Pake Prize (2022): The scattering of neutrons, the structure of bacteria, and the creation of a world class company

My interest in the practical elements of scattering theory began many years ago in graduate school. By that time, many experiments had been reported on the scattering of protons and neutrons from the nuclei of a variety of elements over a broad range of energies. My thesis concerned the development of a theory that would describe the elastic scattering of neutrons from such nuclei by means of a so-called non-local model.

Following graduate school and a dearth of industrial jobs in nuclear physics, I began to explore the microbial world.  Potential threats of bioterrorism provided early government funding for research in such areas and resulted in the start of the first company to introduce instruments that incorporated lasers as sources for a variety of light scattering measurements.

With the support of some very brilliant colleagues and a few industrial contracts, we were able to derive structural features of bacterial cells from the measured angular variation of their scattered light. Such activities led to the formation of a few companies each of which failed for lack of any long term commercial applications. Eventually, a set of remarkable light scattering instruments addressing a very broad range of market applications resulted in today’s successful company.  This is the story of how such a company was created.