History and Archives

Miguel Awschalom completed his elementary and secondary education in Argentina. He received his bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University in 1950 and his PhD in Physics from the University of Rochester in 1955. He spent two years as a research associate at Louisiana State University, after which he joined the Princeton-Pennsylvania Accelerator, where he worked on accelerator design, radiation physics, and health physics.

Awschalom joined the National Accelerator Laboratory (later known as Fermilab) in 1968. He made important contributions to the lab’s accelerator and the shielding of the access tunnels. Awschalom also played a key role in the conception and development of the lab’s Neutron Therapy Facility, which began operating in 1975. He was the Neutron Therapy Facility’s chief physicist until 1985 and collaborated closely with the physicians Lionel Cohen and Frank Hendrickson. He facilitated a series of workshops on proton therapy and played a lead role in the development of the Loma Linda Proton Therapy Facility.

He passed away in 1989.

Source: Francis Cole, Arlene Lennox, Lionel Cohen, Ivan Rosenberg, Franca Kuchnir, and Paul DeLuca. “Miguel Awschalom.” Physics Today 44, 2, 116 (1991); doi: 10.1063/1.2810008

Miguel Awschalom Content

• The Radiation Physics Section and You — September 3, 1970