets, Albert and his collaborators invented techniques that anticipated the cone-type algorithms commonly used by collider experiments nowadays.When the Fermilab collider came on line in 1987, Albert, Fermilab coworkers, and collaborators from Duke, Iowa State University, and Purdue University mounted a search for the formation of a new state of matter, a quark–gluon plasma, in the highest-energy (1.8-TeV) hadron collisions available. Initially, the idea of a quark–gluon plasma was met with some ambivalence, as the experimental signatures were not well defined. After some years of theoretical and experimental progress, it has become more widely accepted, mostly among the heavy-ion-physics community.In those pioneering experiments, Albert and his colleagues probed at the frontier of strong-interaction physics, a topic that occupied much of Albert’s career. He built much of the critical experimental apparatus used in the research. In later years he made numerous contributions to flavor physics, such as participating in the first observation of the cascade beta decay at KTeV (Kaons at the Tevatron) and implementing the detector control system for MINOS (Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search).Although he retired in 2005, Albert continued to work on high-energy physics experiments. As his health began to decline, he was working to complete a comprehensive review of multiparticle production at the Fermilab Tevatron and was pursuing ideas for a laboratory-scale gravitational-wave detection experiment.In addition to being an exceptional experimental physicist, Albert was an effective teacher who conveyed the excitement of physics in a straightforward manner that could be appreciated by nearly every student. With an enthusiastic and inquiring style, he taught courses from undergraduate introductory physics for nonmajors to the core graduate courses.In his lab Albert trained 14 PhD students and countless undergraduates, many of whom remember him as more than a mentor—he was a major influence in their lives. Albert truly enjoyed physics and his work, which occupied nearly all his time. Nevertheless, he felt it important to intersperse work with some recreational diversion; he would go on canoeing, hiking, or biking day trips, which he often organized for his research group and friends.At the age of 13, Albert built and operated his first ham radio, which began a lifetime passion. Athletically gifted, he was a runner most of his life, co-captain of his high school football team, and an intramural football player in college. He also played the trombone in his high school band. In his later years, he and his wife, Denise, enjoyed flying in her airplane. Like many physicists, he had a dry sense of humor and loved a clever story or cartoon.Albert was a man of honesty, integrity, and humility. He avoided the spotlight and always followed his curiosity and instincts. He was a credit to his profession and to the University of Wisconsin; above all, he was true to himself. His grace, knowledge, and insight will be greatly missed.Albert Rich Erwin JrPPT|High resolution© 2011 American Institute of Physics.