RAY MODEZ STRINGFIELD, JR.

MARCH 19, 1947 - NOVEMBER 6, 2016

Santa Fe — Ray was born March 19, 1947 and died November 6, 2016, at the age of 69. He was born in Los Angeles County, California, but lived most of his childhood in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He graduated from Robert E. Lee High School in 1965, then went to Davidson College in North Carolina, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Physics in 1969. He then earned his PhD in Physics in 1978 at North Carolina State University under the guidance of famous inventor Willard Bennett. He was an active member of the scientific research honor society Sigma Xi as well as the honor society for physics and astronomy Sigma Pi Sigma.

He began his career in 1978 at Physics International Co. as Project Leader and Staff Physicist, where he did pioneering work in the development of plasma opening switches and imploding wire arrays for terawatt x-ray sources. From 1983 to his retirement in 2007 Ray continued his research as a member of the technical staff of the Los Alamos National Laboratory where he did important development work in explosively driven pulsed power, high power microwave sources like the Large Orbit Gyrotron, and microwave chemistry, mentoring many graduate students and post-docs. As a Deputy Group Leader and later than Chief Scientist for high power microwave research at Los Alamos, Ray was frequently called upon by the Laboratory and other agencies to provide his technical judgement on important matters of national defense.

Ray is predeceased by his parents, Ray M. Stringfield, Sr. and June R. Byg Stringfield. He is survived by many Byg cousins and many Stringfield cousins. There will be a private memorial service for Ray on June 16, 2023.