Ronald E. Mickens
{{short description|American physicist}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Ronald Elbert Mickens
| image = Portrait of Ronald E. Mickens.jpg
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1943|2|7}}
| birth_place = Petersburg, Virginia, United States
| nationality = American
| fields = Physics Applied mathematics
| workplaces = Clark Atlanta University, Fisk University
| education = Fisk University, Vanderbilt University
| alma_mater = Fisk University
| known_for = Scattering theory, Nonlinear oscillations, Difference equations, NSFD Schemes, Generalized trigonometric functions, History of science, Mathematical biology
| children = James Mickens{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2016-03-07|title=James Mickens and his father, Ronald Mickens, after James received his PhD in Computer Science Mickens Ronald G4|url=https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/photos/mickens-ronald-g4|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-01-15|website=Ronald E. Mickens Collection, American Institute of Physics|language=en}}
| thesis_title = Branch Points in the Complex Angular Momentum Plane
| doctoral_advisor = Wendell G. Holladay
}}
Ronald Elbert Mickens (born February 7, 1943) is an American physicist and mathematician who is the Fuller E. Callaway Professor of Physics at Clark Atlanta University. His research focuses on nonlinear dynamics and mathematical modeling, including modeling epidemiology. He also has an interest in the history of science and has written on the history of black scientists.{{cite news|last1=Giles|first1=Jennifer|title=Perspectives on the Importance of Research: A Conversation with Distinguished Fuller E. Callaway Professor: Dr. Ronald Mickens|url=http://www.cau.edu/CMFiles/Docs/68116_Book.pdf|access-date=3 January 2016|work=Clark Atlanta Magazine|issue=Fall|date=2009|pages=14–16}} He is a fellow of the American Physical Society{{cite news|last1=Jones|first1=Autumn Arnett|title=Biographical Sketch of Dr. Ronald Mickens|url=http://www.cau.edu/CMFiles/Docs/68116_Book.pdf|access-date=3 January 2016|work=Clark Atlanta Magazine|issue=Fall|date=2009|pages=15}}{{cite book|last1=Gumel|first1=Abba B.|editor1-last=Gumel|editor1-first=Abba B.|title=Mathematics of continuous and discrete dynamical systems : AMS Special Session in Honor of Ronald Mickens' 70th birthday on Nonstandard Finite-Difference Discretizations and Nonlinear Oscillations, January 9—10, 2013, San Diego, CA|date=2014|publisher=American Mathematical Society|isbn=978-0-8218-9862-8|page=ix}} and served as the historian of the National Society of Black Physicists.{{cite web|last1=Williams|first1=Scott W.|title=Ronald E. Mickens|url=http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/PEEPS/mickens_ronalde.html|website=Mathematicians of the African Diaspora|publisher=The Mathematics Department of The State University of New York at Buffalo|access-date=3 January 2016}} He has made significant contributions to the theory of nonlinear oscillations{{Cite book|title=Oscillations in Planar Dynamic Systems|last=Mickens|first=Ronald E.|publisher=World Scientific|year=1996|isbn=9810222920}}{{Cite book|title=Truly Nonlinear Oscillations: Harmonic Balance, Parameter Expansions, Iterations, and Averaging Methods|last=Mickens|first=Ronald E.|publisher=World Scientific|year=2010|isbn=978-981-4291-65-1}} and numerical analysis.{{Cite book|title=Nonstandard Finite Difference Models of Differential Equations|last=Mickens|first=Ronald E.|publisher=World Scientific|year=1994|isbn=9810214588}}{{Cite book|title=Advances in the Applications of Nonstandard Finite Difference Schemes|last=Mickens|first=Ronald E.|publisher=World Scientific|year=2005|isbn=981-256-404-7}}
Early life and education
Ronald Elbert Mickens was born February 7, 1943, in Petersburg, Virginia,{{cite web|title=Ronald Mickens|url=http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/ronald-mickens-41|website=The HistoryMakers|access-date=3 January 2016}} to Joseph P. Mickens, a general construction worker, and Daisy Brown Williamson Mickens who was a part-time domestic worker.{{Cite book|title=African American National Biography|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2008|isbn=9780195160192|editor-last=Gates Jr.|editor-first=Henry Louis|volume=5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/africanamericann00henr/page/591 591-592]|editor-last2=Higginbotham|editor-first2=Evelyn Brooks|url=https://archive.org/details/africanamericann00henr/page/591}} The eldest of three children, Mickens was raised primarily by his maternal grandparents. It was through discussions with his grandfather, James Williamson, that Mickens was inspired to become a scientist at age six and has credited his grandfather with his early interest in science. Mickens attended Fisk University as an undergraduate and graduated in 1964 with degrees in mathematics and physics. He received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics in 1968 from Vanderbilt University and subsequently worked as a postdoctoral fellow at MIT. His studies at Vanderbilt were supported by fellowships from the Danforth Foundation and the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. Continuing his research efforts, he received a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship to investigate elementary particle physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Academic career
Mickens returned to Fisk University as a faculty member in 1970 and later worked at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, from which he was recruited to what was then Atlanta University in 1981. He became a Callaway Professor in 1986. Mickens was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1999, with the citation "For his sustained service to the physics community and his original contributions on the applications of mathematics to the study of physical systems."{{cite web|title=Dr. Ronald E. Mickens|url=http://www.ebasi.org/bio_mickens.html|website=Edward Bouchet Abdus Salam Institute|access-date=4 January 2016}}{{cite web|title=APS Fellow Archive|url=https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/archive-all.cfm?initial=&year=1999&unit_id=APS&institution=Clark+Atlanta+University|website=American Physical Society|access-date=4 January 2016}}
File:Ronald Mickens and Carlos Castillo-Chavez at a banquet.jpg]]
Mickens is African-American and has had an interest in the history of science, and specifically the history of black scientists, throughout his academic career. He has served as the historian of the National Society of Black Physicists and has published histories of black physicists – most notably Edward Bouchet, widely recognized as the first African-American to receive a Ph.D. in the United States – as well as biographies of black women in science. Mickens was also a co-founder of the National Conference of Black Physics Students{{cite web|last1=Perkins Smith|first1=Jessica|title=Opening of Ronald E. Mickens Papers Highlights Amistad's STEM Collections|url=http://www.amistadresearchcenter.org/#!Opening-of-Ronald-E-Mickens-Papers-Highlights-Amistad%E2%80%99s-STEM-Collections/c1dqm/55fc510f0cf27fc29cdaf506|website=Amistad Research Center|access-date=3 January 2016}} and he was a member of the founding council of the Edward Bouchet Abdus Salam Institute,{{cite web|title=Appointments|url=http://www.ebasi.org/ebasidoc.pdf|website=Edward Bouchet Abdus Salam Institute|access-date=4 January 2016}} an organization founded in 1988 by Nobel laureate in physics Abdus Salam to encourage collaboration between African and American physicists, where he continues to serve as a council member.{{cite web|title=EBASI Executive Body: American Council Members|url=http://www.ebasi.org/execb_american.html|website=Edward Bouchet Abdus Salam Institute|access-date=4 January 2016}} Mickens' work earned him recognition by Mathematically Gifted & Black as a Black History Month 2017 Honoree.{{Cite web|title=Ronald Mickens|url=https://mathematicallygiftedandblack.com/honorees/ronald-mickens/|website=Mathematically Gifted & Black}}
Mickens' papers are held by the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University.
Awards and honors
- Fellow of the American Physical Society
- Mathematically Gifted & Black Honoree, Black History Month 2017
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- [https://www.aip.org/initialconditions/episode-8-interview-dr-ronald-mickens "An Interview with Dr. Ronald Mickens,"] Initial Conditions podcast, Episode 8
- "[https://radar.auctr.edu/islandora/object/cau.ir%3A1999_mickens_ronald_e The African-American Presence in Physics]," edited by Mickens
- [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/47213 Oral History Interview of Ronald E. Mickens by David Zierler on August 5-7, 10, 11 & 13, 2020], Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics
= Archival collections =
- [https://libserv.aip.org/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=168116Y30L533.282104&limitbox_1=LO01+%3D+icos&menu=search&aspect=power&npp=10&ipp=20&spp=20&profile=rev-icos&ri=7&source=%7E%21horizon&index=.GW&term=RONALD+E.+MICKENS+COLLECTION+ON+AFRICAN-AMERICAN+PHYSICISTS%2C+CIRCA+1950-2008&x=14&y=9&aspect=power Ronald E. Mickens collection on African-American physicists, circa 1950-2008, Niels Bohr Library & Archives]
- [https://amistad-finding-aids.tulane.edu/repositories/2/resources/272 Ronald E. Mickens papers, Amistad Research Center, Tulane University]
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Category:21st-century American physicists
Category:21st-century African-American scientists
Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society
Category:Fisk University alumni
Category:Vanderbilt University alumni
Category:Fisk University faculty
Category:Clark Atlanta University faculty
Category:People from Petersburg, Virginia
Category:Scientists from Virginia
Category:Members of the National Society of Black Physicists
Category:African-American physicists