Members of the Shull and Wollan families recently gathered in Oak Ridge for the rededication of the Shull Wollan Center—A Joint Institute for Neutron Sciences.

Relatives of Clifford Shull and Ernest Wollan recently gathered at Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the rededication of the Shull Wollan Center—A Joint Institute for Neutron Sciences.

Shull and Wollan were pioneering researchers of neutron diffraction in the 1940s, laying the groundwork for scientific breakthroughs that continue to this day in physics, energy science, materials science, and biological science.

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The University of Tennessee Board of Trustees approved a proposal today to rename a joint UT-Oak Ridge National Laboratory research institute.

Ernest Wollan (left) and Clifford Shull (right) work with a double-crystal neutron spectrometer at the ORNL X-10 Graphite Reactor in 1949. (Credit: ORNL)

The Joint Institute for Neutron Sciences is now the Shull Wollan Center—A Joint Institute for Neutron Sciences, named in honor of two esteemed physicists and pioneers in neutron scattering, Clifford Shull and Ernest Wollan.

Trustees unanimously approved the proposal at the full board meeting held today at the University of Tennessee, Martin.

Shull and Wollan studied neutron scattering at ORNL in the 1940s while working on the X-10 Graphite Reactor. The work they accomplished together after the Manhattan Project established neutron diffraction as a quantitative research tool.
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OAK RIDGE—Alan Tennant has been appointed director of the Joint Institute for Neutron Sciences at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The institute is a partnership between ORNL and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

“Neutrons are the future in characterizing materials, especially soft matter,” said Taylor Eighmy, vice chancellor for research and engagement at UT. “With Alan as director, we can begin to establish deep thought leadership at UT and ORNL in this growing field.”

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