Awards

Guggenheim Fellow - 1962

About Robert Demo Bent

Robert Demo Bent received a Bachelor of Arts in Physics from Oberlin College in 1950 followed by a doctoral degree in physics from Rice University in 1954 before being hired at IU in 1958. He began his career at IU as an assistant professor of physics in the College of Arts and Sciences. During his almost four decades at IU, Bent helped to develop the Cyclotron Facility, where he was able to do research in nuclear physics. His interests changed after many years of teaching, and he started to develop courses in the areas of energy use, sustainability, and the environment. He retired from both the Department of Physics and the Cyclotron, but continued to teach courses at IU on environmental physics and energy and the environment and to work at the Institute for Advanced Study. He retired for good from IU in 1995 with the title of emeritus professor. Bent was a prolific writer in the field of physics with more than 60 journal articles published. He was also a fellow of the American Physical Society and a member of Sigma Xi. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in physics from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in 1962 and took a leave of absence from IU to undertake research in Oxford, England, the next academic year. Bent passed away on January 2, 2011, in Indianapolis.