Physicist Hye-Sook Park from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has been awarded the prestigious Edward Teller Award for 2025 by the American Nuclear Society. This accolade honors her groundbreaking contributions to high-energy-density experimental work, particularly in high-pressure materials science, inertial confinement fusion, and the generation of astrophysical collisionless shocks.
Significant Contributions to High-Energy-Density Research
Park expressed her gratitude for the recognition, stating, “It is a tremendous honor to receive this award, and I am truly humbled by the recognition.” She highlighted the challenges and rewards of her journey in developing new experimental platforms, noting the significant dedication and effort required to bring them to fruition. “Seeing these platforms reach maturity and now consistently produce outstanding scientific results is incredibly gratifying,” she added.
The high-energy-density experimental platforms are currently utilized at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). These platforms aid in studying inertial confinement fusion, aiming to minimize instabilities in target capsules. They also contribute to material science, enhancing the understanding of material properties under extreme high-pressure conditions, and laboratory astrophysics, clarifying particle acceleration mechanisms in collisionless shock scenarios.
Park emphasized that this achievement reflects her personal commitment and the collaborative efforts of her colleagues. She acknowledged her mentors for their invaluable guidance and praised her coworkers for their support. “I greatly appreciate the high-energy-density science community, whose shared passion drives innovation, and the entire NIF operational team, whose expertise and dedication have made this research possible,” she stated.
A Distinguished Career at LLNL
Since joining LLNL in 1987, Park has made significant contributions to various projects, including flight experiments for the Strategic Defense Initiative and leading searches for gamma ray burst counterparts. She has pioneered radiography techniques using short-pulse lasers to investigate thick, high-Z materials, validating material strength models under extreme conditions.
Park holds the distinction of being a Fellow of the American Physical Society and is also the recipient of the Dawson Award in 2020 and the Landau-Spitz Award in 2024. The Edward Teller Award is presented biennially, recognizing pioneering research and leadership in utilizing high-intensity drivers, such as lasers and ion-particle beams, to create unique high-density matter for scientific exploration and to investigate inertial fusion.
Alongside Park, Siegfried Glenzer, the director of the High Energy Density Science division at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, will also receive the 2025 Edward Teller Award. Both recipients are scheduled to be honored at the 13th International Conference on Inertial Fusion Sciences and Applications (IFSA 2025), taking place from September 14-19, 2025, in Tours, France.
