Dennis Kovar and Low-Energy Nuclear Science in the United States at the turn of the century

This presentation will retrace aspects of Dennis Kovar's research career as a staff member within the Physics Division at Argonne National Laboratory. Dennis led pioneering work on understanding how the total cross section in heavy-ion induced reactions is distributed into elastic and inelastic scattering, transfer, incomplete and complete fusion with a focus on the interaction between these different channels. It will also discuss the decisive role Dennis played in stewarding low energy nuclear science, once he joined the Office of Nuclear Physics at the Department of Energy. In particular, this presentation will review Dennis' role in helping making the case for physics with rare isotopes. Through his many valuable suggestions and probing questions he was instrumental in challenging and stimulating to community into an adventure that ultimately culminated in the proposal for the development of FRIB, the facility for Rare Isotope Beams.