Robert DeZafra
Bob came to Stony Brook in the fall of 1961, when the campus was still
located temporarily at Oyster bay. He had received a bachelor’s degree
from Princeton in 1954 and a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in 1958,
for work in mechanisms of positron annihilation in solids and liquids.
He held a Post-doc position at the University of Pennsylvania from 1958
to 1961, where he worked on optical pumping techniques for polarization
of electrons. While waiting for lab space to be built at Stony Brook, Bob
obtained an Adjunct faculty position at Columbia University, working at
the Columbia Radiation Laboratory on level crossing spectroscopy and, peripherally,
on problems associated with early attempts at laser development. During
this time he also developed the first Senior Modern Physics lab course
at Stony Brook, which he continued to and teach in help develop for the
next 2 decades. When the new (old) Physics Department building opened at
Stony Brook, Bob began the first grant-supported experimental research
within the Department, doing further work in level crossing spectroscopy.
He meanwhile continued to collaborate with colleagues at the Columbia Radiation
lab in atomic spectroscopy, and with Patrick
Thaddeus at the newly formed NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
in New York City in the emerging field of millimeter-wave molecular astronomy.
After the arrival of Philip
Solomon (Astronomy) at Stony Brook, Bob and Phil did some mm-wave radio
astronomy together. Bob was also engaged during the 1970s and early 1980s
in development and application of emerging laser techniques in atomic and
molecular spectroscopy in his own lab at Stony Brook, joined by Hal
Metcalf who first came as a PostDoc in Bob’s lab. To fill in
his spare time, Bob served for two years as Master of Mount and Henry Colleges
at Stony Brook.
In 1976, Bob struck off in a new direction, together with Phil
Solomon, turning his attention to the application of mm-wave molecular
astronomy to the detection of molecules in the earth’s own atmosphere.
In 1974, Rowland
and Molina had postulated that chlorine liberated by photolysis from
chlorofluorocarbons accumulating in the stratosphere could start to catalytically
destroy ozone. The goal in this case was to develop a way of detecting
and quantitatively measuring the ClO molecules postulated to be the ‘smoking
gun’ indicating the catalysis was taking place. Bob designed and built
most of the equipment for this effort, based on mm-wave astronomical technology,
which proved significantly harder to accomplish that the detection of molecular
clouds in the far reaches of our Galaxy. The first successful results were
published in 1981, and the Stony Brook group began regular monitoring of
the stratosphere at Mauna Kea Hawaii in 1982. In 1986, shortly after discovery
of the Antarctic ‘ozone hole’, Bob organized Stony Brook’s participation
in the first ‘National Ozone Expedition’ (NOZE I) to McMurdo, Antarctica,
which brought back proof that the ozone hole was indeed the result of catalytic
chlorine chemistry. NOZE II the following year gathered further evidence
of this, and helped to show that a different and unexpected catalytic cycle
could occur under special springtime conditions in the Antarctic. Bob received
the Antarctic Service
Medal of the United States in 1987 in recognition of ‘valuable contributions
to exploration and scientific achievement under the U.S. Antarctic Research
Program’. NOZE I and II were followed by numerous additional trips to McMurdo,
which became Bob’s ‘home away from home’ through the decade of the
mid 1980s to mid 1990s, with additional expeditions to Thule, (northern
Greenland) and to the Arctic island of Spitzbergen for studies of the Arctic
stratosphere. Bob also directed three year-long measurement campaigns at
the South Pole research station through the 1990s to monitor a suite of
stratospheric trace gases which revealed a variety of new information about
chemistry and transport in the polar stratosphere. At Stony Brook, he continued
to incorporate new
technical advances into his group’s ground-based remote sensing equipment,
making it the most sensitive in the world for ground-based mm-wave atmospheric
spectroscopy.
In 1986, Bob, joined by Toby Owen (Astronomy) and Bob
Cess (Mechanical Engineering), wrote the proposal that led to establishment
of the Institute for Terrestrial and Planetary Atmospheres at Stony Brook.
Bob served as Acting Director of the Institute in 1988 while the search
for a permanent Director took place (filled by Marvin
Geller, now Adjunct member of Physics and Astronomy). He has been active
as a member of the Institute as well as Physics and Astronomy since its
establishment in 1987. Bob has served three terms on the International
Ozone Commission (1988-2000), a term on the NRC’s Polar Research Board,
and a term on the International Radiation Commission. Bob retired from
regular teaching duties in December, 1999, but continues to be active in
atmospheric research as a Research Professor in Physics and Astronomy,
and in the Institute for Terrestrial and Planetary Atmospheres.
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Last Updated: April 24, 2000