Albert Welford Castleman

Research focuses on the properties and dynamics of clusters, with application to understanding the molecular details of solvation phenomena and the unique behavior of matter nanoscale dimensions. His work led to an understanding of the origins of magic numbers in cluster ions, a new method for studying metastable dissociation processes leading to a determination of thermochemical properties of clusters, identified mechanisms of nucleation and heterogeneous processes of importance in the atmosphere, and provided new insights into the physical basis for selected catalytic processes. He discovered a unique class of molecular clusters termed Met-Cars comprised of early transition metals bound to carbon, and developed a new method of arresting intermediates in fast reactions using femtosecond lasers to initiate Coulomb explosion in molecular cluster systems.