Fifty-five years. That’s how long engineer Al Moretti has been at his job: 55 years = 20 years at Argonne and 35 years at Fermilab.
Now he’s retiring. His last working day at Fermilab is Tuesday, Oct. 31.
Al is a life-long Illinois resident, born in Chicago. He received two undergraduate degrees from a joint program at DePaul University (B.A.) and Illinois Institute of Technology (B.S. in electrical engineering), followed by a Master of Science in electrical engineering from Northwestern University.
Al joined the Fermilab Accelerator Division in 1982. He first worked on installing and commissioning the RF accelerating systems for the Antiproton Source (which led to the discovery of the top quark). He installed the accelerating systems for the Fermilab-supplied accelerator for the proton therapy facility at the Loma Linda Medical Center in California. Al worked on the klystrons and designed some of the RF cavities for the High-Energy Linac upgrade. He also provided the high-power RF system for the High Intensity Neutrino Source injector for Project X (now known as PIP-II).
Over the last 15 years or so, Al worked on the MuCool Test Area (MTA) along with designs for a Muon Collider and a Neutrino Factory. This included the design of a six-cell RF accelerating cavity in Lab G and other designs, such as a traveling wave proton accelerator for muon and neutrino production, the design, installation, and operation of the RF systems for MTA, and the design of a series of specialized RF cavities that were tested at MTA.
In retirement, Al plans to enjoy his family, especially his grandchildren, vacation, and join a health club. He also plans to continue to contribute from time to time to R&D with Katsuya Yonehara on a prototype hadron monitor for LBNF/DUNE and with Daniel Bowring on an RF detector for the ADMX experiment searching for dark matter particles.
The Accelerator Division held a farewell retirement party in the Huddle on Oct. 24.
Al said, “I have enjoyed working all these years at Fermilab with the great people that I have worked with and gotten to know, and all the interesting projects that I have worked on.”
We wish Al all the best in his retirement.
Peter Garbincius is the head of the Muon Accelerator R&D Department in the Accelerator Division.