Our dear friend and colleague Mike Wilkinson passed away on May 22, 2013 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, at the age of 92. Mike will be remembered for his pioneering research in neutron scattering at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in the 1950's and for his leadership in ORNL's Solid State Division in the 1960's–1980's.
Mike was born in Palatka, Florida, on February 9, 1921. He attended public schools in that city and college at the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, where he received a B.S. degree in physics in 1942. Because of his science background, he was sent to special training courses in radar at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). After receiving this training, he spent most of his army career as Radar and Intelligence Officer for the Harbor Defenses of Los Angeles. After the War, Mike attended graduate school at MIT, where he obtained his PhD in Physics in 1950. His thesis research was under Professor Wayne Nottingham, on crystallographic variations in field emissions from tungsten. While at MIT, he also performed research in x-ray scattering under Professor Bertram Warren.
Mike joined the Physics Division at ORNL in 1950, working in the neutron scattering program initiated by Ernest Wollan and Clifford Shull. He was involved in research to clarify the understanding of the magnetism of transition metals and alloys. In 1962 he and Harold Smith joined ORNL's Solid State Division to initiate a new inelastic neutron scattering program to investigate the dynamical properties of atoms in solids. This group was later expanded to include Robert Nicklow, Herbert Mook and Nobuyoshi Wakabayashi. The group constructed the first triple-axis spectrometer in the US at the Oak Ridge Reactor (ORR), which was based on the instrument developed at the Chalk River Laboratory in Canada by Bertram Brockhouse. He was author or co-author of about 75 articles in peer reviewed scientific journals.
Mike spent a year at Georgia Tech where he became interested in science management. Upon his return to ORNL he was appointed associate director of the Solid State Division in 1964 and director in 1972. He served in this capacity until 1986. Under his leadership this Division gained international reputation for excellence in scientific research. Mike also became very active in the promotion of science and in the development of science policy in the United States. He served on many national committees, which included the Solid State Sciences Committee of the National Research Council, the Evaluation Panel for Materials Sciences of the National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Science and Technology), the Executive Committee of the Division of Condensed Matter Sciences of the American Physical Society, the Executive Committee of the Southeastern Section of the American Physical Society, the Advisory Committee for Materials Research of the National Science Foundation and the Oasis Energy Sciences Committee of the Department of Energy. He also served on advisory committees for the Physics Departments of several universities.
He was involved in the development of a new high intensity neutron source in Oak Ridge. His efforts laid the foundation for the approval of the Spallation Neutron Source at ORNL many years later. For his contributions, he was given the DOE Research Associate Award, one of the highest distinctions by this government agency. He retired from ORNL in 1991.
Mike was highly regarded by all who knew him. He will be remembered as a fine scientist, a visionary science manager and a true gentleman. He will be greatly missed by his many friends worldwide.