Russell J. Donnelly

Russell James Donnelly
Born	(1930-04-16)April 16, 1930 Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Died	June 13, 2015(2015-06-13) (aged 85) Eugene, Oregon
Nationality	Canadian-American
Alma mater	McMaster University, Yale University
Spouse	Marian Donnelly
Scientific career
Fields	Physicist
Institutions	University of Chicago
Doctoral advisor	C. T. Lane and Lars Onsager

Russell James Donnelly (born 16 April 1930 in Hamilton, Ontario, died 13 June 2015 in Eugene, Oregon) was a Canadian-American physicist known for his work on classical and quantum fluid dynamics.^[1][2][3] He connected the fields of low temperature physics and fluid turbulence.^[4]

Life

Donnelly graduated from McMaster University with a bachelor's degree in 1951 and a master's degree in 1952.^[1] In 1956 he received his doctorate from Yale University, with a thesis entitled "On the hydrodynamics of liquid helium". His doctoral advisers were the noted physicists C. T. Lane and Lars Onsager.^[4] His PhD work demonstrated that the oscillations of liquid helium in a U-tube at a low temperature could be described by two-phase liquid theory.^[1]

In 1956 he became an instructor and later professor at the James Franck Institute at the University of Chicago, where he worked with S. Chandrasekhar and Dave Fultz. From 1959 - 1963 he was Sloan Fellow. In 1966 he moved to the University of Oregon,^[1] where it was possible for both himself and his wife, art historian Marian Donnelly, to hold positions.^[4] He eventually served twice as department chair at the University of Oregon.^[1] In 1972 he worked at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen. He was also a visiting professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara and the University of Birmingham. He was a consultant at NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.^[4]

During his life he advised 25 PhD students, and mentored many others, including future Nobel prize winner David Lee.^[1] He died from pneumonia on 13 June 2015 in Eugene, Oregon.^[1][5]

Honors

• 2002, Fritz London Memorial Prize, International Union of Pure and Applied Physics^[6]
• 2001, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences^[7]
• 2001, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science^[8]
• 1999, Honorary doctorate, McMaster University^[9]
• 1996, Lars Onsager Medal, Norwegian University of Science and Technology^[10]
• 1975, Otto Laporte Award, Division of Fluid Dynamics, American Physical Society^[11]
• 1963, Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS)^[12]
• Fellow of the Institute of Physics

References

1. Hammer, Philip W.; Sreenivasan, Katepalli R.; Niemela, Joseph J. (1 October 2015). "Russell James Donnelly". Physics Today. 68 (10): 59–60. Bibcode:2015PhT....68j..59H. doi:10.1063/PT.3.2954.
2. "Russell J. Donnelly". uoregon.edu. Archived from the original on 2013-11-23.
3. "Member in the Spotlight: Russell Donnelly". www.aps.org. 1995.
4. Niemela, J.j.; Sreenivasan, K.r. (10 March 2022). "Russell Donnelly and His Leaks". Annual Review of Condensed Matter Physics. 13 (1): 33–47. Bibcode:2022ARCMP..13...33N. doi:10.1146/annurev-conmatphys-050521-033802. ISSN 1947-5454.
5. "Physicist Russ Donnelly, a pioneer in the science of cold, dies at 85". Around the O. University of Oregon. June 16, 2015.
6. "Fritz London Memorial Prize". Duke University. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
7. "Russell J. Donnelly". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
8. "American Academy Elects New Members". Physics Today. 54 (8): 60–61. August 2001. Bibcode:2001PhT....54T..60.. doi:10.1063/1.2405665. ISSN 0031-9228. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
9. "McMaster University Honorary Degree Recipients (Chronological) 1892-Present" (PDF). McMaster University. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
10. "The Lars Onsager Lecture - NTNU". Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
11. "Prizes & Awards". Division of Fluid Dynamics. American Physical Society. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
12. "APS Fellow Archive". American Physical Society. Retrieved 21 March 2022.