Background

Osheroff, Douglas Dean was born on August 1, 1945 in Aberdeen, Washington. Father, William Osheroff, was the son of Jewish immigrants who left Russia. His mother, Bessie Anne (Ondov), a nurse, was the daughter of Slovak immigrants (her own father was a Lutheran minister). His paternal grandfather was born in Mogilev region (which is now the Republic of Belarus).

Education

Bachelor of Science in Physics, California Institute of Technology, 1967; Master of Science, Cornell University, 1969; Doctor of Philosophy in Physics, Cornell University, 1973.

Career

Member technical staff Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey, 1972—1982, head solid state and low temperature physics research department, 1982—1987. Professor Stanford University, California, since 1987, J.G. Jackson and C.J. Wood professor physics, since 1992, chair physics, 1993—1996. Member of Columbia Accident Investigation Board, 2003.

Achievements

• Achievements include research in properties of matter near absolute zero of temperature. Co-discovery of nuclear antiferromagnetic resonance in solid 3He, superfluidity in helium-3.

Works

• Other Work

  • Phys. Rev. Lett. 28, 885 (1972) - Evidence for a New Phase of Solid He3

    (Measurements of the melting pressure of a sample of He3 c...)

    1972
  • Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 2148 (2000) - Observation of a Superfluid He-3 A-B Phase Transition in Silica Aerogel

    (New NMR studies of 3He in high-porosity aerogel reveal a ...)

    2000
  • Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 155301 (2004) - Phase Diagram of Superfluid 3He in 99.3% Porosity Aerogel

    (Report on continuous-wave NMR measurements of the energy ...)

  • Phys. Rev. Lett. 29, 920 (1972) - New Magnetic Phenomena in Liquid He3 below 3 mK

    (Magnetic measurements have been made on a sample of He3 i...)

    1972
  • Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 055301 (2004) - Interfacial Pinning in the Superfluid 3He A-B Transition in Aerogel

    (Continuous-wave NMR studies of 3He in the presence of 99....)

    2004
  • Rev. Mod. Phys. 69, 667 (1997) - Superfluidity in 3He: Discovery and understanding 1997

Religion

Osheroff was confirmed in the Lutheran Church but he was given the chance to choose and decided not to attend any longer. He has stated "In some sense it seemed that lying in church is the worst place to lie. I guess at some emotional level I accept the idea of God, but I don't know how God would manifest itself."

Membership

Fellow: American Academy Arts and Sciences, American Physical Society, member: National Academy of Sciences.

Personality

Osheroff is left-handed, and he often blames his slight quirks and eccentricities on it. He is also an avid photographer and introduces students at Stanford to medium-format film photography in a freshman seminar titled "Technical Aspects of Photography." In addition, he has taught the Stanford introductory physics course on electricity and magnetism on multiple occasions, most recently in Spring 2008, as well as undergraduate labs on low temperature physics.

Among his physics outreach activities, Osheroff participated in the science festivals for middle and high school students, is an official guest of honor at the International Young Physicists' Tournament 2013.

He married a biochemist, Phyllis Liu-Osheroff, in 1970.

Connections

Son of William and Bessie Anne (Ondov) Osheroff. Married Phyllis S.K. Liu, August 14, 1970.

Father:

William

Mother:

Bessie Anne (Ondov) Osheroff

Spouse:

Phyllis S.K. Liu