Obituary of Gayle Sanford Painter

Gayle Stanford Painter, a humanitarian and distinguished research scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) died March 26, 2008 following a brief illness. Born February 27, 1941 and raised and educated in Columbia, SC, Painter attended the University of South Carolina where he obtained his B.S. in 1963 and Doctorate in Physics in 1967. In 1968 at the invitation of Professor J. C. Slater, he journeyed to the Quantum Theory Project at the University of Florida where he worked with Professor Don Ellis who was himself a newly minted PhD from MIT. During Gayle’s one year post-doctoral fellowship, he and Ellis developed a method for computing energy bands in solids that they called the Discrete Variational Method (DVM). Their scheme was extremely flexible and was independent of any particular form of basis set or approximation for the crystalline potential. Using their code and an early form of what was soon to be called the Local Density Approximation, they computed the first accurate energy bands for graphite and diamond. These early papers on the optical and electronic properties of graphite and diamond are still cited in the literature and many descendents of the DVM code are in use in laboratories around the world.

In the fall of 1969, Gayle joined the Theory Group of the Metals and Ceramics Division at ORNL, a position he would hold for the rest of his life. During his career at ORNL, he was the recipient of Technical Publication and Technical Achievement Awards and was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society. Gayle enjoyed visiting with colleagues in other countries and spent year long sabbaticals in 1974–75 in Juelich, Germany and Bristol, England.

His interest in new computational methods and approximations in quantum physics and chemistry continued unabated throughout his life. The applications of his methods to small molecules and solids helped to identify the strengths and limits of various approximations to Density Functional Theory. His theoretical studies also made substantial contributions to the understanding of the electronic, magnetic, and structural properties of materials. In 1987 by carrying out total energy and force calculations on atom clusters, he was able to provide the first explanation of the contrasting effects of boron and sulfur impurities in Ni metal. Over the last decade or so, Gayle collaborated with researchers from around the world on studies of advanced ceramic materials. His work is recognized for providing key theoretical insights that have allowed for advances in the fundamental understanding of the behavior of ceramics and super-hard materials.

Gayle acted as a catalyst for developing interactions between theorists and experimentalists. He had a profound influence on the scientific directions of colleagues at ORNL and on many international visitors. His unique ability to listen to the ideas of others and to encourage them often led younger scientists to seek him out. Gayle’s many friends will miss not only his important scientific contributions, but also his enthusiasm and genuine interest in them, as well as their research. He will be remembered as a gentleman, a scholar and a friend.

His pastimes included photography, painting with watercolors, gardening and woodworking. He and his wife also enjoyed ballroom dancing. He was brilliant but also down to earth, gentle and easy to talk to. He cared about all things great and small, his family, friends, animals and nature. He was a member and supporter of the Defenders of Wildlife, the ASPCA and the National Wildlife Federation.

He is survived by his wife June, two daughters, Angie and Jennifer and two grandchildren, Anna and Ethan. As befits a scholar to the last, several of his papers will be published posthumously.

Presenters: Paul F. Becher, G. Malcolm Stocks, Chong Long Fu, Frank W. Averill, Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory