Friedel Sellschop

Jacques Pierre Friederich (Friedel) Sellschop
Born 8 June 1930
Luderitz, Namibia
Died 4 August 2002 (2002-08-05) (aged 72)
Residence South Africa
Nationality South African
Fields Physics
Institutions University of the Witwatersrand
Alma mater

University of Pretoria

University of Cambridge
Known for Nuclear physics
Particle physics
Diamond physics
Notable awards Max Planck medal

Jacques Pierre Friederich (Friedel) Sellschop (8 June 1930 – 4 August 2002) was a South African scientist and pioneer in the field of applied nuclear physics.

Early life and education

Sellschop was born in Luderitz, Namibia on 8 June 1930.[1] He was educated at University of Pretoria (B.Sc) and Stellenbosch University (M.Sc), and earned a PhD in Nuclear Physics at University of Cambridge. On completing his education in England, he returned to South Africa on the advice of Basil Schonland, his mentor.[2]

Contributions to neutrino research

In February 1965, Sellschop was part of a group which identified the first neutrino found in nature, in one of South Africa's gold mines.[3] The experiment was performed in a specially prepared chamber at a depth of 3 km in the ERPM mine near Boksburg. A plaque in the main building commemorates the discovery. The experiments also implemented a primitive neutrino astronomy and looked at issues of neutrino physics and weak interactions.[4]

Contributions in diamond physics

Sellschop was an expert in the physics of diamonds. His research here was very broad. As a member of the CERN NA43 and NA59 collaborations,[5] he contributed to experiments that used the perfect and very rigid diamond lattice to produce and study the highest energy near monochromatic photons ever produced in a laboratory. He was an important contributor to the field of nuclear geochemistry in diamond, evidencing the trace-element composition of natural diamond and linking this to mantle geochemistry.[6] Diamonds are seen as "messengers from the deep", assumed to bring included mantle material to the surface well preserved in a chemical and physical prison. He also studied ion-implantation of diamond and was a pioneer of diamond as an ideal material for electrical[7] and optical[8] applications.

He received the Max Planck medal for his work in both neutrino and diamond physics.[1]

Contributions to the scientific community

Friedel Sellschop is remembered as an innovative and visionary scientific leader. He contributed both to his University and country. From 1959 to 1988, Sellschop served as the University of Witwatersrand's chair of Nuclear Physics, the first person to hold such a chair in all of South Africa.[2] In this capacity, as a young man, he began from nothing and developed a significant nuclear physics laboratory and research department.[1] He was therefore the founding Director of the Nuclear Physics Research Unit at the University of Witwatersrand in 1956. This laboratory was later renamed the Schonland Centre for Nuclear Sciences. In 2005, the Schonland Centre was donated to the state to be run as a National Facility by iThemba LABS.

Sellschop was Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of the Witwatersrand from 1979 to 1983. He subsequently became Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) from 1984 to 1996. In this position, from which he retired, Sellschop assisted in creating funding policies and procedures that would ensure transparency in awarding research money.[1]

A list of some of his positions in service to the community follow[9]

Significant publications

Friedel Sellschop authored over 300 publications in international peer reviewed journals. A selection of these follow.[9]

Awards and honors

Friedel Sellschop held five honorary doctorates.[9]

A selection of his Honours and awards reads as follows.[9]

Obituary

Sellschop died peacefully on 4 August 2002.[2][11]

External links

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Barron, Chris (8 November 2002). "Obituary - Jacques Pierre Friederich (Friedel) Sellschop 1930 - 2002". Sunday Times. Retrieved 2007-04-08.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Tribute to Friedel Sellschop FRSSAf". RSSA Newsletter. August 2002. Retrieved 2007-04-08.
  3. 1 2 "National Awards and Honors". SAHistory. Archived from the original on 2007-04-04. Retrieved 2007-04-08.
  4. ↑ R Tegen (2001). "A review of the SA Neutrino experiment". South African Journal of Science.
  5. ↑ "CERN Greybook". CERN. April 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
  6. ↑ DM Bibby, HW Fesq & JPF Sellschop, D. M.; Fesq, H. W.; Sellschop, J. P. F. (1978). "Trace elements in diamonds of different types". Nature. 276 (5686): 379. Bibcode:1978Natur.276..379B. doi:10.1038/276379a0.
  7. ↑ Sellschop JPF (1992). "Nuclear probes in the study of diamond". In Field JE. The properties of natural and synthetic diamond. Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-255352-7.
  8. ↑ Sellschop JPF; Freund A; Hoszowska J; SH Connell; M Rebak; RC Burns (2002). "The quest for diamond crystal perfection to meet the needs of physics: Unrealistic dream or attainable target?". 193 (3). Physica Status Solidi A: 415–422.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Sellschop, Friedel. Curriculum Vitae, 2002: Lodged with the Official Archives - University of the Witwatersrand
  10. ↑ The Proceedings of the International Conference FUNDAMENTAL AND APPLIED ASPECTS OF MODERN PHYSICS Lüderitz 2000. World Scientific. 2001.
  11. ↑ Caveney RJ, Connell SH (2003). "Jacques Pierre Friederich Sellschop – Obituary". Physics Today. 56 (4): 83–84. Bibcode:2003PhT....56d..83C. doi:10.1063/1.1580067.
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