Panofsky was the son of renowned Jewish art historian Erwin Panofsky in Berlin, Germany. He spent much of his early life in Hamburg, where his father was a Professor of Art History. At the age of 15, he moved with his family to the United States and entered Princeton University. He graduated with an A.B. In physics from Princeton University in 1938 after completing a senior thesis, titled "The construction of a high pressure ionisation chamber", under the supervision of Walker Bleakney. He then received his Ph.D. in physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1942 after completing a doctoral dissertation, titled "A measurement of the value of h/e by the determination of the short wavelength limit of the continous x-ray spectrum at 20 kV", under the supervision of J. W. M. DuMond. In April 1942 he was naturalized as a U.S. citizen.
Academic career
From 1945 to 1951, Panofsky held an assistant and then associate professorship at the University of California, Berkeley, before permanently establishing himself as Professor of Physics at Stanford University. Between 1961 and 1984, he was the director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and continued to serve as director emeritus. He was also on the Board of Directors of the Arms Control Association from 1996 until 1999 and remained a director emeritus until his death. Panofsky was a member of the Board of Sponsors of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and won the Matteucci Medal in 1996 for his fundamental contributions to physics. He was also a recipient of the National Medal of Science, the Franklin Medal, the Ernest O. Lawrence Medal, the Leo Szilard Award and the Enrico Fermi Award. During his college days, Panofsky was called "Pief" by fellow students who found his full name unpronounceable. The childhood nickname seemed to suit the ebullient physicist, and it stayed with him throughout his long life. His elder brother, Hans A. Panofsky, was "an atmospheric scientist who taught at Pennsylvania State University for 30 years and who was credited with several advances in the study of meteorology". Their father, Erwin Panofsky, had been a "highly distinguished" professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey. In 1999, the new "Panofsky Lane", in that Institute's faculty housing complex, was named in Erwin Panofsky's honor.
Panofsky died at the age of 88 on September 24, 2007 in Los Altos, California, from a heart attack. Panofsky stayed active at SLAC until his last day of life.
