The differential cross section for sup 2H(gamma,d)pisup 0 has been measured at deuteron center-of-mass angles of 90degree and 136degree. This work reports the first data for this reaction above a ...photon energy of 1 GeV, and permits a test of the apparent constituent counting rule and reduced nuclear amplitude behavior as observed in elastic ital ed scattering. Measurements were performed up to a photon energy of 4.0 GeV, and are in good agreement with previous lower energy measurements. Overall, the data are inconsistent with both constituent-counting rule and reduced nuclear amplitude predictions. copyright ital 1999 ital The American Physical Society