Physics

The Faculty History Project documents faculty members who have been associated with the University of Michigan since 1837. Key in this effort is to celebrate the intellectual life of the University. This Faculty History Website is intended as a component of the effort to document the extraordinary academic achievements of Michigan’s faculty in building and sustaining one of the world’s great universities. It provides access to a comprehensive database of information concerning the thousands of faculty members who have served the University of Michigan.
Find out more.

The Bentley Historical Library serves as the official archives for the University.

List of Professors

Name	Years at Michigan	Position
R. Paul Drake		Professor of Space Science & Climate Professor of Physics
George Palmer Williams	1841 - 1881	Professor of Physics, Mathematics and Languages Principal of U of M Oakland and Pontiac Branches Chair of Mathematics and Physics
Alexander Winchell	1853 - 1891	Professor of Physics Professor/Chair Civil Engineering 1853-1855 Professor Geology, Zoology and Botany 1855-1873
William Guy Peck	1855 - 1857	Professor/Chair Civil Engineering, Physics 1855-1857
DeVolson Wood	1857 - 1872	Professor/Chair Civil Engineering and Physics 1857-1872
John William Langley	1875 - 1889	Professor of Physics, Electrical Engineering, Chemistry and Metallurgy
Charles Kasson Wead	1877 - 1885	Acting Professor of Physics
Dewitt Bristol Brace	1886	Assistant Professor of Physics
George Washington Patterson	1889 - 1930	Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics Junior Professor of Physics
Henry Smith Carhart	1889 - 1912	Professor of Physics
John Oren Reed	1892 - 1916	Dean of the Literary Department Professor of Physics
Karl Eugen Guthe	1893 - 1900 1909 - 1915	Professor of Physics Dean of the Graduate Department 1912-1915
Augustus Trowbridge	1898 - 1901	Instructor in Physics
Harrison McAllister Randall	1901 - 1940	Professor of Physics Chair Department of Physics
Lyman F. Morehouse	1902 - 1910	Instructor in Electrical Engineering Instructor in Physics
Arthur Whitmore Smith	1903 - 1944	Professor of Physics
William D. Henderson	1903 - 1936	Professor of Physics Director of University Extension Division
Walter Francis Colby	1906 - 1950	Professor of Physics
Neil Hooker Williams	1908 - 1941	Professor of Physics, Mathematics and Languages
Daniel L. Rich	1908 - 1949	Associate Professor of Physics
George Allan Lindsay	1913 - 1950	Professor of Physics
Felix Wladyslaw Pawlowski	1914 - 1946	Guggenheim Professor of Aeronautical Engineering Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Physics Chair Aeronautical Engineering 1922-1939
Charles Ferdinand Meyer	1915 - 1950	Associate Professor of Physics
David Locke Webster	1917 - 1919	Assistant Professor of Physics
William Warner Sleator	1918 - 1953	Associate Professor of Physics
Ralph Alanson Sawyer	1919 - 1965	Professor of Physics Dean of the Graduate School Director of the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Project
Ernest F. Barker	1922 - 1956	Professor of Physics Chair Department of Physics
James M. Cork	1922 - 1957	Professor of Physics
Ora S. Duffendack	1922 - 1943	Professor of Physics
Oskar Klein	1923 - 1925	Instructor in Physics
Floyd Alburn Firestone	1924 - 1945	Associate Professor of Physics
David M. Dennison	1927 - 1970	Professor of Physics Chair Department of Physics
Samuel A. Goudsmit	1927 - 1946	Professor of Physics
Otto Laporte	1927 - 1971	Professor of Physics
George E. Uhlenbeck	1927 - 1935 1939 - 1960	Professor of Physics
Ralph A. Wolfe	1930	Professor of Physics
H. Richard Crane	1934 - 1978	Professor of Phhysics Chair of Department of Physics
Robley C. Williams	1935 - 1950	Professor of Physics and Bio Physics Professor of Astronomy
Claud Edwin Cleeton	1936	Instructor in Physics
Arthur Adel	1942 - 1948	Assistant Professor of Physics
Theodore H. Berlin	1943 - 1946	Research Associate of Chemistry Research Physicist Engineering Research Institute Navy Theoretical Physicist
Robert Wallace Pidd	1944 - 1959	Professor of Physics
Marcellus L Wiedenbeck	1945 - 1986	Professor of Physics
Ernst Katz	1946 - 1979	Professor of Physics
Wayne E. Hazen	1947 - 1984	Professor of Physics
W. Wallace McCormick	1947 - 1977	Professor of Physics
William C. Parkinson	1947 - 1988	Professor of Physics
William A. Nierenberg	1948 - 1950	Assistant Professor of Physics
Sir Gordon Brims Black McIvor Sutherland	1949 - 1956	Professor of Physics
Donald Arthur Glaser	1949 - 1960	Professor of Physics
Paul Van Campen Hough	1949 - 1962	Associate Professor of Physics
Edwin S. Lennox	1949 - 1955	Assistant Professor of Physics
Cyrus Levinthal	1950 - 1957	Associate Professor of Physics
Murray Slotnick	1950 - 1951	Assistant Professor of Physics
Kenneth Myron Case	1950 - 1968	Professor of Physics
Lawrence W. Jones	1952 - 1998	Professor of Physics
Samuel Krimm	1952 - 2001	Professor of Physics
Kent M. Terwilliger	1952 - 1989	Professor of Physics
Noah Sherman	1952 - 1978	Professor of Physics
Joaquin M. Luttinger	1953 - 1958	Professor of Physics
Charles S Simons	1954 - 1970	Assistant Professor of Radiation Physics
Karl T. Hecht	1955 - 1997	Professor of Physics
Paul R Chagnon	1955 - 1961	Assistant Professor of Physics
Peter A. Franken	1956 - 1973	Professor of Physics
Martin L. Perl	1956 - 1963	Professor of Physics
George H Trilling	1956 - 1960	Associate Professor of Physics
Donald I. Meyer	1957 - 1996	Professor of Physics
Richard H. Sands	1957 - 1994	Professor of Physics
Daniel Sinclair	1957 - 1996	Professor of Physics
Donald Allen Gilbert	1957 - 1958	Assistant Professor of Physics
George W. Ford	1958 - 1997	Professor of Physics
Alfred Z. Hendel	1958 - 1987	Professor of Physics
Robert R. Lewis	1958 - 1992	Professor of Physics
John van der Velde	1958 - 1995	Professor of Physics
C. Tristram Coffin	1959 - 1997	Professor of Physics
Irwin Goldberg	1959	Assistant Professor of Physics
Byron P. Roe	1959 - 2006	Professor of Physics
Robert S. Tickle	1960 - 1999	Professor of Physics
Herbert M. S. Uberall	1960 - 1962	Assistant Professor of Physics
Gabriel Weinreich	1960 - 1995	Professor of Physics
Oliver E Overseth	1961 - 1992	Professor of Physics
Charles Roy Worthington	1961 - 1967	Associate Professor of Physics
Paul E. Phillipson	1961 - 1962	Associate Research Physicist
Peter R. Fontana	1962 - 1965	Assistant Professor of Physics
Alfred Chi-Tai Wu	1962 - 1999	Professor of Physics
Jens Zorn	1962 - 2009	Professor of Physics
Michael J. Longo	1962 - 2008	Professor of Physics
Marc Ross	1963 - 2001	Professor of Physics
T. Michael Sanders	1963 - 2000	Professor of Physics
Frank E. Rose	1963 - 1994	Associate Professor of Physics
Alan D. Krisch	1964 - 2009	Professor of Physics
C. Thornton Murphy	1964 - 1967	Assistant Professor of Physics
Walter S. Gray	1964 - 2002	Associate Professor of Physics
John Bardwick III	1965 - 1996	Associate Professor of Physics
Joachim W Janecke	1965 - 1998	Professor of Physics
James J. Reidy	1965 - 1971	Assistant Professor of Physics
William L. Williams	1965 - 1986	Professor of Physics and Bio Physics
Gordon L. Kane	1965 - 2019	Professor of Physics
Raulf M. Polichar	1966 - 1974	Assistant Professor of Physics
Arthur Rich	1966 - 1990	Professor of Physics
York Peng (Ed) Yao	1966 - 2008	Professor of Physics
J. Wehrley Chapman	1966 - 2008	Professor of Physics
Yukio Tomozawa	1966 - 2004	Professor of Physics
Richard T. Robiscoe	1966 - 1969	Assistant Professor of Physics
Harvey A. Gould	1967 - 1971	Assistant Professor of Physics
Brian E. Springett	1967 - 1970	Assistant Professor of Physics
John F. Ward	1967 - 2000	Professor of Physics
Bruce B. Cork	1968 - 1974	Professor of Physics
A. Lincoln Read	1968 - 1970	Associate Professor of Physics
Frank S. Henyey	1969 - 1974	Associate Professor of Physics
Leonard M. Sander	1969 - 2015	Professor of Physics and Complex Systems
C. M. Venkatachalam	1970 - 1976	Assistant Professor of Physics
Lincoln Wolfestein	1970	Visiting Professor of Physics
Michael Bretz	1973 - 2008	Professor of Physics
Frederick D. Becchetti	1973 - 2013	Professor of Physics
Rudolf Paul Thun	1974 - 2012	Professor of Physics
Jean P. Krisch	1974 - 2017	Professor of Physics
Thomas Witten Jr	1975 - 1981	Assistant Professor of Physics
Dennis J. Hegyi	1975 - 2004	Professor of Physics
Robert N. Cahn	1976 - 1978	Assistant Professor of Physics
Martin B. Einhorn	1976 - 2004	Professor of Physics
Mark A. Skalsey	1976 - 2008	Associate Research Scientist & Lecturer in Physics
Daniel Axelrod	1977 - 2005	Professor of Physics
Robert Savit	1978 - 2017	Professor of Physics
Lawrence R. Sulak	1979 - 1986	Professor of Physics
Carl E. Wieman	1979 - 1984	Assistant Professor of Physics
Ralph S Conti	1979 - 2015	Associate Research Scientist, Physics
Martinus J. Veltman	1980 - 1997	Professor of Physics
David Noel Williams	1980 - 1999	Professor of Physics
George Gamota	1981 - 1986	Professor of Physics Director, Institute of Science and Technology
Ali Maung Thet Lin	1981 - 2003	Associate Research Scientist, Physics
Richard S. Raymond	1982 - 2009	Associate Research Scientist Emeritus
David W. Gidley	1982 - 2015	Professor of Physics
Ari Gafni	1983 - 2017	Professor of Biophysics, LSA Professor of Biological Chemistry, Research Professor, Institute of Gerontology
Esher Ben Jacob	1984 - 1989	Assistant Professor of Physics
Gregory Tarlé	1984 - 2022	Professor of Physics
Duncan Steel	1985 - 2023	Professor of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science Professor of Physics
James W. Allen	1987 - 2010	Professor of Physics
Gregory R. Snow	1987 - 1993	Assistant Professor of Physics
Gerhard E. Wagner	1987 - 1990	Professor of Physics Professor of Biological Chemistry
Homer A. Neal	1987 - 2018	Professor and Chair of Physics 1987-1993 Vice President for Research 1993-1997 Interim President 1996-1997
Stephen C. Rand	1987 - 2020	Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering & Physics
Rombout Hoogerbeets	1988 - 1993	Assistant Professor of Physics
Jawaid W. Rasul	1988 - 1995	Assistant Professor of Physics
John L. Gland	1988 - 2009	Professor of Chemistry, Physics, Chemical Engineering
Steven B. Dierker	1989 - 2006	Professor of Physics and Applied Physics
Meigan C. Aronson	1990 - 2006	Professor of Physics
Philip H. Bucksbaum	1990 - 2006	Professor of Physics Peter Franken Distinguished University Professor
Stephen Fahy	1990 - 1993	Assistant Professor of Physics
Yaroslav S. Derbenev	1990 - 2001	Visiting Research Scientist, Adjunct Professor of Physics
Mark A. Saper	1990 - 2021	Associate Professor of Biophysics Associate Professor of Biological Chemistry
Frederick C. MacKintosh	1991 - 2002	Associate Professor of Physics
Katherine Freese	1991 - 2019	Professor of Physics
Robin G. Stuart	1992 - 1999	Assistant Professor of Physics
Valentine I. Zakharov	1993 - 1998	Professor of Physics
Richard A. Goldstein	1993 - 2003	Associate Professor of Chemistry Associate Research Scientist, Academic Program Chair, Biophysics Research Division
Boris Y. Dubetsky	1993 - 2002	Associate Research Scientist
Paul R. Berman	1993 - 2016	Professor of Physics
Alberto G. Rojo	1994 - 2003	Assistant Professor of Physics
Stuart Field	1994 - 1997	Assistant Professor of Physics
Charles Rogers Doering	1996 - 2021	Professor of Complex Systems
Ayyalusamy Ramamoorthy	1996 - 2023	Professor of Chemistry & Biophysics & Professor of Macromolecular Science & Engineering
Michael J. Duff	1999 - 2005	Professor of Physics
David A. Reis	1999 - 2009	Associate Professor of Physics
Codrin Nicolae Cionca	1999 - 2014	Assistant Research Scientist in Physics
Christopher R. Monroe	2000 - 2007	Associate Professor of Physics Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering
Alexei V. Tkachenko	2001 - 2009	Assistant Professor of Physics
Thomas R. Wright	2001 - 2013	Assistant Research Scientist, Physics
Samuel M. Moukouri	2004 - 2008	Assistant Professor of Physics
Marcus Spradlin	2005 - 2006	Assistant Professor of Physics
Luming Duan	2006 - 2018	Enrico Fermi Collegiate Professor of Physics Professor of Physics
Aaron Edward Leanhardt	2007 - 2014	Assistant Professor of Physics
Kathryn Zurek	2008 - 2014	Associate Professor of Physics
Jie Pan	2012 - 2015	Assistant Research Scientist in Physics
Michele Papucci	2013 - 2014	Associate Professor of Physics

Physics

List of Professors

R. Paul Drake

George Palmer Williams

Alexander Winchell

William Guy Peck

DeVolson Wood

John William Langley

Charles Kasson Wead

Dewitt Bristol Brace

George Washington Patterson

Henry Smith Carhart

John Oren Reed

Karl Eugen Guthe

Augustus Trowbridge

Harrison McAllister Randall

Lyman F. Morehouse

Arthur Whitmore Smith

William D. Henderson

Walter Francis Colby

Neil Hooker Williams

Daniel L. Rich

George Allan Lindsay

Felix Wladyslaw Pawlowski

Charles Ferdinand Meyer

David Locke Webster

William Warner Sleator

Ralph Alanson Sawyer

Ernest F. Barker

James M. Cork

Ora S. Duffendack

Oskar Klein

Floyd Alburn Firestone

David M. Dennison

Samuel A. Goudsmit

Otto Laporte

George E. Uhlenbeck

Ralph A. Wolfe

H. Richard Crane

Robley C. Williams

Claud Edwin Cleeton

Arthur Adel

Theodore H. Berlin

Robert Wallace Pidd

Marcellus L Wiedenbeck

Ernst Katz

Wayne E. Hazen

W. Wallace McCormick

William C. Parkinson

William A. Nierenberg

Sir Gordon Brims Black McIvor Sutherland

Donald Arthur Glaser

Paul Van Campen Hough

Edwin S. Lennox

Cyrus Levinthal

Murray Slotnick

Kenneth Myron Case

Lawrence W. Jones

Samuel Krimm

Kent M. Terwilliger

Noah Sherman

Joaquin M. Luttinger

Charles S Simons

Karl T. Hecht

Paul R Chagnon

Peter A. Franken

Martin L. Perl

George H Trilling

Donald I. Meyer

Richard H. Sands

Daniel Sinclair

Donald Allen Gilbert

George W. Ford

Alfred Z. Hendel

Robert R. Lewis

John van der Velde

C. Tristram Coffin

Irwin Goldberg

Byron P. Roe

Robert S. Tickle