Henry N. Chapman facts for kids

Henry N. Chapman (born in 1967) is a British physicist. He is famous for his important work with X-rays. He helped create the Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL) at the German Electron Synchrotron (DESY).

Dr. Chapman is a leader in a field called coherent diffraction imaging. This is a special way to take pictures of tiny things using X-rays. He also helped invent a method called "diffraction before destruction." This method lets scientists study very delicate things, like parts of living cells, using super-bright and super-fast X-ray light. For example, he used it to study Photosystem II, which is a key part of how plants make food through photosynthesis.

He is married to a physicist from Slovenia named Saša Bajt.

Henry Chapman's Journey in Science

Henry Chapman earned his Ph.D. from Melbourne University in Australia. After that, he moved to the United States. He worked at Stony Brook University on the National Synchrotron Light Source. There, he focused on coherent diffraction imaging and X-ray crystallography. These are ways to understand the structure of materials using X-rays.

In 1996, he joined Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Here, he worked on a technology called extreme ultraviolet lithography. This technology is used to make very small parts for computer chips. Later, in 2007, he moved to DESY in Germany. He became the first director of the CFEL Coherent Imaging Group.

Awards and Special Recognitions

Henry Chapman has received many important awards for his scientific work. These awards show how much his discoveries have helped science.

• 2021 Gregori Aminoff Prize
• 2020 Fellow of the Royal Society
• 2017 Roentgen Medal
• 2015 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize
• 2010 Bjørn H. Wiik Prize
• 1993 Bragg medal

See also

• Serial femtosecond crystallography
• X-ray crystallography
• Coherent diffraction imaging
• Free-electron laser