Los Alamos National Laboratory honored Dr. Close with numerous awards, including the Distinguished Performance Group Award, several NIS-6 Achievement Awards, and many certificates of appreciation.
LOS ALAMOS, NM, April 18, 2024 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Donald Close has been inducted into Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Donald Close's journey to excellence began in high school, where he initially intended to pursue a mathematics degree with a minor in music. However, an introductory physics course was one of the recommended courses for a mathematics major. The instructor and subject impacted him so much that he decided to double major, earning a Bachelor of Arts in physics and mathematics from Hastings College in 1968. This was just the beginning of his professional knowledge expansion. He completed a Master of Arts and PhD in physics through the University of Kansas in 1970 and 1972. During the early stages of his career, Dr. Close honed his expertise in nuclear instrumentation and material safeguards as team leader for the Safeguards and Russian Nonproliferation Programs at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
In the ensuing years, Dr. Close worked alongside International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear facility inspectors, designing, building, testing, and installing instrumentation in English and Japanese facilities to verify uranium enrichment in gaseous centrifuge enrichment plants. In conjunction with his work with the IAEA, he climbed the Los Alamos National Laboratory ranks, becoming a technical staff member and physicist in the Russian Highly Enriched Uranium Purchase Agreement and Transparency Implementation Program. As a technical staff member, he performed Monte Carlo calculations for assay instrument design and the experimental development of assay instruments. Before his retirement in 2005, Dr. Close designed, fabricated, developed, tested, and installed instrumentation that monitored the enrichment of the Russian process to blend highly enriched to low-enriched uranium in the gaseous phase.
Throughout his career, Dr. Close remained abreast of industry changes through his affiliations with the American Physical Society, the American Institute of Physics, the Society of Physics Students, and the honor societies Lambda Delta Lambda, Sigma Xi, and Sigma Pi Sigma. Due to his vast breadth of knowledge, he published over 100 refereed articles. He has contributed to the institutions Hastings College, the University of Kansas, and the Mayo Clinic. Los Alamos National Laboratory has also honored Dr. Close with numerous awards, including the Distinguished Performance Group Award, several NIS-6 Achievement Awards, and many certificates of appreciation for his dedication to excellence.
While his career has been filled with highlights, Dr. Close is proud of contributing to 100-plus publications in various journals and developing instrumentation and analysis that allowed inspectors to examine uranium enrichment plants in his work with the International Atomic Energy Agency. Though hard work and dedication have brought him far in his career, he credits his success to his extensive education and working with colleagues at the right time. Within the next five years, Dr. Close intends to dedicate himself to his community and eventually relocate to a retirement community to explore new opportunities.
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Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Marquis celebrates its 125th anniversary in 2023, and Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis® publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who® website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.
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