Obituary of Nicola D’Angelo

Professor Nicola (Nick) D’Angelo, 78, of Iowa City died of cancer on Wednesday, November 4, 2009, at the Oaknoll Retirement Center. Nicola D’Angelo was born in Ripatronsone, Italy on January 8, 1931. He was raised and schooled in Italy. After receiving his Doctor’s degree in physics from the University of Rome in 1953, he came to the US in 1955 and worked at the Nuclear Physics Division of Argonne National Laboratory until 1959. In 1959, he moved to the Plasma Physics Laboratory of Princeton University where he worked as a Research Physicist on Project Matterhorn, the US program to develop a controlled thermonuclear energy source. It was during his seven years at the Princeton Plasma Lab, that he co-developed the Q machine, a device for producing a magnetized, “quiescent” plasma in which the basic physics of plasmas could be investigated. He took the lead in performing the groundbreaking experiments that form some of our fundamental knowledge of plasma physics.

In 1966 he returned to Europe as Leader of the Plasma Physics Group at the Research Establishment, Risø, in Røskilde, Denmark. There Nick supervised the development of another Q machine device which he used to perform controlled laboratory experiments aimed at understanding various plasma physics processes occurring in the Earth’s ionosphere. This pioneering line of work occupied his professional efforts until his retirement. In 1968, he returned to his native Italy as Senior Scientist and first as Deputy Director and in 1970 as Director at the European Space Research Institute (ESRIN) in Frascati, a position he occupied until 1972. From 1972 until 1976, he was the Leader of the Plasma Physics Group at the Danish Space Research Institute in Lyngby, Denmark.

In 1976, Nick D’Angelo accepted a position as Professor of Physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Iowa, a position he held until his formal retirement in 2006. During his long tenure at Iowa, Nick was involved in the construction of 3 Q machine devices and several other plasma devices which were used to perform laboratory simulations of space plasma physics phenomena. This work was funded by NSF, ONR and NASA. In the mid 80’s, he was also directly involved in developing the Langmuir probe diagnostic that was part of the UI’s Plasma Diagnostics Package (PDP), used to probe the plasma environment around the Space Shuttle. Nick directed the MS and PhD theses of 13 graduate students at Iowa and several others while at Princeton, Denmark and Italy. He has authored or co-authored over 200 scientific publications and 2 books, and was internationally respected by both the plasma and space physics communities.

Over the thirty years at Iowa, Nick taught a variety of courses, both at the elementary and graduate level. For many of his later years, he taught the introductory physics course for engineering majors. Students greatly appreciated his calm, friendly and approachable manner, his wit, and especially his teaching philosophy of emphasizing depth of knowledge and physical insight over the quantity of information presented.

Nick D’Angelo is survived by his wife, Else, and in Italy, by two brothers, one sister, two nephews and one niece. His friendship and intellectual presence will be greatly missed by his colleagues in the Physics and Astronomy Department.

College of Liberal Arts&Sciences

University of Iowa

Iowa City, IA