Born and raised in south Florida, Don Reames attended the University of California at Berkeley for both his undergraduate and graduate work. Receiving a Ph.D. in nuclear physics of heavy-ion reactions in 1964, he came to Goddard to work with Carl Fichtel's group studying element abundances of the heavy ions from solar events and in the galactic cosmic rays. This work led to the first observations of energetic Fe ions from the Sun using sounding rockets flown from Ft. Churchill; the Fe abundance has subsequently become a key to distinguishing physical mechanisms of particle acceleration at the Sun. Other work with this group involved galactic cosmic-ray measurements on sounding rockets and on the Gemini XI spacecraft and the construction of a balloon-borne superconducting magnet for isotope measurements.
Following a brief sojourn at the National Space Sciences Data Center in 1976-1977, he returned to LHEA to work in the Low Energy Cosmic Ray Group in time to participate in the preparation of the particle instrument for the ISEE-3/ICE spacecraft. Subsequently, he has analyzed data from this instrument and from similar instruments on IMP-8 and Helios 1 and 2 to study particle acceleration at the Sun and throughout the heliosphere. He has used particle abundances to study wave-particle interactions that produce the 3He-rich, Fe-rich ions from impulsive solar flares, and has studied the element abundances of the solar corona using particles accelerated by shock waves from large coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and in corotating interaction regions of the solar wind. He has done extensive correlations of particle measurements with radio, optical, X-ray and gamma-ray observations in solar flares in an effort to relate the photons to the energetic particles that produce them. CMEs and the particles they accelerate also have significant terrestrial effects.
Don Reames has recently participated in the design, construction and testing of the Energetic Particles, Acceleration Composition and Transport (EPACT) experiment on the WIND spacecraft launched November 1, 1994. EPACT is 100 times more sensitive than previous instruments and has greatly extended the element and isotope resolution and the energy coverage of particle observations. Don is also a Co-investigator on the IMPACT experiment on the upcoming STEREO mission.
Over the years Don's primary interest has been to understand the physics of particle acceleration in astrophysical plasmas. However, the pursuit of that goal has involved diverse activities from direct participation in work on acceleration or transport theory, to transferring liquid helium in Ft. Churchill, to calibrating detectors in a gold beam at Oak Ridge, to writing and debugging C programs for real-time data acquisition or graphic display.
In 2003 Don retired from the Civil Service to continue in an Emeritus position at Goddard.