Persis Drell

Happy birthday to particle astrophysicist Persis Drell. She was born in Palo Alto, California, in 1955. After earning her PhD in atomic physics in 1983 from the University of California, Berkeley, Drell worked as a postdoc at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and then joined the faculty of Cornell University in 1988. She left in 2002 to become director of research at SLAC. Drell was promoted to deputy director in 2005 and director in 2007. While at SLAC, Drell worked on the construction of the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope, among other projects. Not only was Drell the first female director of SLAC, but she also became the first woman to serve as dean of the Stanford School of Engineering when she accepted the position in 2014. Drell is also a cellist who enjoys playing chamber music. She is the daughter of the late physicist Sidney Drell, who was an emeritus professor at SLAC. As of 1 February 2017, Drell will take on a new position at Stanford as provost. (Photo credit: Saul Bromberger and Sandra Hoover)

Date in History: 30 December 1955