By Nina Adelman Stolar
Officials of Universities Research Association, the
consortium that operates Fermilab, recently announced the appointment of
Piermaria Oddone as Fermilab’s next director. Currently the deputy
director of LBNL, Oddone looks forward to the opportunity to serve as
FNAL’s director.
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Pier Oddone (Photo courtesy of Fermilab) |
High energy physics has remained Oddone’s first scientific
love, and in talking about the move to Fermilab he stressed his desire to
contribute to this field at a pivotal point in history. He sees his time
overseeing all scientific programs at LBNL as a real advantage.
"We are living in a time of remarkable opportunity for
particle physics," Oddone said. "The next few years will bring a
revolution in our understanding of the universe. As one of the world’s
great physics laboratories, FNAL will make vital contributions to the
discoveries ahead. I am excited and honored to lead this unique laboratory
during such an extraordinary era."
Oddone will succeed Michael Witherell on July 1, 2005.
Witherell, FNAL director since 1999, will become vice chancellor for
research at UC Santa Barbara. Witherell praised Oddone’s appointment as
his successor.
"I am very pleased that Pier Oddone has agreed to be the
next FNAL director," Witherell said. "I have had the pleasure of knowing
him as a friend and colleague for many years. Pier is a superb physicist
who has years of experience managing science at another great laboratory.
He understands that the advance of particle physics in the U.S. and in the
world depends on strong leadership from FNAL. This is a terrific choice. I
look forward to working closely with him during the months ahead to ensure
a smooth transition."
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Oddone and SLAC
By Nina Adelman Stolar
For the invention of the Asymmetric B Factory,
Oddone was recently awarded the 2005 W.K.H. Panofsky Prize in
experimental particle physics by the American Physical Society.
Oddone has been an active member of the SLAC user
community. He was the Scientific Coordinator of the Positron
Electron Project (PEP) until 1982, and a member of the Time
Projection Chamber collaboration at PEP. Oddone was also one of the
founding members of the B ABAR
collaboration at PEP-II.
For more information, see:
http://www.aps.org/praw/panofsky/05winner.cfm
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"Pier Oddone is an exceptional choice to lead Fermilab as
we enter a truly new and exciting era of particle physics," said SLAC
Director Jonathan Dorfan. "Pier and I have been friends, colleagues and
collaborators for more than 20 years and I can attest to his outstanding
scientific qualifications and his consummate skill as a manager. I look
forward to continuing and strengthening our strong partnership with FNAL
under Pier’s leadership." Dorfan added, "at the same time, I want to thank
Michael Witherell, as outgoing Director, for his enormous contributions to
U.S. particle physics and to wish him and Beth a successful return to UC
Santa Barbara. "
Oddone was born in Peru and speaks fluent Spanish and
Italian. He graduated from MIT and received a Ph.D. in physics from
Princeton University. Following a post-doctoral fellowship at Cal Tech,
Oddone moved to Berkeley, where he worked on experiments at FNAL, LBNL and
SLAC. Oddone was director of the Physics Division at Berkeley Lab from
1987-91 and has been deputy director of LBNL since 1989.
For more information, see:
http://www.fnal.gov/pub/presspass/press_releases/
fermilabdirector.html
Message to the Fermilab Community:
http://www.fnal.gov/pub/news04/oddone.html
