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pmlesm@engr.psu.edu

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Some Significant Accomplishments Of Academic Ancestors

J.J. Thompson – In 1897 he discovered the first subatomic particle and determined it was negatively charged;
he named it the electron. (Nobel Prize Physics)

O.W. Richardson – At the age of 22, discovered the expression for thermionic emission, which now bears his name. 
Thermionic emission is the physical basis for the operation of vacuum tubes.  (Nobel Prize Physics)

E. Rutherford – Discovered the basic structure of atoms: heavy dense nuclei surrounded by light electrons. 
With F. Soddy discovered that radioactive decay transforms an atom of one element into an atom
of another element. (Nobel Prize Chemistry)

K.T. Compton – President of MIT 1930-1948

H.D. Smyth – Chair of Physics Department at Princeton 1933-1953

              Commissioner of the Atomic Energy Commission 1949-1954

              Cast the only vote in favor of Robert Oppenheimer at his security clearance hearing

K.T. Bainbridge – Chair of Physics Department at Harvard 1950-1954

              Confirmed E=mc² via mass spectroscopy experiments

              Oversaw the first atomic bomb experiment at Alamogordo , NM (July 16, 1945)

E.M. Purcell – Co-inventor of nuclear magnetic resonance (important tool for physics, chemistry, biology, and Medicine.)
(Nobel Prize Physics)

N. Bloembergen – Inventor of laser spectroscopy, co-inventor of an important class of solid state laser,
One of the founders of nuclear magnetic resonance (Nobel Prize Physics)

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