Raymond W. Hayward

1921-2001 

Raymond Hayward received his B.S. in physics from Iowa State College in 1943 and earned his Ph.D. in physics from the University of California in 1950. His thesis was on beta and gamma-ray spectroscopy. Hayward was hired by Ugo Fano at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS, now the National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST) in 1950. He moved to the Radioactivity Section in 1952 and developed beta-gamma coincidence techniques, which record simultaneous detections of beta particles and gamma rays. Hayward was promoted to chief of the Nuclear Spectroscopy Section in 1964. 

Notable honors and awards: 

• Fellow, American Physical Society
• Gold Medal, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1957
• John Price Weatherill Award, Franklin Institute, 1962 (joint award)
• Samuel Wesley Stratton Award, National Bureau of Standards, 1964 (joint award)

Other positions and appointments:

• Electronics engineer, Naval Research Laboratory, U.S. Navy, 1943-45
• Pre-doctoral fellow, Atomic Energy Commission, 1948-50 
• Adjunct professor, physics, University of Maryland, 1956
• Visiting scientist, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, 1961-62 

Research interests: quantum mechanics; the weak interaction (i.e., the fundamental force responsible for radioactive decay); nuclear beta decay (the transformation of a neutron into a proton); gravitational waves; spontaneous nuclear transitions; electromagnetism