Jack Sandweiss

Donner Professor of Physics

Jack Sandweiss, University of California at Berkeley, B.S. 1952, Ph.D., 1957, faculty member at Yale since 1957: you are an internationally recognized leader in experimental elementary particle physics, a field that epitomizes mankind’s search for an understanding of the basic constituents of matter and their fundamental interactions. You pioneered, soon after the discovery of the antiproton at your Alma Mater, in building beams of antiprotons at Brookhaven National Labs to study the properties of that then esoteric new particle. You followed this by equally pioneering beams of the even more esoteric sigma hyperons at Fermilab. You did groundbreaking work on the fundamental symmetries of space and time by studying time reversal invariance in kaon decays at Argonne Labs and searching for parity violations in heavy ion collisions at Brookhaven. You also pioneered in elucidating and searching for a fundamentally new form of matter, atoms with unusual quark content called strangelets, both on Earth, in Moon Dust, and later in outer space.

In addition to your pioneering contributions to the science of elementary particles, you were a noted leader both nationally and internationally of your chosen field. Your membership, and more often chairmanship, of numerous advisory and decision making committees made huge impacts on this field. In particular, your chairmanship of HEPAP, the High Energy Physics Advisory Panel, that advises the government and sets the scope of particle physics in the entire nation, at a time when crucial decisions needed to be made, set the course of this fundamental field for decades. As if this were not enough, you served in an exemplary fashion as the editor of The Physical Review Letters, the most prestigious scientific journal in this fundamental field, for a period of 25 years.

But all of your accomplishments in science do not convey what a superb member of the Yale community you have been—part of the glue that holds this place together. For years your willingness not simply to chair Physics but to sit on countless committees and to reach across disciplines to take part in the life of Yale have helped to close the cultural gap between the sciences and the humanities and have enriched our culture. Together you and your late wife Leetha—a tireless participant in every aspect of the Yale community—were beloved masters of Davenport College and for many years hosted the Wall Street Chamber players in your home. As a University citizen par excellence, you enjoyed Yale’s music, you swam in Yale’s pool, you were full of interest, cheer and support for everyone on campus. A deeply dedicated family man, as well as a distinguished physicist, a wonderful community citizen in every aspect of your life, on your retirement the Yale faculty family delights in paying homage to a truly beloved Yale worthy.

Tribute Editor: Penelope Laurans