June Lorraine Matthews (born August 1, 1939) is an American

nuclear physicist Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter. Nuclear physics should not be confused with atomic physics, which studies the ...

Career

June Lorraine Matthews was born August 1, 1939, to Mildred and Ralph Matthews and is the eldest granddaughter of

Harlow Shapley Harlow Shapley (November 2, 1885 – October 20, 1972) was an American astronomer, who served as head of the Harvard College Observatory from 1921–1952, and political activist during the latter New Deal and Fair Deal. Shapley used Cepheid var ...

. Matthews completed her undergraduate degree in Physics at

Carleton College Carleton College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1866, the main campus is between Northfield and the approximately Carleton ...

Northfield, Minnesota Northfield is a city in Dakota County, Minnesota, Dakota and Rice County, Minnesota, Rice counties in the U.S. state, state of Minnesota. It is mostly in Rice County, with a small portion in Dakota County. The population was 20,790 at the 2020 U ...

in 1960 and her PhD in 1967, titled ''The high energy nuclear photoeffect in light elements''. She did

postdoctoral A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

fellowships at

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

, Scotland and

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

, New Jersey. She became a member of staff at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

in 1973. In 1984 she became a

Fellow of the American Physical Society The American Physical Society honors members with the designation ''Fellow'' for having made significant accomplishments to the field of physics. The following lists are divided chronologically by the year of designation. * List of fellows of the ...

. From 1994 to 1998 she was Academic Officer in the Physics Department at MIT. In 2000 she was made director of Laboratory for Nuclear Science at MIT. In 2021 she edited and released a memoir about her grandfather,

, which had been written by her mother, Mildred Shapley Matthews.

Selected publications

Papers

* * *

Books edited

References

External links

* https://physics.mit.edu/faculty/june-matthews/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, June Lorraine Living people American women physicists American nuclear physicists Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty 1939 births Fellows of the American Physical Society