Ernest Courant

Ernest David Courant (March 26, 1920 – April 21, 2020) was an American accelerator physicist and a fundamental contributor to modern large-scale particle accelerator concepts. His most notable discovery was his 1952 work with Milton S. Livingston and Hartland Snyder on the Strong focusing principle, a critical step in the development of modern particle accelerators like the synchrotron, though this work was preceded by that of Nicholas Christofilos.

Courant was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and remained active as a distinguished scientist emeritus at Brookhaven National Laboratory. He played a part in the work of Brookhaven for sixty years and had also been mentor to several generations of students. In this kind of generative academic influence, he can be compared to his father, the mathematician Richard Courant. He turned 100 in March 2020 and died the following month.