MYJOHNSHOPKINS.EDU
In memoriam
John P. Doering
August 20, 1937 – December 13, 2010
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Event honoring Professor John P. Doering – August 20, 2012
An event celebrating and honoring the life and career of Professor John P. Doering is being planned for August 20, 2012, the 75th anniversary of John’s birth. If you are interested in attending, please click the link below, enter your email address, and you will receive updates as the details unfold.
For the event, all Professor Doering’s publications will be collected together and printed in a bound volume. If you are a former student or collaborator, please check the CV and publication list and linked pdf’s for accuracy, especially the lists of students, postdocs, and coworkers. Additionally, we ask for suggestions and for personal remembrances and anecdotes that might also be included in the volume and/or might be appropriate to relate orally on August 20th.
With thanks,
Harris Silverstone and Paul Dagdigian
Link to send us your email address, suggestions, corrections, and personal remembrances.
Professor John P. Doering was a member of the Chemistry faculty for over 46 years. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Johns Hopkins in 1958, earned his Ph. D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1961, worked for three years at Los Alamos, and joined the Hopkins Chemistry Department in 1964. He supervised the freshman chemistry laboratory instruction of four decades of Hopkins undergraduates; he directed the research of eleven doctoral students and several postdoctoral fellows; and he collaborated with numerous colleagues at Hopkins and other institutions.
Professor Doering’s research focused on the collisions of electrons with atoms and molecules in the gas phase that take place in the atmospheres of planets and stars. He was a pioneer in the use of rockets and satellites for measurements of electrons in the Earth’s atmosphere, and his laboratory provided electron spectrometers for three Atmosphere Explorer satellite missions between 1970 and 1983 and measured the photoelectron spectrum of the Earth’s atmosphere to a degree of detail that remains unequaled.
In laboratory experiments, he studied the excitation and ionization of atoms and molecules by electron impact, and their subsequent energy loss. His determination of the rates of excitation of atomic oxygen turned out to be particularly important in atmospheric chemistry modeling. In his last series of experiments, he collaborated with Jack Moore and Michael Coplan of the University of Maryland on experiments in which two electrons were ejected from a target atom, making it possible to study in detail how electrons avoid each other in the atom.
John was broadly interested in the arts and music, especially opera, played the piano, and was an accomplished painter. He was beloved by his students, colleagues and friends for his wise, insightful sense of humor.