Lichtman Scholarship

The Lichtman Scholarship was established as a memorial to David Lichtman, who was a Professor of Physics at UWM from 1967 to 1992.  Michael Harland is the 2004 recipient of the Lichtman Scholarship.  

  Michael Harland with Mrs. David Lichtman

About David Lichtman

The following obituary notice appeared in the October 1993 issue of Physics Today.

 

David Lichtman, a member of the Department of Physics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, passed away on 9 September 1992.   Born in 1927 in Brooklyn, New York, David received his academic training at the City College of New York and Columbia University.

After completing his education, David worked at Airborne Instruments Corp, Sperry Gyroscope Company and the Honeywell Corporate Research Center. He also was an instructor at Adelphi College in Garden City, New York, and was responsible for establishing a fruitful relationship between Adelphi and Sperry. He joined the physics faculty at Milwaukee in 1967.

Throughout his academic career, David primarily studied solid surfaces at the atomic and molecular level. His investigations into photodesorption and his discovery of electron-induced negative-ion desorption are among his contributions to surface science.

In 1982-83 David served as a member of the board of the directors of the American Vacuum Society. Under the auspices of the education committee of  AVS, David coauthored the book Partial Pressure Analyzers and Analysis (1980), which remains the definitive work in its field.

During his tenure at Milwaukee, David was instrumental in the creation of the Surface Studies Laboratory, and he served as its director from 1968 to 1974.

David was a charismatic, thoughtful and thorough teacher. His favorite classes were for undergraduate students who were not physics majors. He delighted in showing such students how science affected and enriched their lives.

David's integrity and deep intellect were complemented by his warm personality and sense of humor. His concern for the "common good" resulted in numerous procedures, facilities and conventions from which we, his colleagues, benefited.

RICHMOND B. MCQUISTAN

University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.