Distinguished Science Alumni Award
Dr. Donald H. Bilderback, 2001
Dr. Bilderback is the Associate Director for CHESS (Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source) and an adjunct faculty member of the School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University. He received his doctorate in Physics from Purdue University in 1975 under the direction of Professor Roberto Colella.
Among Don's accomplishments are:
An R&D 100 award for the development of micro x-ray beam capillary optics - 1993.
The Compton Award (given by Argonne National laboratory), for the development of cryogenically-cooled optics for third generation storage rings - 1998.
Member of the "Science for Peace" Committee, an initiative sponsored by UNESCO, whose charge is to supervise the installation in the Middle East of a synchrotron machine (BESSY I) donated by the German government.
Don's career has focused on the development of synchrotron radiation beams and associated instrumentation that can be used to address a wide variety of problems: x-ray micro diffraction, protein crystallography, etc. Currently he is the chief designer of a new CHESS beam line, a $5.5M addition to CHESS that will open up new experimental capabilities. Finally, he serves as co-editor of the Journal of Synchrotron Radiation and is one of the editors for a book series on synchrotron radiation for World Publishing.
Pictured left to right: Professor Andrew S. Hirsch, Dr. Donald H. Bilderback, and Professor Roberto Colella who was Dr. Bilderback's major professor.
