Millennium Magazine_3rdEd

162 Millennium - A Marquis Who’s Who Magazine low temperature group at Yale to study liquid helium-3 for his PhD thesis, which involved discovery of a density maximum in this liquid at 0.5 degrees above absolute zero. After starting his career as an instructor of physics at Cornell University in 1959, Dr. Lee ascended the ranks to become an assistant, associate and full professor of physics between 1960 and 1999. From 1999 to 2009, he notably served as James Gilbert White Distinguished Professor in the Physical Sciences. Since 2009 he has been a distinguished professor of physics at Texas A&M University. In 1972, he discovered – along with coworkers Robert Richardson and Douglas Osheroff – the Superfluid phases of helium-3 at temperatures less than only .003 degrees above absolute zero using a cooling technique first suggested by Russian theorist, Pomeranchuk. For this exceptional work, Dr. Lee – plus his two coworkers – were recipients of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1996, as well as the I n his formative years, Nobel laureate Dr. David M. Lee became fascinated with living creatures found along the coastline near his childhood home. He collected various frogs, fish, snakes and worms before later developing an interest in meteorology and keeping his own weather records within his home. He then asked his father about a book in his library titled “The Mysterious Universe” by Sir James Jeans and began reading about astronomy and physics, becoming enthralled by the subject matter. After graduating high school, he attended Harvard University and received a BS in physics in 1952. Following 22 months in the U.S. Army, he attended the University of Connecticut, where he earned an MS in physics in 1955. He then earned a PhD in physics from Yale University in 1959. During his graduate pre-doctoral studies, he worked on projects involving ionization gauge control circuits and a mercury jet stripper for accelerators, before joining the DAVID M. LEE PHYSICS PROFESSOR Texas A&M University College Station, TX SCIENCES, PHARMACEUTICALS AND BIOTECHNOLOGY