This page contains archived content on a former member of the Jefferson Lab leadership team.
Michael Pennington
Former Associate Director for Theoretical and Computational Physics
As the former associate director for Theoretical and Computational Physics, Michael R. Pennington oversaw a broad program of theoretical research in support of the physics studied by the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) experimental program.
Before joining Jefferson Lab in July 2010, Pennington had been a professor of mathematical sciences and physics and dean for Educational Outreach at Durham University in England. He began his career at Durham University in 1978 and held various leadership positions, including serving as head of the Department of Physics from 1999-2003, chair of the Physics Teaching & Learning Committee from 1999-2001, and chair of the University IT Strategy Working Group from 2007-2008. He was named dean for Educational Outreach in 2008.
Pennington received a bachelor’s degree in mathematical physics in 1968 from the University of Edinburgh and a Ph.D. in theoretical physics in 1971 from Westfield College, University of London. His research focus was on the theoretical and phenomenological study of the strong nuclear force, and he had more than 185 publications to his credit.
In his career, Pennington served a variety of international science groups, including participation as a member of the CERN SPS Committee and as a member of the DAΦNE Physics Working Group in Frascati, Italy. He also served as a member of Jefferson Lab’s Program Advisory Committee, a panel that reviewed and selected experiments conducted at the laboratory.
Pennington also served as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Adelaide from 1998-1999 and as a visiting scientist and Fulbright Scholar in the High Energy Theory group at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, NY. He also had been a fellow in the Theory Division at CERN, a research associate at Rutherford Laboratory in England, and a physicist in the high-energy theory group at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in Berkeley, CA. In 2009, he was named an Outstanding Referee by the American Institute of Physics.