Thomas Timusk
{{Short description|Estonian-born Canadian physicist (1933–2025)}}
{{Primary sources|date=January 2025}}
Tom Timusk (June 3, 1933 – January 12, 2025) was an Estonian-born Canadian physicist and academic who was Professor Emeritus of Physics at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. He was also a member of the Condensed Matter research team at McMaster.
{{cite web
|title=Condensed Matter Experiment at McMaster University
|url=http://www.physics.mcmaster.ca/?page=cmexp
|publisher=McMaster University
|year=2004
|accessdate=2009-03-27
}}
Background
Timusk was born in Narva, Estonia on June 3, 1933.{{cite web |title=Luminescence Study Of Alkali-halides In The Vacuum Ultraviolet |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/86580c7ed666f25997fdef68e26c2dea/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y |website=ProQuest |access-date=18 January 2025}} An immigrant, he was displaced by the Second World War, and settled in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He graduated with a BA in physics from the University of Toronto. He obtained his PhD at Cornell University where his research was funded by a US Navy grant. He did his post-doctorate work in Frankfurt, Germany and at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. In 1965, he accepted a position at McMaster University where he spent his time as a professor until his retirement.
{{cite web
|title=MAC Physics: Dr. T. Timusk
|url=http://www.physics.mcmaster.ca/timusk/
|publisher=McMaster University
|accessdate=2009-03-27
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070810183131/http://www.physics.mcmaster.ca/timusk/
|archive-date=2007-08-10
|url-status=dead
}}
Timusk died on January 12, 2025, at the age of 91.{{cite web |title=Department Update, Issue #47 |url=https://physics.mcmaster.ca/department-update-issue-47/ |website=McMaster University |access-date=18 January 2025 |date=17 January 2025}}
Research
Timusk started his research in spectroscopy and he was considered an experimental physicist. His original lab at McMaster was known as the Solid State Lab in the basement of the Senior Sciences Building. As of 2009 he had two labs and continued to complete active funded research. Timusk also researched superconductivity theory.
Associations
Timusk was an active member of both the Canadian Association of Physicists and American Physics Society. He was also inducted in the Royal Society of Canada in 1995.
{{cite web
|title=Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada honoured
|url=http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/story.cfm?id=1387
|publisher=McMaster University
|year=2002
|accessdate=2009-03-27
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021115103716/http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/story.cfm?id=1387
|archive-date=2002-11-15
|url-status=dead
}}
Awards
- 2002 Frank Isakson Prize for Optical Effects in Solids (co-winner)
- 2000 Canadian Association of Physicists' Brockhouse Medal
{{cite web
|title=Profile for Thomas Timusk
|url=http://www.ciar.ca/web/old/prmem.nsf/3a2571b1335913dd8525693500653c1f/d691d99d0bb129688525695a00649984!OpenDocument
|year=2004
|accessdate=2009-03-27
}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}
Papers
- {{cite journal
|author1=T. Timusk |author2=B. Statt
|name-list-style=amp |year=1999
|title=The pseudogap in high-temperature superconductors: an experimental survey
|journal=Reports on Progress in Physics
|volume=62
|issue=1 |pages=61–122
|doi=10.1088/0034-4885/62/1/002
|arxiv = cond-mat/9905219 |bibcode = 1999RPPh...62...61T |s2cid=250893405
}}
- {{cite journal
|author=T. Timusk
|year=1999
|title=Infrared properties of exotic superconductors
|journal=Physica C
|volume=317–318
|issue=1–2 |pages=18–29
|doi=10.1016/S0921-4534(99)00042-8
|arxiv = cond-mat/9903254 |bibcode = 1999PhyC..317...18T |s2cid=119100405
}}
- {{cite book
|author1=T. Timusk |author2=D.B. Tanner
|name-list-style=amp |chapter=Infrared Properties of High temperature Superconductors
|title=Physical Properties of High Temperature Superconductors
|editor=D.M. Ginsberg
|publisher=World Scientific
}}
References
Sources
- {{cite journal
|author1=J. Hwang |author2=T. Timusk |author3=J.P. Carbotte |title=Scanning-tunnelling spectra of cuprates
|journal=Nature
|volume=446 |issue= 7132|pages=E3-4 |year=2007
|doi=10.1038/nature05709
|pmid=17344807
|bibcode = 2007Natur.446....3H |s2cid=4431112 }}
- {{cite web
|title=Closing in on a theory of superconductivity
|url=http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/19051
|publisher=Physics World
|year=2004
|accessdate=2009-03-27
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107112513/http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/19051
|archive-date=2009-01-07
|url-status=dead
}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Timusk, Thomas}}
Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society
Category:University of Toronto alumni