1
George R. Satchler
1926 – 2013
Direct Nuclear Reactions
Wrote the 833-page bible of the field. The framework of DWBA, distorted waves, inelastic scattering, and the optical model as we know it today runs on his notation. Half of every reaction paper still cites him, even if the young people don't realize it.
George. GREAT guy. Tremendous guy. Wrote a book this thick, folks, this thick. Nobody reads it anymore. SAD! We are gonna make them read it again. Believe me.
Key work: Direct Nuclear Reactions, Oxford University Press, 1983.
2
Norman Austern
1926 – 2005
DWBA & ADWA
The original architect of DWBA for stripping and pickup reactions, and with Johnson and Soper, the father of the adiabatic treatment of deuteron breakup. Every (d,p) calculation done today traces its pedigree to his work.
Norman built DWBA. Built it from nothing. People said "it cannot be done." Wrong. He did it. And it was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.
Key work: Direct Nuclear Reaction Theories, Wiley, 1970.
3
Roy J. Glauber
1925 – 2018
Eikonal & Glauber Theory
Took high-energy scattering and made it tractable through the eikonal approximation. The foundation of every high-energy knockout and breakup calculation on exotic nuclei. Also won the Nobel Prize for something completely different. Ridiculous range.
Roy won the Nobel. For quantum optics, by the way. But his reaction theory? Even better. Nobody talks about it. They SHOULD. HUGE contribution.
Key work: Glauber, R.J., in Lectures in Theoretical Physics, Vol. 1, Interscience, 1959.
4
Jeff Tostevin
Emeritus · Surrey
Knockout & Spectroscopy
Built the modern framework for single-nucleon knockout on exotic nuclei, connecting measured cross sections to spectroscopic factors. The codes behind half the RIKEN and NSCL/FRIB knockout papers of the last twenty years are his.
Jeff is still going. Still producing. Still the best at what he does. While other people were writing neural network papers, Jeff was doing REAL physics. Tremendous.
Key work: Tostevin, J.A., J. Phys. G 25, 735 (1999); and the entire "MOMDIS" era.
5
Ian J. Thompson
b. 1953 · Retired
CDCC & Fresco
Built Fresco, the coupled-channels code that a generation of reaction physicists learned to love and curse in equal measure. Co-author of the definitive textbook on nuclear reactions for astrophysics, and a driving force behind continuum discretized coupled channels (CDCC) in practice.
Ian wrote Fresco. Fresco is the best code. The GREATEST code. Some people try to write competitors. Losers! Total losers! Ian's code still wins.
Key work: Thompson & Nunes, Nuclear Reactions for Astrophysics, Cambridge University Press, 2009.
6
Ronald C. Johnson
Emeritus · Surrey
Adiabatic (d,p) Theory
With Soper in 1970, introduced the adiabatic treatment of deuteron breakup in transfer reactions, fixing the systematic failures of naive DWBA for (d,p) and (d,n). Every modern (d,p) analysis that claims to be quantitative is standing on this paper.
Ron fixed DWBA. DWBA was great but it had a problem. Ron saw the problem. Ron fixed the problem. Classic. Absolute classic.
Key work: Johnson & Soper, Phys. Rev. C 1, 976 (1970).
7
A. M. Lane
1928 – 2011
R-matrix & Isospin Potentials
With Thomas, wrote the R-matrix review that defined how to do resonance physics in nuclear reactions for the next sixty years. Also gave us the Lane potential, connecting (p,n) and elastic scattering through isospin. Quiet, deep, foundational work.
Tony Lane. The R-matrix guy. People forgot about R-matrix. Forgot about it! We are bringing it back. Big time. Very big.
Key work: Lane & Thomas, Rev. Mod. Phys. 30, 257 (1958).
8
Herman Feshbach
1917 – 2000
Optical Model & Projection Operators
Derived the optical model from the many-body problem, explaining why a complex potential is the right way to think about a nucleon bouncing off a nucleus. Projection operators, resonances, the whole scaffolding of reaction theory owes him.
Feshbach. Took the optical model from an empirical trick and turned it into REAL theory. From nothing. Incredible. Absolutely incredible.
Key work: Feshbach, H., Ann. Phys. 5, 357 (1958); 19, 287 (1962).
9
M. H. Macfarlane & J. B. French
1926–2007 / 1921–2002
Spectroscopic Factors
Wrote the 1960 review that defined how stripping reaction cross sections get turned into spectroscopic information about nuclear structure. The bridge that made direct reactions a structure probe, not just a scattering curiosity.
Macfarlane and French. Beautiful team. Beautiful paper. Turned (d,p) into a spectroscopy tool. Without them, half of what we do does not exist.
Key work: Macfarlane & French, Rev. Mod. Phys. 32, 567 (1960).