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S. Peter Rosen

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Honorary Degree Recipient

  • Doctor of Science, Purdue University 2004

S. Peter Rosen was a senior science adviser for the Office of Science at the U.S. Department of Energy, living in Rockville, Md.

Born in London, England, and raised in Leeds, England, Rosen received his formal education in Great Britain, getting his bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1954 and his master’s degree in 1957, both from the Merton College at Oxford University. He went on to complete his doctorate in physics in 1957 at Clarendon Laboratory at Oxford University.

Rosen came to the United States in 1957 as a research associate at Washington University in St. Louis. After two years there, he went to work for the Midwestern Universities Research Laboratory for two years as a scientist before going back to Oxford’s Clarendon Laboratory as a NATO Fellow in 1962-63.

He came to West Lafayette as an assistant professor in Purdue’s Department of Physics in 1962, became an associate professor in 1963, and was promoted to professor in 1966, remaining here until 1984. While at Purdue, he served on University Senate and several committees including the University Promotions Committee, Resources Policy Committee, and Collective Bargaining Committee.

Rosen had various stints as visiting physicist, program associate or consultant at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, National Science Foundation, U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration, and Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory between 1984 and 1997. He also was at the University of Sussex in England as a visiting professor for three years and at the University of Texas at Arlington as dean of science and professor of physics for six years.

Rosen’s primary research interests are in elementary particle physics with emphasis on the theory of weak interactions and symmetries of elementary particles, neutrino physics, double beta decay, and solar neutrinos.

The Department of Energy tapped Rosen in 1997 to become associate director of the Office of High Energy and Nuclear Physics. In 2003, he was elevated to senior science adviser in the Office of Science.

Obituary - NY Times, October 25, 2006

Last Updated: Apr 29, 2016 4:15 PM

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