In Memory of Professor John Giese

John P. Giese, Associate Professor of Physics at Kansas State University, died on July 23, 1995, of respiratory failure due to cystic fibrosis. John was born Sept. 14, 1959, in Leavenworth, Kansas. He earned his B.S. degree from KSU in 1982 (Magna cum Laude, Honors Program) and earned his Ph.D. from KSU in 1986. He spent one year as a visiting research scientist at the University of Aarhus and one year as an ORAU postdoctoral fellow at Oak Ridge before returning to join the KSU faculty in 1989 as an Assistant Professor. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1993.

John's early research at KSU was on electron capture from inner shells and from atomic hydrogen by highly charged ions. At Aarhus he and Erik Horsdal Pederson worked on angular distributions of hydrogen atoms formed from fast-proton bombardment of helium. They reported a peak in the ratio of double to single target ionization that helped to stimulate recent attempts to factor simple collisions into underlying two-body Coulomb mechanisms. He continued along similar lines at Oak Ridge with investigations of two electron excitations in helium by highly charged ions.

He developed an interest in ion-ion collisions and established a close collaboration with Erhard Salzborn and Frank Melchert at the Justus-Liebig University at Giessen, Germany. Building on this collaboration, he originated at KSU a project to study collisions of highly charged ions with highly charged ions. John was responsible for the building up of the only facility in the United States for the study of such collisions. This facility was just reaching completion at the time of his death.

In addition to his many research contributions in ion-atom collisions, he took great interest in undergraduate teaching. He helped to develop new curricula and new courses in physics and gave much of his time to talk to and encourage young physics students. He spent his entire adult life with the full awareness that he had less time to spend on earth than most have, and he was always in a hurry to get on with life so as to miss as little as possible.

A John Giese memorial scholarship fund has been set up, and we expect to award the first scholarship this spring. Recipients will be outstanding students, active in the physics club and departmental research. In this way, we can honor some qualities that made John such a special person.

The family's address is:

Don & Agnes Giese
1012 South Third Street
Leavenworth, Ks 66048

Memorials to John may be made to any of the following:

Department of Physics Scholarship:

Kansas State University Foundation
John Giese Memorial Scholarship
2323 Anderson
Manhattan, Ks 66506

Research into Cystic Fibrosis:

Heart of America Chapter
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
5750 West 95th Street, Suite 214
Overland Park, Ks 66207-2969

Catholic Education Scholarship:

John Giese Memorial Scholarship
Immaculata High School
600 Shawnee Street
Leavenworth, Ks 66048

Last updated on Monday, 13-Feb-2006.