Obituary of George Raymond Satchler

George Raymond (Ray) Satchler, an internationally influential and respected nuclear theorist died in Seattle, Washington, on March 28, 2010, of congestive heart failure. Satchler was born in London, England in 1926. He served for four years in the Royal Air Force during World War II. After the war, he entered Oxford University. In 1951, he was granted BA and MA degrees, and in 1955 he received the D. Phil. degree under the direction of J. A. Spiers. He remained at Oxford until 1959 when he accepted a position at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The rest of his career was spent at ORNL, from where he retired in 1996.

Ray’s passion was physics research. From 1967 to 1974 he served as Associate Division Director of the ORNL Physics Division and from 1974-1976 he was the Theoretical Physics Director in that Division. For the rest of his career he concentrated on his research. His guiding motivation was to find better ways to extract nuclear structure information from direct nuclear reactions. His thesis work and early papers were on the analysis of the angular correlations of radiation produced in stripping reactions. This work involved an improved understanding of the theory of angular momentum. To this end, with David Brink, he produced a book on angular momentum theory. It was one of three books on angular momentum produced in the 1950s, but as a result of its unique discussion of practical applications of angular momentum theory, it became one of the most widely used books on the subject for many years.

In the early 1960s, Satchler developed one of the most complete and consistent formalisms for the study of direct nuclear reactions in the framework of the Distorted Wave Theory. With Bob Bassel and Dick Drisko, this formalism was used as the basis for computer codes to analyze experimental data on direct nuclear reactions. These codes-Sally, Julie, and Fanny were distributed worldwide and were the dominant tools for the study of direct reactions. Not only were the codes the most widely used in nuclear physics, but as computers and theories were refined, the codes remained as the core of most nuclear reaction codes for decades. The Satchler, Bassel, Drisko collaboration was among the most influential in all of nuclear physics.

Throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, Satchler continued an active program of studies of the nucleus from direct reactions induced by light ions. His work also involved fundamental studies of the effective nucleon-nucleon interaction to be used in the calculation of nuclear potentials. With the development of heavy- ion beams in the 1970s, Ray moved his arsenal of skills to the study of heavy-ion-induced reactions. He published many papers on the calculation of nuclear potentials, many in terms of folding models. He maintained a continuing interest in the study of collective states in nuclei, particularly the giant monopole and quadrupole resonances. His formalisms are still used as the basis of interpretation of the excitation of giant resonances through direct reactions. In the 1980s, Satchler published two major books - An Introduction to Nuclear Reactions and Direct Nuclear Reactions. The latter is the definitive book on the topic and is still frequently cited.

Satchler was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1976, and in that year he was one of the first researchers at ORNL to be named a Corporate Fellow by Union Carbide Corporation. In 1977, for his seminal work in the theory and applications of direct nuclear reactions, he was awarded the Tom W. Bonner Prize by the Division of Nuclear Physics of the American Physical Society. In 1989 he was awarded a prestigious Doctor of Science degree by Oxford University for particularly outstanding contributions to his field of research.

Ray was a prolific researcher; he published over 275 papers in refereed journals. He was widely respected by, and his counsel was widely sought by, the community of nuclear theorists. He was an equally valued collaborator by the experimental community. He very much enjoyed digging into the data and probing for the significant, and he was always available to work with his experimental colleagues in this search. He thought, wrote, and spoke with a highly unusual clarity and brevity. (It was not unusual for him, in collaboration with his lifetime secretary, Althea Tate, to write a paper in a single draft.) A man of great reserve and warmth, he was a delightful associate. The field of nuclear physics was much enriched by his contributions.