FEATURES
|
ONE BRAND-NEW THEORY AND 54 NEW SCIENTISTS
by Dana Peck, Special to the Florida State Times
For most of his 76 years, Raymond Sheline
has been astounding others. As a nuclear chemist and physicist at Florida
State, Sheline has spent 47 years exploring worlds too minute to be seen,
and making discoveries that could solve the mysteries of matter.
As a teacher, he has trained an amazing number of doctoral students.
And, along the way, in lockstep with his wife, Yvonne, Sheline has produced a closely knit and highly accomplished family of seven children.
"I've had a very exciting scientific life and an even more exciting married life," he said this spring from his condo in Key West, where he was preparing his research for publication.
This year, as a tribute from his peers, Sheline received the Nuclear Chemistry Award from the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society with more than 155,000 members.
The award, in essence, names Sheline as this year's "most valuable player" in the realm of nuclear chemistry.
Since he was a student doing research on the atom-bomb project during World War II, Sheline has spent his professional life working with spectroscopy, a process for separating and identifying the components of matter.
As a result, Sheline has theorized that there are pear-shaped nuclei in atoms, in addition to the round ones that have long been identified. His theory is a step toward knowing the makeup of matter.
Eventually, scientists will use discoveries such as Sheline's to know what stars are made of, for example. Furthermore, the research could help pave the way for 21st-century scientists to discover effective ways to handle radioactive waste and produce cheap, abundant energy.
"Because of the breadth and depth of Ray's work, he has shown there are pear-shaped nuclei," said Paul Cottle, an FSU physics professor. "He just refused to give up on it."
The admiration for Sheline, the researcher, and Sheline, the man, was most evident in March when he was honored in Dallas by the American Chemical Society. At a symposium before the award ceremony, 11 of Sheline's former students and colleagues, including Greg Choppin, the only other FSU scientist ever to receive the Nuclear Chemistry Award (few universities have one, much less two), gathered from all over the world to deliver papers and praise. Walter Greiner of the University of Frankfurt flew overnight to the meeting and returned to Germany the next day.
"It's really an indication of how much people admire and respect Ray," said Mark Riley, FSU physics professor.
Since Sheline received his doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley, he has often received prestigious awards, including FSU's Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor award.
He has also contributed to more than 400 publications. But, according to his colleagues, Sheline's most significant contribution to science may be his training of the next generation of nuclear physicists.
Sheline has trained 54 doctoral students. Cottle put that accomplishment into perspective by explaining that since he began teaching at FSU in 1986, he has trained four doctoral students, a number that is regarded as productive. Students flock to Sheline, in part, because of the prestige they receive by noting they have studied under him.
"He was the reason I came to Florida State," said Jeff Pfohl, Sheline's 54th doctoral student. "You can't pick up a book on nuclear structure physics without coming across his name."
Sheline credits enthusiasm for nuclear chemistry and physics and his interest in students for making him an effective and prolific teacher. He also said grants from the Atomic Energy Commission and the National Science Foundation made his success possible.
And, said Sheline, there's his indebtedness to his wife. In glowing and loving terms, he describes how Yvonne Sheline has been responsible for so much of his success. No task has been too demanding for her. For instance, every year, Sheline's physics students, including approximately 250 in his freshman physics class, are invited to the Shelines' home. Over a period of three days, about half show up, Sheline said. Arranging this marathon event falls squarely on the shoulders of Yvonne Sheline, a Ph.D. in education as well as a Fulbright scholar like her husband.
Through their 46 years of marriage, Yvonne Sheline has also been responsible for most of the family organizing, said Sheline. The couple reared a houseful of children, five of whom are now medical doctors. The other two have doctorates in science.
And often, the Sheline house was in a foreign country. For a couple of years, the Shelines lived in Africa, where Yvonne Sheline had grown up as the daughter of missionaries.
The family also lived in Denmark, where Sheline conducted research at the Niels Bohr Institute, and was, in 1974, one of the few foreign scientists to be elected to the Royal Danish Academy of Science and Letters.
At one point in their family life, the Shelines also camped their way across the world, including a back-pack trip through Russia during a politically sensitive period in the mid-1960s.
"We didn't feel danger," said Sheline. But, he said, when the family left Russia and entered Finland, "we gave a sigh of relief."
This year, Yvonne Sheline is arranging more elaborate plans for a reunion of the 34 members of their family: children, spouses, and 18 grandchildren. Sheline has no doubt that it will come off without a hitch. "The one who holds it together is my wife," said Sheline. "She is one amazing person."