News

March 21, 2011

The following message of from Dean Smith to the rest of the NSM community about the passing of Prof Simon Moss, our distinguished, well known, highly respected physics faculty member of 38 years.

Dear NSM Faculty and Staff;

It is with great sadness I report to you the passing of a valued member of our UH faculty, Professor Emeritus Dr. Simon Moss.  Simon was a faculty member with the Physics Department for 38 years, first coming to UH in September 1972.  He obtained his B.S., M.S and Doctorate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  Simon’s research focused on X-ray and neutron scattering from disordered and defective solids; structure of semiconductor nanoclusters in zeolite hosts; surface structure and thin films; phase transitions in solids and on surfaces.  His current research also included:

• X-ray and neutron scattering studies of phase transitions and of disordered and defective solids: structure and modeling of liquids and amorphous solids including molten salts, amorphous Si, biopolymers, oxide and metallic glasses and colloids
• Nanocrystalline solids including semiconductor molecular nanoclusters in zeolite pores
• Modulated solids including structural and order-disorder transformations in metals and surface induced effects
• Structure and defects in high Tc superconductors
• Thin films including studies of epitaxy and interfacial structures in metallic and semiconducting multilayers and superlattices

Simon’s honors and awards include:

• Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in Engineering, M.I.T. (1962-1964)
• John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow (1968-1969)
• Lyle Traveling Fellow, University of Melbourne (tenure: 6 weeks in May-June, 1975)
• American Physical Society Fellow (elected, 1975)
• Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Senior Scientist Award (1978-1979)
• Yamada Science Foundation (Japan) Visiting Research Scholar (May-June, 1985)
• DOE Award for outstanding Scientific Accomplishment (with Lawrence Livermore and Brookhaven Labs, 1988)
• Research Excellence Award, University of Houston (1990)
• M.D. Anderson Chair of Physics, University of Houston (1991)
• David Adler Lectureship Award, Division of Materials Physics, American Physical Society (1993)
• Max Planck Research Award, Max Planck Gesellschaft/Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (1994-96), Shared with Prof. J.S. Peisl, University of Munich
• Esther Farfel Award, University of Houston (1994)
• Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Senior Scientist Award Extension (1999-2000)
• Von Hippel Award, Materials Research Society (November 2001)
• William Hume-Rothery Memorial Award, TMS Society (2007) - selected in (2005)
• Simon was an accomplished physicist and will begreatly missed by his colleagues and all those he worked with.  We will keep you posted regarding funeral details.

Sincerely,

Mark A. Smith
Dean,
Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor