Robert Harry Socolow (born December 27, 1937) is an American

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experimen ...

and professor emeritus of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nin ...

Education

Robert Socolow has stated his parents and teachers imbued him with Weltschmerz and Tikkun Olam (the restoration of the world). He received his bachelor's degree in physics from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

in 1959. He received his Ph.D. in

theoretical physics Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experimen ...

from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1964. Between 1964 and 1966 he was

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...

Postdoctoral Fellow in Physics, at the University of California at Berkeley and the

European Center for Nuclear Research The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in a northwestern suburb of Gene ...

(CERN) in Geneva.

Career

From 1966 to 1971, he continued at Yale University as an assistant professor of physics. From 1971 to 1977 he was Associate Professor, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Sciences at the Center for Environmental Studies at

. A

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

and

German Marshall Fund The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) is a nonpartisan American public policy think tank that seeks to promote cooperation and understanding between North America and the European Union. Founded in 1972 through a gift from the Wes ...

Fellowship from 1976 to 1977 enabled him to study international energy issues at

Cavendish Laboratory The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the School of Physical Sciences. The laboratory was opened in 1874 on the New Museums Site as a laboratory for experimental physics and is named ...

, University of Cambridge, U.K. In 1977 he became full professor and Associate Director of Princeton's Center for Energy and Environmental Studies. Socolow also taught in the

Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Science Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Science is located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. A school within Princeton University, which is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, it provides undergraduate and gradua ...

and the

Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) is a professional public policy school at Princeton University. The school provides an array of comprehensive course ...

. In 2013 he became emeritus, but continues research.

Honors and awards

From 1992 to 2002 he was an editor for ''

Annual Review of Energy and the Environment The ''Annual Review of Environment and Resources'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes review articles about environmental science and environmental engineering. It was first published in 1976 under the name the ''Annual Review of ...

.'' He served on two committees of the

National Academies A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, most frequently in the sciences but also the humanit ...

: America's Energy Future and America's Climate Choices and in 2004 became lifetime national associate of the National Academy. He received the

Leo Szilard Lectureship Award The Leo Szilard Lectureship Award (originally called the Leo Szilard Award) is given annually by the American Physical Society (APS) for "outstanding accomplishments by physicists in promoting the use of physics for the benefit of society". It is ...

in 2003. He is a fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

(elected in 1983) and of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsi ...

Publications

*John Harte; Robert H Socolow
Patient earth.
New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971, 364 pages, 9780030851032 0030865719 9780030865718.

References

1937 births Living people 21st-century American physicists Harvard College alumni Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of the American Physical Society Yale University faculty Princeton University faculty Annual Reviews (publisher) editors {{US-physicist-stub