John bardeen

JOHN BARDEEN AMERICAN PHYSICIST AND ELECTRICAL ENGINEER

“ Near the end of this decade, when they begin enumarating the names of the people who had the greatest impact on the 20th century, the name of John Bardeen,.... has to be or perhaps even arguableat, the top of the list...Mr. Bardeen shared two Nobel Prizes and won numerous other honors. But what greater honor can there be when each of us can look all around us and everywhere see the reminders of a man whose genius has made our lives longer, healthier and better.�

Chicago Tribune, editorial, Feburary 3, 1991.

Dorinda Livesay July 20, 2016 IXDS 5403 Media History and Theory Professor David Edwin Meyers Master of Arts Degree Lindsey Wilson College

Profile

Educaction

Born: May 23, 1908 Died: January 30, 1991 Married: Jane Maxwell July 18, 1938 Children: James, Williams and Elizabeth Grandchildren: 6 Second child to Dr. Charles R. Bardeeen, Dean of the University of Wisconsin Medical School, and Althea Harmer, Former teacher at Dewey School in Chicago, IL

At a young age, Bardeen was considered special. Some even said he was brilliant. He was so far ahead of his classmates that he skipped three grades. Bardeen graduated high school at the age of 15 and entered the University of Wisconsin. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a Bachelor of Sciences in Electrical Engineer in 1928 and a Master of Sciences in Electrical Engineer in 1929. While at University of Wisconsin, Bardeen joine the Zeta Psi fraternity and a member of the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society.

After attending a research seminar in modern physics, it re-sparked his interest in quantum physics. Bardeen decided to apply for a position in Princeton University’s doctoral program in mathematics. His studies in the mathematics field laid the foundation for a career in physics. Bardeen graduated from Princeton University with his Ph.D. in Mathematical Physics in 1936.

“ John is the concentrated essence of the brain,” Althea Bardeen

Before completing his doctoral program, he was offered a position with the Junior Fellow of Society of Fellows at Harvard University in 1935.

He worked for the next three years with John Hasbrook Van Vleck and Percy Williams Bridgman in solving cohesion and electrical conduction in metals and level of density of nuclei. His research focused on problems where interaction between electrons, and between electrons and the lattice play a significant role. Bardeen, along with Frederick Seitz, Conyers Herring and a small group of John Slater’s graduate students from MIT, where considered the first generation of American theoretical physicists who were trained to apply quantum mechanics to real solids.

Jobs

Jobs

For a while, Bardeen stayed on at the University of Wisconsin, until he was offered a position at Gulf Research Laboratories as a geophysicist from 1930-33. He worked on development of methods for interpretation of magnetic and gravitational surveys that was applied to prospecting for oil. Over these years, Bardeen soon lost interest in this field and decided to pursue his Ph.D.

Before completing his doctoral program, he was offered a position with the Junior Fellow of Society of Fellows at Harvard University in 1935. He worked for the next three years with John Hasbrook Van Vleck and Percy Williams Bridgman in solving cohesion and electrical conduction in metals and level of density of nuclei. His research focused on problems where interaction between electrons, and between electrons and the lattice play a significant role.

“ I think we discovered something today.”

John Bardeen

From 1938 to 1941, Bardeen was working as an Assistant Professor in Physics at the University of Minnesota.

His first teaching position. Here Bardeen continued his work on the superconductivity

During World War II, from 1941 to 1945, Bardeen served as a civilian physicist with the Naval Ordnance Laboratory, which is located in Washington, D.C. While with the NOL, he helped by researching the influence fields of ships for applications to underwater ordnance and mine sweeping (protect ships and submarines from mines and torpedoes).

Bardeen joined Bell Laboratory from 1945 to 1951. He was a member of the Solid State Physics Group along with William Shockley and Walter Brattain.

Their goal was to find a replacement of the glass vacuum tube systems with semiconductor technology.

In 1951 to join University of Illinois at Urbana – Champaign as a Professor in the Engineer and Physics Department.

By accepting this position, Bardeen was able to continue working on the theory of superconductivity. Bardeen remained at the University of Illinois at Urbana Chanpaign until 1975. He remain active and became a Professor Emeritus.

Nobel Prize in Physics 1956

Nobel Prize in Physics 1972

“ Invention of the transistor”

While at Bell Labaratory, Bardeen work along with William Shockley and Walter Brattain. The goal was to find a replacement of the glass vacuum tube systems with using semiconductor technology. Brattain and Bardeen worked very well together that Bardeen served “as the brain” and Brittain served “as the hand”. Also unlike Brittain, who was very talkative, Bardeen was quiet. He was so quiet that he was given the name “Whispering John”. Their close collaborations produced results that extended through all stages of research. This collaboration also extended over into social settings for them. After a period of several unsuccessful attempts, there was a breakthrough in November 1947, which became known the “magic month”. By December 1947, the transistor came to life, which sparked the Electronic Revolution.

The invention of the transistor made it possible to development of every electronic device from telephones, to computers, to missiles, etc… This discovery was made possible from the collaboration of Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley and also earned them a Noble Prize in Physics.

“ Development of theory of superconductitivy BCS Theory”

“Brattain and Bardeen, I would say, they loved one another as much as two men can, They were two very complementary human beings. It was like Bardeen was the brains fo this joint ogranism and Brattain what the hands.”

Michael Riordan, co-auther, Crystal Fire

When Bardeen join the University of Illinois at Urbana – Champaign, he was able to continue his work on the theory of superconductivity. A Bardeen help establish two major research programs at the University of Illinois at Urbana – Champaign that focused on superconductivity. The Electrical Engineering Department worked in the areas that dealt with both the experimental and theoretical aspects of the semiconductors. The Physics Department worked with the theoretical side of macroscopic quantum systems in superconductivity and quantum liquids. In 1957, the BCS Theory of superconductivity came to live, a theory that had stumped theorists for four and a half decades. The development of the superconductivity is used in machine like the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR) or its medical sub-tool Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). The discovery earned Bardeen’s second Noble Prize in Physics in 1972 along with Leon Cooper and John Robert Schrieffer. Later, Bardeen focused on understanding the flow of electrons in charge density waves (CDW) through metallic linear chain compounds.

Honors and Publications

Honors • 1952 Stuart Ballantine Medal • 1954 Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize • 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics with William Shockley and

Walter Brattain • 1965 National Medal of Science • 1971 IEEE Medal of Honor • 1972 Nobel Prize in Physics with Leon Cooper and

John Robert Schrieffer • 1973 ForMemRS • 1975 Franklin Medal • 1977 Presidentail Medal of Freedom • 1987 Lomonosov Gold Medal • 1988 Gold Medal from Soviety Academy of Sciences • 1988 Harold Pender Award • 1990 Third Century Award (1 out of 11 receipients) • 1990 Appeared in LIFE Magazine “100 Most Influential Americans of

the Century” • 2008 Honored on United State postage stamp, “American Scientists”

Publications • • • •

Physcial Review Letters Physics Today Hanbuch de Physik New York Times (editorial articles)

First person to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.

“ Science is a collaborative effort.”

John Bardeen Plaque Erected in honor of Dr. John Bardeen

United States Postage Stamp “American Scientist” series

Services

1951 Office od Naval Research 1954 Elected to National Academy of Sciences 1959- 1962 President’s Science Advisory Commitee 1968 Served as President of American Physical Society 1973 Elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 1981 SErved on the White House Science Council 1981 Served on the Editorial Board of the Physical Review and

Reviews of Modern Physics

“The combined results of serveral people working together is often much more effective than coule be that of an individual scientist working alone.”

John Bardeen

John Bardeen’s contributions to the world has had major impacts on the world today. The transistor came to life, which sparked the Electronic Revolution and Information Age. The invention of the transistor made it possible to development of every electronic device from telephones, to computers, to missiles, etc…

The development of the superconductivity is used in machine like the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR) or its medical sub-tool Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).

His inventions paved the way for computers to microchips, infrared sensors and medical imaging systems.

“It is a rare person whose work changes the life of every American, John did.”

Morton Weir, University of Illinois Chancellor

References References

PBS Online (1999), www.pbs.org, ScienCenntral, Inc. and The American Institute of Physics Britannica, www.britannica.com Encyclopedia (2008), www.encyclopedia.com The Nobel Foundation (1956), www.nobelprize.org The Biography, www.biography.com Wikipedia, www.wikipedia.org