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William Anton Wallenmeyer

Honorary Degree Recipient

  • Doctor of Science, Purdue University 1989

Dr. Wallenmeyer received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. from Purdue University in 1950, 1954, and 1957 respectively. In 1962 he became a Senior Physicist in the U.S. Division of Research of the Atomic Energy Commission, and from 1964-1988 he was the Director of the Division of High Energy Physics within the AEC, the Energy Research and Development Agency, and the Department of Energy of the U.S. Government. He is currently President of the Southeastern Universities Research Association (SRRA).

During his 25 year tenure with the U.S. Government, Dr. Wallenmeyer has played a unique and outstanding role in what has been a golden era for High Energy and Elementary particle research. On the one hand, he has been responsible for the formal preparation and defense of the High Energy budget within the U.S. Government (- $500 million/annum). On the other, he has had a dynamic leadership and visionary role in determining the facilities to be built and the overall direction of research programs in the field. These programs include the ones at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory and the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Even more important has been the construction and operation of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and the planning, research and development, and final proposal for the Superconducting Super Collider. In addition, Dr. Wallenrneyer has been responsible for the Universities Research programs and their outstanding collaborative interactions with the National Laboratories. He has also been responsible for the formulation and achievement of several international agreements and cooperative programs including, bilateral agreements with the Peoples Republic of China, Japan, U.S.S.R., and the European community.

His career has been dedicated to providing resources and facilities to answer the most basic fundamental questions regarding the working and creation of the universe. He has made unique and invaluable contributions to the discoveries of the last three decades including the understanding of the underlying symmetries, the discovery of quarks, unification of the electroweak forces, discovery of the W and Z particles and an understanding of the creation of the universe from 10 seconds after the Big Bang.

From the nomination letter signed by 19 Purdue physics professors, Aug. 19, 1988

Last Updated: Apr 29, 2016 4:26 PM

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