University of Texas
Duane Alfred Dicus
November 23, 1938– September 7, 2022

Duane Dicus

Duane Dicus was born on November 23, 1938, to Everest Alfred and Norma May Greenaway Dicus in Pateros, Okanogan, Washington. In 1944, the family, which now included younger sister, Marcia Gail, moved to Tonasket, WA, where they purchased an apple orchard. Duane spent his early years doing demanding work on the family orchard. He attended Tonasket High School and participated in athletics. His mother was born in Washington, DC. Duane married Mary Sandra Schultz on November 1, 1957, in the Epiphany Church in Seattle, Washington. Sandra was born in Wenotfhee, WA. Duane and Sandra had three children, Steve Michael, Richard Duane and James Kenneth.

Duane graduated from the University of Washington in 1961. He received his PhD from UCLA in 1968 under the supervision of Professor Richar Eyre Norton. His dissertation was entitled, "Universality of the Weak Vector Coupling Constant." Dicus completed postdoctoral appointments at MIT from 1969-71 and Rochester from 1971-73. His research interests included, weak and electromagnetic interactions, chiral and gauge field theories and Regge poles. In 1973, Dicus left the University of Rochester and joined the Center for Particles and Fields at the University of Texas at Austin. Duane was widely recognized in the particle physics community thanks to his contributions in a range of topics including precision calculations within the Standard Model, astroparticle physics, as well as more formal topics in quantum field theory. Dicus' research was supported by the Department of Energy from 1967-2018. The Particle physics website, SPIRES, which lists papers and citations, includes 208 papers and 9,181 citations for Dicus. There are 22 of his papers with over 100 citations per paper. He served as Director of the Center for a number of years. He remained in the Center until his retirement in 2020. He was selected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1987. His citation read, "For contributions to the theory of strong, weak, and electromagnetic interactions and applications to stellar, galactic, and cosmological astrophysics, including both calculation of complexity and discussions with insight." Nominated by: Division of Astrophysics.

Duane Dicus retired in 2020. Duane died in Austin on September 7. 2022.

Among his graduate students were: Roberto Vega, Mark Steven Byrd, Tom David Imbo, Chung Kao, Todd Michael Tinsley, Xerxes Tata, Rahu Malhorra and Edward William "Rocky" Kolb.

Here is an article that describes some work Duane did with his graduate student, Scott Willenbrock. A larger version of the logbook entry is at the end of the page.

Students and Postdocs Working with Duane Dicus

Duane A. Discus Photo Album

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