Paul Frederick Zweifel

Paul Frederick Zweifel (June 21, 1929 – February 12, 2017) was a mathematical physicist and a prominent leader in the mathematical theory of nuclear reactors and the mathematical development of linear transport theory, a discipline that encompasses neutron transport in the core of a nuclear reactor as well as the propagation of photons in radiative transfer.

In transport theory, he pioneered the use of rigorous mathematics for analytically solving the linear transport equation. He developed existence and uniqueness theorems for the neutron transport equation and investigated the spectrum of the linear transport operator under general conditions. and graduated with a B.S. in Physics in 1948.

Zweifel worked at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory as a physicist and a manager of theoretical physics, where he did research on the theory of the slowing down and thermalization of neutrons from mid-1953 to 1958.

Conferences During a sabbatical year from the University of Michigan spent as a Visiting Professor at the Middle East Technical University in 1964–1965, Paul and physicist Erdal İnönü organized a two-week NATO Advanced Study Institute on Transport Theory held in Ankara, Turkey.

In 1969, Paul, along with Robert Erdmann and Charles Siewert, founded a series of conferences that have become known as the International Conference on Transport Theory, or ICTT meetings. whose dissertation was The Theory of Neutron Slowing Down in Nuclear Reactors. Later, the authors turned that into a book of the same title, and Paul wrote a textbook entitled Reactor Physics. In 1974, he received a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. He was a Fellow of the American Physical Society since 1963, and had an obituary published in Physics Today.

Later years Paul Zweifel retired from Virginia Tech in 1996 but continued to publish professionally until 2014. he taught an opera course at Virginia Tech after his retirement. He also established a business specialized in creating supertitles for opera companies nationwide. He and his wife supported Virginia Tech’s Moss Arts Center and endowed a scholarship to enable music students to participate in summer music festivals and professional development workshops.

He died on February 12, 2017, at the age of 87.