Beth Nordholt

Jane Elizabeth (Beth) Nordholt is an American physicist known for her work in space science on mass spectrometry of the solar wind and rings of Saturn[1][2][3] and the flow of water vapor in the earth's polar wind,[4] and for her work in digital security on devices for quantum key distribution[5][6][7][8] and random number generation.[9][10][11] Until her retirement, she worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory, which in 2006 named her as a Laboratory Fellow.[1][12]

Beth Nordholt
Born
Jane Elizabeth Nordholt
Known forQuantum communication, space plasma physics
SpouseRichard Hughes
Scientific career
InstitutionsLos Alamos National Laboratory

Early life and education

Nordholt is the daughter of John B. (Jack) Nordholt Jr., a former Marine and owner of Webster Manufacturing, and of Joanne Pedigo Nordholt.[13] She is a 1976 graduate of Columbian High School in Tiffin, Ohio.[14] She earned a bachelor's degree in 1980 from Rutgers University, and a master's degree in physics in 1983 from the California Institute of Technology.[15]

Career and research

She helped to design the ion mass spectrometer (IMS) for the spacecraft Cassini to gather information on Saturn's environment.[2] She also contributed to instrumentation for NASA Deep Space 1 and Genesis missions.[1][16]

Nordholt has many patents in the area of quantum communication including quantum key distribution, random number generation, and implementations for optical fiber or free space optical communication.[17] She was a co-team leader for the Los Alamos National Laboratory quantum communications project.[6]

Awards and honours

In 2001, she received an R&D 100 Award as part of the Los Alamos National Laboratory Free-Space Quantum Cryptography project.[18][19]

She became a laboratory fellow at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2006.[1]

Personal life

As of 2013, she was married to Richard Hughes, a physicist and collaborator at Los Alamos National Laboratory.[6]

References
  1. Laboratory Fellows from 1981 to the present, Los Alamos National Laboratory, November 2016, retrieved 2020-01-05
  2. "Los Alamos Instrument Yields New Knowledge Of Saturn's Rings", ScienceDaily, October 15, 2004
  3. "Solar wind samples give insight into birth of solar system", ScienceDaily, June 23, 2011
  4. Friebele, Elaine (1997), "Dehydration", Eos: Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, 78 (31): 318, Bibcode:1997EOSTr..78S.318F, doi:10.1029/eo078i031p00318-03
  5. Giordani, Adrian (February 15, 2012), "Unbreakable smartphones", ScienceNode
  6. Snodgrass, Roger (May 17, 2013), "Los Alamos team ready for next step on quantum communications project", Santa Fe New Mexican
  7. Scientists demonstrate ultra-secure, long-distance quantum key distribution, phys.org, December 22, 2006
  8. "The solace of quantum: Eavesdropping on secret communications is about to get harder", The Economist, May 25, 2013
  9. Folger, Tim (August 16, 2018), "How Physicists Are Making Sure We Never Run Out of Random Numbers", Discover
  10. Five Los Alamos innovations win R&D 100 Awards, Los Alamos National Laboratory, November 2016, retrieved 2021-03-14
  11. Snodgrass, Roger (December 1, 2016), "LANL's Entropy Engine Appears Perfectly Unpredictable", Los Alamos Daily Post
  12. A short history of women at Los Alamos, Los Alamos National Laboratory, March 2018, retrieved 2021-03-14
  13. "Joanne Pedigo Nordholt 1918 – 2017", Daily Press, April 8, 2017 – via Legacy.com
  14. Columbian Yearbook Blue and Gold, 1976, p. 31
  15. Eighty-Ninth Annual Commencement (PDF), California Institute of Technology, June 10, 1983, p. 16, retrieved 2020-01-06
  16. "Los Alamos instruments capturing the sun". EurekAlert!. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  17. "Jane Elizabeth Nordholt Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications - Justia Patents Search". patents.justia.com. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  18. "R&D 100 Award Winners Archive". Research & Development World. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  19. Nordholt, Jane (2002). "A New Face for Cryptography" (PDF). Los Alamos Science. 27.
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