Photo of Richard "Dick" McCray
Former JILA Fellow Richard "Dick" McCray passed away on October 26, 2021. From another JILA Fellow said that: “Dick was a giant in JILA… All those who knew him loved him dearly." Richard (Dick) McCray came to Colorado to work at JILA in 1971 until his retirement in 2004. Dick also served as JILA Chair in 1981 and 1982. Dick was a Distinguished Professor of Astrophysics at CU Boulder, a member of the National Academy of Sciences since 1989, a Guggenheim Fellow in 1975-76 and recipient of the Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics in 1990. Dick’s area of research was theoretical astrophysics, including the physics of interstellar gas, Active Galactic Nuclei, binary X-ray systems, and supernova explosion; observing these systems with spacecraft such as the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the Chandra X-ray telescope. You can read more about his work here, as well as an oral history via personal interview.
The Physics Frontiers Centers (PFC) program supports university-based centers and institutes where the collective efforts of a larger group of individuals can enable transformational advances in the most promising research areas. The program is designed to foster major breakthroughs at the intellectual frontiers of physics by providing needed resources such as combinations of talents, skills, disciplines, and/or specialized infrastructure, not usually available to individual investigators or small groups, in an environment in which the collective efforts of the larger group can be shown to be seminal to promoting significant progress in the science and the education of students. PFCs also include creative, substantive activities aimed at enhancing education, broadening participation of traditionally underrepresented groups, and outreach to the scientific community and general public.