Richard R. Freeman, 1944–2024

Freeman earned his physics degree from the University of Washington in 1967 and went on to complete his Ph.D. at Harvard University under Nobel laureate Norman Ramsey. After finishing postdoctoral studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1976, Freeman joined Bell Laboratories in Holmdel, NJ, in the Quantum Physics and Electronic Research Department headed by Charles V. Shank. He later succeeded Peter Eisenberger as head of the Electro­magnetic Phenomena Research Department at Bell Labs’ Murray Hill location, where he oversaw a large, diverse physics program including work at the Brookhaven synchrotron.