Sol Gruner

John L. Wetherill Emeritus Professor of Physics

smg26@cornell.edu
607/255-3441

Education

S.B., 1972, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ph.D. 1977, Princeton University. Research Associate, Princeton University, 1977. Assistant Professor, Physics, Princeton University, 1978-85. Associate Professor, Physics, Princeton University, 1985-91. Professor, Physics, Princeton University, 1991-97. Professor, Physics, Cornell University, 1997-present. Director, Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS), Cornell University, 1997-2013. Visiting appointments at Exxon Research, Research Engineering; Institute for Theoretical Physics, U.C. Santa Barbara; Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Dept. of Pathology. Fellow, American Physical Society. Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science. Member, American Academy of Arts Sciences.

Departments and programs

Physics

Academic interests

Biological Physics
Experimental Atomic and Condensed Matter Physics

Overview

Biological physics; polymer and other soft condensed matter physics; x-ray and synchrotron radiation science; scientific instrumentation and technique development; development of novel x-ray detectors

Research Focus

My research is aimed at understanding the structure and properties of proteins, lyotropic liquid crystals, block co-polymers and mesoporous composites. Examples include the effects of pressure on protein assemblies, the synthesis and properties of polymer-based nanocomposites, the interaction between membrane proteins and lipid bilayers, and techniques to determine protein structure from microcrystals. The work is diverse and is characterized by collaborations with biologically- and chemically-oriented scientists, the development of new instrumentation and techniques, especially as involves x-rays and synchrotron radiation. I also believe that physicists are tool makers and, in consequence, everyone in the group is involved in instrumentation and technique development as applied to the materials listed, above.

Research Associates and technical staff associated with the group

Marty Novak, Hugh Philipp, Mark Tate, Durgesh Rai

Graduate Students

Co-advised with others: Divya Gadkari and Paxton Thedford

Publications

Publications may be found at http://bigbro.biophys.cornell.edu/publications/.