R._Stephen_Berry

R.
Stephen Berry
Richard Stephen Berry (April 9, 1931[1] – July 26,
2020) was an American professor of physical R. Stephen Berry
chemistry.[2] Born Richard Stephen Berry
April 9, 1931
He was the James Franck Distinguished Service Denver, Colorado, U.S.
Professor, emeritus,, at The University of Chicago. He Died July 26, 2020 (aged 89)
was also special advisor for national security to the Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
director, at Argonne National Laboratory.[3]
Alma mater Harvard University A.B. 1952;
A.M., 1954; Ph.D., 1956
Career and research Scientific career

Fields Physical chemistry
A native of Denver, Colorado, Berry joined the Institutions University of Chicago
Chicago faculty in 1964, having been an assistant
Thesis The electronic structure of
professor at Yale University and, between 1957 and
butadiene (http://id.lib.harvar
1960, an instructor at the University of Michigan. At
d.edu/alma/99003748389020
the University of Chicago, he has been a member of
3941/catalog) (1956)
the department of chemistry, the James Franck
Institute, the College, and, for many years, the Doctoral William Moffitt
advisor
Committee and then the School of Public Policy
Studies.[2][3] Doctoral Michael Oppenheimer
students David Leitner
He was home secretary of the National Academy of Other notable David J. Wales (postdoc)
Sciences from 1999 until 2003. He has written one students
book, been co-author of four others, one with Stuart A.
Website [1] (https://chemistry.uchicag
Rice and John Ross, another with Linda Gaines and
o.edu/faculty/faculty/person/
Thomas V. Long, another with Vladimir Kazakov,
member/r-stephen-berry.html)
Stanislaw Sieniutycz, Zbigniew Szwast, and Anatoly
Tsirlin, and one with Boris Smirnov.[4] He was named
a MacArthur Fellow in 1983.[5]
His scientific studies have included both experimental and theoretical work. His doctoral thesis, directed
by William Moffitt, was on the subject of the electronic structure of butadiene. He then went on to study
alkali halides in the gas phase, first at the University of Michigan and then at Yale, using shock waves to
produce sufficient dissociation of the molecules to ions to make it feasible to observe the
photodetachment spectra of the halide ions, thus determining the electron affinities of the halogen atoms
to four or five significant figures. He worked at Michigan with Martin Stiles to observe the free benzyne
in the gas phase, and then, at Yale, with a graduate student Margaret Emery and an undergraduate Jon
Clardy, they found the meta and para isomers of benzyne. He also worked with Walter Lwowski to study
nitrenes in the gas phase.[2]
In 1964, he moved to The University of Chicago, where he has worked on atomic and ionic collision
processes, photoionization, the nature of correlation of valence electrons in atoms, and, more recently, on
atomic and molecular clusters, and on protein dynamics. He became interested in energy and its efficient
use first through concern about Chicago's air pollution in the 1960s. This led to what we believe is one of
the first public studies of what has become called "life cycle analysis." This was an analysis of the actual
and ideal limiting energy and free energy use in the manufacture and disposal of the automobile, and was
carried out with Margaret F. Fels. This led to many other such analyses, which now are done very
frequently. This work, in turn, stimulated what has become known as "finite-time thermodynamics," the
study of the optimal performance of processes constrained to operate in finite time or at nonzero rates. He
has been very active in the study of atomic and molecular clusters, particularly in their phases and phase
changes. This has led to a broader interest in bridging between the microscopic and macroscopic
descriptions of physical systems, especially of finding the boundary below which a macroscopic
description fails.[2]
His interests, apart from traditional scientific studies, have included energy and energy policy (which he
was teaching with the economist George Tolley), scientific integrity issues, scientific information, its
distribution and its contributions to policy and governmental decisions including those of the courts, and
science education, particularly the problem of science illiteracy.[3]
Personal life
Berry was married to Carla Friedman Berry. They had two grown daughters, one son, five grandsons, and
three granddaughters.[3] He died in July 2020 in Chicago.[6]
Publications
Books
2019 Three laws of nature: a little book on thermodynamics. New Haven: Yale University
Press.
2002 (with Stuart A. Rice and John Ross) Physical and chemical kinetics (2nd. ed.). New
York: Oxford University Press.
2000 (with Stuart A. Rice and John Ross) Physical chemistry (2nd. ed.). New York: Oxford
University Press.
2000 (with V. Kazakov, S. Sieniutycz, Z. Szwast and A. M. Tsirlin) Thermodynamic
optimization of finite-time processes. Chichester; New York: Wiley.
1991 Understanding energy: energy, entropy, and thermodynamics for everyman.
Singapore; New Jersey: World Scientific.
1979 (with Linda Gaines and Thomas Veach Long II) TOSCA, the total social cost of coal
and nuclear power. Cambridge, Mass.: Ballinger Pub. Co.
1978 (with Margaret Lounsbury and Sandra Hebenstreit) Resource analysis: Water and
energy as linked resources (WRC Research Report NO. 134). University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign. Water Resources Center.
References
1. Congress, The Library of. "LC Linked Data Service: Authorities and Vocabularies (Library of
Congress)" (http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79022822.html). id.loc.gov.
2. "Biography of R. Stephen Berry". The Journal of Physical Chemistry A. 106 (45): 10733–
10734. 2002. Bibcode:2002JPCA..10610733. (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2002JPC
A..10610733.). doi:10.1021/jp0219552 (https://doi.org/10.1021%2Fjp0219552). ISSN 1089-
5639 (https://search.worldcat.org/issn/1089-5639).
3. Proykova, Ana (2002). "R. Stephen Berry" (https://doi.org/10.3390%2Fi3010002).
International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 3 (1): 2–3. doi:10.3390/i3010002 (https://doi.or
g/10.3390%2Fi3010002). ISSN 1422-0067 (https://search.worldcat.org/issn/1422-0067).
4. "R. Stephen Berry" (https://chemistry.uchicago.edu/faculty/r-stephen-berry). University of
Chicago. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
5. "R. Stephen Berry - MacArthur Foundation" (https://www.macfound.org/fellows/133/).
MacArthur Foundation. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
6. "R. Stephen Berry, 'one of the most influential chemists of his generation,' 1931-2020 |
University of Chicago Department of Chemistry" (https://chemistry.uchicago.edu/news/r-step
hen-berry-innovative-chemist-and-energy-policy-advocate-1931-2020).
chemistry.uchicago.edu.
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Career and research Scientific career

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