William Hayes
Honorary Degree Recipient
- Doctor of Science, Purdue University 1996
Dr. William Hayes, President, St. John's College, Oxford University, U.K., the recipient of the 1996 honorary degree of Doctor of Science of Purdue University, has mobilized a wide range of spectroscopic techniques ranging from the microwaves to the far infrared, inelastic light scattering (Raman and Brillouin spectroscopy), magneto-optics (Zeeman effect), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), electron paramagoetic resonance (EPR) and muon spin resonance (mu-SR) and applied them incisively to a variety of condensed matter phenomena, thus enriching condensed matter physics immeasurably.
Dr. Hayes' connection with Purdue dates back to 1963-64 when he spent a year in the Physics Department as a Senior Foreign Fellow of the U.S. National Science Foundation. During that year he initiated an extremely innovative and fruitful line of investigation on the fascinating phenomenon of localized modes of vibration in semiconductors.
Dr. Hayes is a leading authority on the nature of defects -- imperfections -- in an otherwise perfect crystal. He explored the spectroscopic signatures of imperfections in alkali halides and semiconductors by employing a gamut of spectroscopic techniques to crystals with and without external perturbation (electric and magnetic fields, uniaxial stress). One of the striking features of Dr. Hayes' scientific career is his early recognition of the potential of a new technique and its exploitation in the study of a novel and exciting physical phenomenon.
Dr. Hayes' immense scholarship is documented in highly influential books on defects in solids and the classic Scattering of Light by Crystals he wrote in collaboration with Rodney Loudon.
His long affiliation with St. John's College, Oxford, as a Senior Tutor, Principal Bursar, and President (since 1987), his appointment as Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, his two-year tenure as Director of the Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford, and his election to the Fellowship of the American Physical Society illustrate the very high esteem in which Dr. Hayes is held nationally and internationally.