Howard Wieman

Howard Henry Wieman
Born1942 (age 83–84)
Oregon, USA
EducationOregon State University
University of Washington
Known forSTAR detector, Time Projection Chamber, Active-pixel sensor
Family
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics, Nuclear Physics
WorkplacesLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)
Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research (GSI)
University of Colorado
Isaac Halpern

Howard Henry Wieman is an experimental nuclear physicist specializing in instrumentation and detectors for high-energy nuclear physics.

In 2015, Wieman (LBNL) and Miklos Gyulassy (Columbia) were awarded the APS Tom W. Bonner Prize in Nuclear Physics.

Wieman is best known for leading the team that designed the STAR Time Projection Chamber (TPC) which was used to discover a new state of matter, the strongly interacting Quark-gluon plasma. The discovery was made at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The STAR TPC was built in Berkeley, installed at RHIC, and tested throughout 1998 and 1999. The first Gold-Gold collisions at RHIC were recorded by STAR with the TPC starting on June 12, 2000 and the data were published in January 2001. The Run 0 data showed significant elliptic flow in heavy ion collisions and indicated that the collision zone at RHIC energies is behaving hydrodynamically and with significant thermalization. This was a key step in making the discovery of a strongly interacting Quark Gluon Plasma and a perfect liquid which was announced simultaneously in 2005 by STAR, BRAHMS, PHOBOS,, and PHENIX.

The STAR experiment took its last event on February 6, 2026 making it one of the longest duration collider accelerator experiments ever undertaken.

Education and career

Wieman received his bachelor's degree from Oregon State University in 1966 and his doctorate in 1975 from the University of Washington. His doctoral advisor was Isaac Halpern. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Colorado and then spent the bulk of his career as a Senior Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. At times, he also worked for and in collaboration with the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI, Darmstadt). He retired from LBNL in 2011 but continued to consult on STAR projects until the TPC took its last event in 2026.

At LBNL he was responsible for the design and installation of the Low Energy Beam Line at the Bevalac heavy ion accelerator and for the development of two generations of large Time Projection Chambers (TPCs). His first TPC was the EOS Time Projection Chamber at the Bevalac, which he co-led with Hans-Georg Ritter. Wieman then led the design and construction of a larger TPC for the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory. He finished his career working with thin, high resolution, active pixel sensors. In particular, the Heavy Flavor Tracker (HFT) pixel detector for the STAR experiment was a ground-breaking device It became operational in 2014 and was used to observe D mesons produced in heavy ion collisions.

Wieman is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, was awarded the LBNL J.M. Nitschke Technical Excellence Award in 1999, and received the APS Tom W. Bonner Prize for Nuclear Physics in 2015.

References

  1. 1 2 "Tom W. Bonner Prize in Nuclear Physics". APS Bonner Prize.
  2. 1 2 3 "Fellows of the American Physical Society (2001)". APS Fellows.
  3. 1 2 3 "J.M. Nitschke Technical Excellence Award". Berkeley Lab Currents. November 19, 1999. Retrieved January 26, 2023.
  4. 1 2 "APS Bonner Prize". Bonner Prize Citations.
  5. ↑ Anderson, M.; et al. (March 1, 2003). "The STAR time projection chamber: a unique tool for studying high multiplicity events at RHIC". NIM A. 499 (2–3): 659–678. arXiv:nucl-ex/0301015. doi:10.1016/S0168-9002(02)01964-2.
  6. ↑ "The STAR Detector". 25 Years Since First Collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. Retrieved October 28, 2025.
  7. ↑ "A STAR is Born". Berkeley Lab Currents. July 14, 2000. Retrieved October 28, 2025.
  8. ↑ "BNL Bulletin" (PDF). RHIC Begins World's Highest Energy Heavy-Ion Collsions. June 16, 2000. Retrieved October 28, 2025.
  9. ↑ "Berkeley Lab Science Beat". Quest for the Quark Gluon Plasma. June 19, 2000. Retrieved October 28, 2025.
  10. ↑ "CERN Courier". RHIC starts producing data. September 21, 2000. Retrieved October 28, 2025.
  11. ↑ Ackermann, K.H.; et al. (January 15, 2001). "Elliptic Flow in Au+Au Collisions at RootS = 130 GeV". Phys. Rev. Lett. 86: 402–407. arXiv:nucl-ex/0009011. Bibcode:2001PhRvL..86..402A. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.402.
  12. ↑ "APS News". RHIC Detects Liquid State of Quark-Gluon Matter. April 2005. Retrieved October 28, 2025.
  13. ↑ Jacak, Barbara; Steinberg, Peter (May 1, 2010). "Creating the Perfect Liquid in Heavy Ion Collisions". Physics Today. Retrieved October 30, 2025.
  14. ↑ "BNL Newsroom". RHIC Scientists Serve Up 'Perfect' Liquid. May 5, 2005. Retrieved October 28, 2025.
  15. ↑ "CERN Courier". RHIC groups serve up 'perfect' liquid. April 18, 2005. Retrieved October 28, 2025.
  16. ↑ Adams, J.; et al. (August 8, 2005). "Experimental and theoretical challenges in the search for the quark–gluon plasma: The STAR Collaboration's critical assessment of the evidence from RHIC collisions". Nuclear Physics A. 757 (1–2): 102–183. arXiv:nucl-ex/0501009. Bibcode:2005NuPhA.757..102A. doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2005.03.085.
  17. ↑ Arsene, I.; et al. (August 8, 2005). "Quark–gluon plasma and color glass condensate at RHIC? The perspective from the BRAHMS experiment". Nuclear Physics A. 757 (1–2): 1–27. arXiv:nucl-ex/0410020. Bibcode:2005NuPhA.757....1A. doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2005.02.130.
  18. ↑ Back, B.B.; et al. (August 8, 2005). "The PHOBOS perspective on discoveries at RHIC". Nuclear Physics A. 757 (1–2): 28–101. arXiv:nucl-ex/0410022. Bibcode:2005NuPhA.757...28B. doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2005.03.084.
  19. ↑ Adcox, K.; et al. (August 8, 2005). "Formation of dense partonic matter in relativistic nucleus–nucleus collisions at RHIC: Experimental evaluation by the PHENIX Collaboration". Nuclear Physics A. 757 (1–2): 184–287. arXiv:nucl-ex/0410003. Bibcode:2005NuPhA.757..184A. doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2005.03.086.
  20. ↑ "A smashing success: Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider wraps up final collisions". Phys.org. February 9, 2026. Retrieved May 9, 2026.
  21. ↑ "Heavy Flavor Tracker for STAR". LBL Newsroom. February 18, 2014. Retrieved October 30, 2025.
  22. ↑ "Inspire HEP exactauthor:H.Wieman.1". Retrieved November 11, 2025.
  23. ↑ "National Archives photo of the EOS TPC". National Archives Catalog. General Records of the Department of Energy. Retrieved November 29, 2025.
  24. ↑ "The time projection chamber turns 25". January 27, 2004.
  25. ↑ "Heavy Flavor Tracker for STAR". BNL Newsroom. February 19, 2014. Retrieved October 30, 2025.
  26. ↑ Roberts Jr, Glenn (May 30, 2017). "Heavy Particles Get Caught Up in the Flow". Retrieved January 26, 2023.