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Sir Joseph Rotblat and the Nuclear Test Ban

Sir Joseph Rotblat and the Nuclear Test Ban

Tabea Tietz
On November 4, 1908, Polish physicist and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize Joseph Rotblat was born. Rotblat was the only physicist to leave the Manhattan Project (1942–46) on the grounds of conscience. Rotblat’s work on nuclear fallout was a major contribution toward the ratification of the 1963 Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. A signatory of the Russell–Einstein Manifesto (1955), he was secretary-general of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs from their…
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physics
Donald Kerst and the Betatron

Donald Kerst and the Betatron

Tabea Tietz
On November 1, 1911, American physicist Donald William Kerst was born. Kerst worked on advanced particle accelerator concepts (accelerator physics) and plasma physics. He is most notable for his development of the betatron, a novel type of particle accelerator used to accelerate electrons. Donald Kerst – Early Years Donald Kerst was born in Galena, Illinois, U.S., the son of Herman Samuel Kerst and Lillian E Wetz. He studied at the University of Wisconsin, earning…
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physics
Laura Bassi – the first Woman with a University Chair

Laura Bassi – the first Woman with a University Chair

Harald Sack
Between October 20 and October 29, 1711, Italian physicist and academic Laura Maria Caterina Bassi was born. Bassi is referred to as being the first woman to earn a professorship in physics at a university in Europe and is recognized as the first woman in the world to earn a university chair in a scientific field of studies. She contributed immensely to the field of science while also helping to spread the…
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physics
Robert Stirling and the Stirling Engine

Robert Stirling and the Stirling Engine

Harald Sack
On October 25, 1790, Scottish clergyman Reverend Dr Robert Stirling was born. Stirling is best known for his invention of the Stirling engine, a heat engine that operates by cyclic compression and expansion of air or other gas (the working fluid) at different temperatures, such that there is a net conversion of heat energy to mechanical work. Robert Stirling Youth and Education Robert Stirling was born at Cloag Farm near Methven, Perthshire,…
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chemistry
Georg Ernst Stahl and the Phlogiston Theory

Georg Ernst Stahl and the Phlogiston Theory

Tabea Tietz
On October 22, 1659, German chemist, physician and philosopher Georg Ernst Stahl was born. Stahl developed the phlogiston theory of combustion and of such related biological processes as respiration, fermentation, and decay. Combustible objects, he said, were rich in phlogiston, and during combustion is lost. The remaining ash, now having no phlogiston, could no longer burn. Until the late 18th century his works on phlogiston were accepted as an explanation for chemical…
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physics
Walter Houser Brattain and the Age of the Transistor

Walter Houser Brattain and the Age of the Transistor

Harald Sack
On October 13, 1987, American physicist and Nobel Laureate Walter Houser Brattain passed away. At Bell Labs, Brattain along with fellow scientists John Bardeen and William Shockley, invented the point-contact transistor in December, 1947, for which they shared he 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics. Youth and Education Walter Houser Brattain was born in 1902 in Xiamen, Fujian, China, to Ross R. Brattain, a teacher at the private Ting-Wen Institute, and Ottilie Houser…
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engineering
Elmer Sperry and the Invention of the Gyrocompass

Elmer Sperry and the Invention of the Gyrocompass

Tabea Tietz
On October 12, 1860, American inventor and entrepreneur Elmer Ambrose Sperry was born. Sperry is best known for his significant role in the development of the gyrocompass, a type of non-magnetic compass which is based on a fast-spinning disc and rotation of the Earth to automatically find geographical direction. Elmer Sperry – Early Years Elmer Sperry was born at Cincinnatus, New York, on October 12, 1860, to Stephen Decatur Sperry and Mary Burst. His mother…
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physics
Otto Frisch and the Idea of Nuclear Fission

Otto Frisch and the Idea of Nuclear Fission

Tabea Tietz
On October 1, 1904, Austrian-British physicist Otto Robert Frisch was born. With his aunt Lise Meitner,[4] Frisch described the division of neutron-bombarded uranium into lighter elements. With his collaborator Rudolf Peierls he designed the first theoretical mechanism for the detonation of an atomic bomb in 1940. “Scientists have one thing in common with children: curiosity. To be a good scientist you must have kept this trait of childhood, and perhaps it is not…
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physics
Jean Baptiste Perrin and the Brownian Motion

Jean Baptiste Perrin and the Brownian Motion

Tabea Tietz
On September 30, 1870, French physicist Jean Baptiste Perrin was born. In his studies of the Brownian motion of minute particles suspended in liquids, Perrin verified Albert Einstein’s explanation of this phenomenon and thereby confirmed the atomic nature of matter. Jean Baptiste Perrin – Biographical Background Jean Baptiste Perrin was born in Lille, France, while his father, Captain Jean Baptiste Perrin, wounded at the battle of Saint-Privat, was locked up in Metz…
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physics
John Ray Dunning and the Manhattan Project

John Ray Dunning and the Manhattan Project

Harald Sack
On September 24, 1907, US-American physicist John Ray Dunning was born. Dunning played key roles in the Manhattan Project that developed the first atomic bombs. He specialized in neutron physics, and did pioneering work in gaseous diffusion for isotope separation. John Ray Dunning – Early Years John Ray Dunning was born in Shelby, Nebraska, USA, the son of Albert Chester Dunning, a grain dealer, and his wife Josephine. He graduated from Shelby High…
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