The scientific legacy of Ugo Fano.
In 1934 Fano received a Sc. D. degree in mathematics at University of Turin, Italy (the city of his birth in 1912). He was then led to physics by his cousin Guilio Racah, and received postdoctoral training from Fermi at Rome and from Heisenberg at Leipzig. He worked at institutions near Washington, D. C. during the war, and joined the staff of the National Bureau of Standards in 1946. He became a professor of physics at The University of Chicago in 1966. His contributions to radiation physics, atomic and molecular physics, and statistical physics are extensive and outstanding. Recognition includes many honors such as the Fermi Award by the DOE, and terms such as the Beutler-Fano profile of certain spectral lines, the Fano factor characterizing the fluctuations of the radiation-induced ionization, the Fano-Lichten mechanism for inelastic atomic collisions, and the Fano effect leading to spin-polarized photoelectrons. His work follows a style inherited from Fermi and is characterized by incisive insight into the physics behind experimental data, penetrating mathematical analysis, and close communications with many colleagues. Because he took a leading role in developing new areas of research and in nurturing young scientists, his influence now permeates many topics of physics. They include far uv and soft x-ray spectroscopy with synchrotron radiation and fundamental radiological physics, both stemming from his time at NBS, as well as multi-channel quantum-defect theory and hyperspherical-coordinate approach, both pioneered at Chicago. Fuller accounts of his life and science are seen in Inokuti [1], in Rau [2], and in a forthcoming special issue of Physics Essays in his honor. The present work is supported by U. S. DOE, Office of Science, Nuclear Physics Division, under Contract No. W-31-109-Eng-38. References 1. M. Inokuti, in Fundamental Processes of Atomic Dynamics, J. S. Briggs et al. (eds.), (Plenum, New York, 1988), p. 1. 2. A. R. P. Rau, Comments At. Mol. Phys. 33, 181 (1997).
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-06CH11357
- OSTI ID:
- 943209
- Report Number(s):
- ANL/PHY/JA-38309; TRN: US0903024
- Journal Information:
- Bull. Am. Phys. Soc., Vol. 46, Issue 2 ; Apr. 2001
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- ENGLISH
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