Professor Emeritus
About
Lawrence William Jones died a natural death at age 97 on June 30, 2023 in Ann Arbor.
Lawrence was born on Nov. 16, 1925, in Evanston, Illinois, to Charles Herbert Jones and Fern Jones. He graduated from New Trier High School in 1943 and entered Northwestern University, but was drafted in 1944 to serve in the Signal Corps in France, Belgium, and Germany.
He returned to Northwestern in 1946 and finished a double major in Zoology and Physics in 1948. After earning an MS in Physics at Northwestern, he moved to the University of California at Berkeley, where he completed a Ph.D. in physics in 1952 at the Berkeley Radiation Lab.
Larry married Ruth Drummond in 1950 and, with his new Ph.D., joined the University of Michigan physics department. He was promoted to full professor in 1963, served as department chair from 1982 to 1987, and retired in 1998. Samuel Ting and Lia Merminga were among his students.
His early work at Michigan focused on building the first fixed-focus alternating gradient accelerator. He also helped develop the luminescent chamber, a kind of particle detector. Larry conducted high-energy physics experiments on accelerators at Berkeley, Brookhaven, CERN, and Fermilab. When sufficiently high-energy accelerators were not available, he turned to cosmic rays. From 1965 to 1972 he was involved with a series of cosmic-ray experiments on Mount Evans, Colorado and nearby Echo Lake. In later years, he served as a liaison between the accelerator and cosmic ray physics communities.
Larry went to CERN in 1961-62 with Ford Foundation support and again in 1965 as a Guggenheim Fellow. There, he was deeply involved in the development and use of colliding beam accelerators. His international work continued with the L3 collaboration at CERN, advocacy for a high-altitude laboratory in Tibet, and work with the GAMMA cosmic ray project in Armenia. His work took him to every continent but Antarctica, which he visited as a tourist.
His interest in entomology led to a species of beetle being named after him, Cryptorhinula jonsi. He shared his love of nature with his family on camping and canoe trips. He continued to ski into his 80s, and he enjoyed sailing the Great Lakes and New England coast.
On the first Earth Day in 1970, he introduced the term “liquid hydrogen fuel economy,” and in 1976, he joined the advisory board of the International Association for Hydrogen Energy. He had a long involvement with the Ann Arbor Ecology Center, which he led in 1974-75, and he became co-chair of the Michigan Environmental Council’s Science Advisory Committee in 2000.
Larry loved music and was a long-time member of the First Congregational Church of Ann Arbor’s choir. He loved Gilbert and Sullivan, opera, and classical music. He enjoyed any chance to sing and play guitar. As W8LUJ, he had weekly ham radio chats with his extended family and talked with hams around the world. He valued his many friends, students, and colleagues, but nothing meant more than his family. He looked forward to annual sibling reunions featuring sailing, fishing, and endless bridge games. He was very proud of his grandchildren and their successes. He was a connoisseur of fine wine, a proud U of M football fan, and enjoyed hosting dinner parties with Ruth.
Larry’s wife Ruth died in 2018, but he is survived by his children, Douglas W. Jones (Beverly), Carol Jones Dwyer (Robert), and Ellen Jones Dillman, as well as grandchildren Nathaniel (Robin) and Rachel Jones, Maeve Dwyer, Kevin and Peter (Brittany) Dillman, and four greatgrandchildren. His siblings Ellen Tharp (Nelson), Howard (Dorethy), Lillian Lee (Kenneth), and Bertha Peterson (Walter) also preceded him. We will miss him.
A memorial service will be held at the First Congregational Church at 1:00 PM Monday, July 17. Gifts in lieu of flowers may be sent to The First Congregational Church of Ann Arbor, the University of Michigan Physics Department, or the Ann Arbor Ecology Center.
Field(s) of Study
- Elementary Particle Experiment
