Deborah Jin, an adjunct professor in the department of physics at the University of Colorado and a fellow of JILA (formerly the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics), a joint endeavor of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado, died on September 15. She was 47 years old and had suffered from cancer.
Dr. Jin was a pioneering scientist in the field of polar molecule quantum chemistry and conducted research on the physics of gases at ultracold temperatures. In 2003, Dr. Jin was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, commonly referred to as a “genius grant.”
Dr. Jin had conducted research at JILA since 1995. She held a bachelor’s degree in physics from Princeton University in New Jersey and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago.