LSU Boyd Professor of Physics and National Academy of Science member Ward Plummer died on July 23, 2020, according to LSU. He was 79 years old.
Read a portion of LSU’s statement on Plummer’s death below:
“Ward Plummer was a leading scientist in materials physics with a focus on electronic behaviors at surfaces and low dimensionality. He was a recognized pioneer in the observation of surface electronic structures; in the discovery of surface-supported multipole plasmon modes in metals; and in the spectroscopic interrogation of single atoms on surfaces. Much of the condensed matter physics field’s current research on critical phenomena in low-dimensional systems was inspired by his discovery of charge-density waves at the metal/semiconductor interface.
Professor Plummer was an internationally renowned researcher and educator having authored more than 400 scientific articles and mentored more than 100 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. He accrued many awards and distinctions over his long and illustrious career. A greatly abridged list includes Ward Plummer as a named fellow of the American Physical Society (1981) and the American Vacuum Society (2001); recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship (1986); recipient of the Medard W. Welch Award from the American Vacuum Society (2001); elected member of the National Academy of Sciences (2006); elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2014); and recipient of the International Science and Technology Cooperation Award, which was presented to him by the Chinese president, Xi Jinping (2017).”
Read the full announcement here.
