It is with great sadness that we learned that our dear friend and colleague, Steve Maxfield, has passed away on Tuesday the 24th of June, after a long illness.
After gaining his Bachelors in Physics and Astronomy from Imperial College and a Masters in Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Cambridge, Steve did his PhD research at the University of Maryland working on the PLUTO experiment at PETRA, and then secured a first postdoc position at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, working on the TPC/2gamma experiment at PEP.
Steve joined the Department of Physics in Liverpool in 1987 to work on the H1 experiment at the HERA electron-proton collider at DESY. Here he continued his prior work on studies of the (virtual and real) hadronic structure of the photon. He became the go-to person in the collaboration for anyone wanting an understandable explanation of proton and (real or virtual) photon structure, jet production and other aspects of QCD in deep-inelastic scattering or photon-proton interactions. His name appears in the acknowledgements of countless conference contributions because of his deep understanding of hadron physics and his ability to communicate this to colleagues. Steve was also an excellent practical experimental physicist. He contributed to the design of the Forward Track Detector in H1, and in particular to the Radial Chambers, Liverpool's contribution to the H1 hardware. The “Atlas of the Forward Tracker” Steve wrote is an example to all who need to write a user guide for a detector system.
In 1996, Steve joined the ATLAS experiment group in Liverpool, at a time when the construction of both the accelerator and experiments was gearing up. Steve developed different analyses for the upcoming experiment, to search the Higgs boson for di-photon resonances and for super-symmetric particles. With early data Steve worked with students on searches for the Higgs boson and for evidence of extra dimensions.
Steve will be remembered also for his huge contribution to Liverpool’s involvement in the g-2 experiment. He was delighted and proud to have led this project for Liverpool, which he viewed as one of the highlights of his career. He will be missed for the care and attention he gave to the g-2 the team and for how much he loved the subject. The final legacy measurement of the muon magnetic moment from the g-2 experiment, published only weeks ago, will stand as a benchmark result for many years to come.
Steve was not only a superb physicist, but he also had a deep passion for educating others. His patient support was greatly appreciated by many Liverpool PhD students on H1, ATLAS, g-2 and in other areas. Steve had an exceptional talent for helping students navigate the often daunting theoretical concepts in particle physics and applying these in an experimental context. For many years, including as an honorary fellow following his retirement in 2017, Steve taught the intricacies of Quantum Field Theory to multiple generations of Liverpool PhD students. When his health still allowed him to do so he regularly came back to the Department to attend talks by invited seminar speakers or to join his colleagues in the particle physics group in their annual jamboree.
We will miss Steve dearly, as a beloved colleague, a great physicist and a dear friend. Our thoughts are with Steve’s family.