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Encyclopedia > Ernest Lawrence
Ernest O. Lawrence
Ernest O. Lawrence

Ernest Orlando Lawrence (August 8, 1901August 27, 1958) was an American physicist and Nobel Laureate best known for his invention, utilization, and improvement of the cyclotron beginning in 1929, and his later work in uranium-isotope separation in the Manhattan Project. He had a long career at the University of California, Berkeley where he was a professor of physics. In 1939, Lawrence was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the cyclotron and its applications. Chemical element number 103 is named "lawrencium" in his honor. He was also the first recipient of the Sylvanus Thayer Award.[1] Ernest O. Lawrence - photo courtesy of http://www. ... Ernest O. Lawrence - photo courtesy of http://www. ... August 8 is the 220th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (221st in leap years), with 145 days remaining. ... 1901 (MCMI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... August 27 is the 239th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (240th in leap years), with 126 days remaining. ... Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A pair of Dee electrodes with loops of coolant pipes on their surface at the Lawrence Hall of Science. ... The Manhattan Project resulted in the development of the first nuclear weapons, and the first-ever nuclear detonation, at the Trinity test of July 16, 1945. ... The University of California, Berkeley (also known as UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, and by other names, see below) is the oldest and flagship campus of the ten-campus University of California system. ... Hannes Alfvén (1908–1995) accepting the Nobel Prize for his work on magnetohydrodynamics [1]. List of Nobel Prize laureates in Physics from 1901 to the present day. ... General Name, Symbol, Number lawrencium, Lr, 103 Chemical series actinides Group, Period, Block n/a, 7, d Appearance unknown, probably silvery white or metallic gray Atomic mass (264) g·mol−1 Electron configuration probably [Rn] 5f14 7s2 7p1 Electrons per shell 2, 8, 18, 32, 32, 8, 3 Physical properties... The Sylvanus Thayer Award is a military award that is given each year by the United States Military Academy at West Point. ...

Contents

Early life

Born in Canton, South Dakota, Lawrence attended St. Olaf College in Minnesota, but transferred to the University of South Dakota after his first year. He earned his bachelor's degree in 1922. He received his Master Degree in Physics from the University of Minnesota in 1923. He received his Ph.D. in physics at Yale University in 1925. He remained at Yale as a researcher on the photoelectric effect, becoming an assistant professor in 1927. Canton is a city located in Lincoln County, South Dakota. ... St. ... Capital Saint Paul Largest city Minneapolis Area  Ranked 12th  - Total 87,014 sq mi (225,365 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 400 miles (645 km)  - % water 8. ... The University of South Dakota is the state’s oldest university founded in 1862, although classes didnt start until 1882. ... Year 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar). ... Yale redirects here. ... 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... The photoelectric effect is the emission of electrons from matter upon the absorption of electromagnetic radiation, such as ultraviolet radiation or x-rays. ... 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...


In 1928 he was appointed Associate Professor of Physics at the University of California, Berkeley, and two years later he became Professor, being the youngest at Berkeley. There, he was called the "Atom Smasher,"; the man who "held the key" to atomic energy. "He wanted to do 'big physics,' the kind of work that could only be done on a large scale with a lot of people involved," said Herbert York, the first director of the Lawrence Livermore laboratory, as quoted on the lab's official Web site. Year 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar). ... The University of California, Berkeley (also known as UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, and by other names, see below) is the oldest and flagship campus of the ten-campus University of California system. ... Herbert F. York (Born in Rochester, NY, November 24, 1921) is an accomplished American nuclear physicist who has held numerous scientific and administrative positions within the United States government and various educational institutes. ...


Cyclotron

The invention that brought Lawrence to international fame started out as a sketch on a scrap of paper. While sitting in the library one evening, Lawrence glanced over a journal article and was intrigued by one of the diagrams. The idea was to produce very high energy particles required for atomic disintegration by means of a succession of very small "pushes." Lawrence told his colleagues that he had found a method for obtaining particles of very high energy without the use of any high voltage.

Diagram of cyclotron operation from Lawrence's 1934 patent.

The first model of Lawrence's cyclotron was made out of wire and sealing wax and probably cost $25 in all. And it worked: When Lawrence applied 2,000 volts of electricity to his makeshift cyclotron, he got 80,000-volt projectiles spinning around. Through his increasingly larger machines, Lawrence was able to provide the crucial equipment needed for experiments in high energy physics. Around this device, Lawrence built up his Radiation Laboratory, which would become one of the foremost laboratories for physics research. He received a patent for the cyclotron in 1934, which he assigned to the Research Corporation. In 1936 he became Director of the University's Radiation Laboratory and served until his death. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1598x862, 45 KB) Summary Image of the principles of a cyclotron. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1598x862, 45 KB) Summary Image of the principles of a cyclotron. ... A pair of Dee electrodes with loops of coolant pipes on their surface at the Lawrence Hall of Science. ... The Berkeley Lab is perched on a hill overlooking the Berkeley central campus and San Francisco Bay. ... A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to a patentee (the inventor or assignee) for a fixed period of time in exchange for the regulated, public disclosure of certain details of a device, method, process or composition of matter (substance) (known as an invention) which... Research Corporation is an organization in the United States devoted to the advancement of science, funding research projects in the physical sciences. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...


In November 1939, Lawrence was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the cyclotron and its applications. The award ceremony was held in Berkeley, California due to the war, with Lawrence receiving his medal from the Sweden's Consul General in San Francisco. 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Hannes Alfvén (1908–1995) accepting the Nobel Prize for his work on magnetohydrodynamics [1]. List of Nobel Prize laureates in Physics from 1901 to the present day. ... Berkeley is a city on the east shore of San Francisco Bay in northern California, in the United States. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... See also: consulate (disambiguation). ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ...


World War II

Giant calutron plants developed at Lawrence's laboratory were used at Site X during World War II to purify uranium for use in the first atomic bomb.
Giant calutron plants developed at Lawrence's laboratory were used at Site X during World War II to purify uranium for use in the first atomic bomb.

During World War II, Lawrence eagerly helped to ramp up the American investigation of the possibility of a weapon by nuclear fission. His Rad Lab became one of the major centers for wartime atomic research, and it was Lawrence who first introduced J. Robert Oppenheimer into what would become the Manhattan Project. An early champion of the electromagnetic separation method to enrich uranium, Lawrence manufactured his calutrons — specialized forms of mass spectrometers — for the massive separation plants at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. His secretary, Helen Griggs married future Nobel chemistry laureate Glenn T. Seaborg in 1942 as they made their way to work on the Manhattan Project in Chicago. Download high resolution version (1417x1087, 847 KB)Alpha Track Calutron at the Y-12 Plant at Oak Ridge, Tennessee from the Manhattan Project, used for uranium enrichment. ... Download high resolution version (1417x1087, 847 KB)Alpha Track Calutron at the Y-12 Plant at Oak Ridge, Tennessee from the Manhattan Project, used for uranium enrichment. ... Schematic diagram of uranium isotope separation in the calutron. ... A combination of federal, state and private funds is providing $300 million for the construction of 13 facilities on ORNLs new main campus. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 km (11 mi) above the epicenter. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... For the generation of electrical power by fission, see Nuclear power plant An induced nuclear fission event. ... J. Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb, served as the first director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, beginning in 1943. ... The Manhattan Project resulted in the development of the first nuclear weapons, and the first-ever nuclear detonation, at the Trinity test of July 16, 1945. ... General Name, Symbol, Number uranium, U, 92 Chemical series actinides Group, Period, Block n/a, 7, f Appearance silvery gray metallic; corrodes to a spalling black oxide coat in air Atomic mass 238. ... Schematic diagram of uranium isotope separation in the calutron. ... Mass spectrometry is a technique for separating ions by their mass-to-charge (m/z) ratios. ... Oak Ridge is an incorporated city in Anderson and Roane Counties in East Tennessee, about 25 miles northwest of Knoxville. ... Helen L. (Griggs) Seaborg (March 2, 1917 – August 29, 2006) was an American-born child welfare advocate and the wife of Nobel Prize chemist Glenn T. Seaborg. ... Glenn T. Seaborg Glenn Theodore Seaborg (April 19, 1912 – February 25, 1999) was an American chemist prominent in the discovery and isolation of ten transuranic elements including plutonium, americium, curium, berkelium, californium, einsteinium, fermium, mendelevium, nobelium and seaborgium, which was named in his honor. ...


Post-war Career and Legacy

After the war, Lawrence campaigned extensively for government sponsorship of large scientific programs. Lawrence was a forceful advocate of "Big Science" with its requirements for big machines and big money. In 1977 the completion of the Shiva laser at LLNL ushered in a new field of big science; laser fusion. ...


For his service to his country, Lawrence was the first recipient of the prestigious Sylvanus Thayer Award by the United States Military Academy in 1958. The Sylvanus Thayer Award is a military award that is given each year by the United States Military Academy at West Point. ... USMA is an acronym for the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. ...


In July 1958, President Eisenhower requested Lawrence travel to Geneva, Switzerland, to negotiate a proposed treaty with the Soviet Union to ban nuclear weapons testing. Despite suffering from a serious flare-up of his chronic colitis, Lawrence participated, but became ill while in Geneva and was rushed to the hospital at Stanford. He died a month later in Palo Alto, California. Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... D. D. Eisenhower during WWII Dwight David Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower, October 14, 1890 - March 28, 1969), nicknamed Ike, was an American soldier and politician, who served as the thirty-fourth President of the United States (1953-1961). ... Coat of arms of the Canton of Geneva Coat of arms of the City of Geneva Geneva (French: Genève, German: Genf, Italian: Ginevra, Romansh Genevra, Spanish: Ginebra) is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zurich), located where Lake Geneva (French: Lac de Genève or Lac L... Colitis is a digestive disease characterized by inflammation of the colon. ... Location of Palo Alto within Santa Clara County, California. ...


Just 23 days after his death, the Regents of the University of California voted to rename the Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories after him. The Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award was established in his memory in 1959. Chemical element number 103, discovered at LBNL in 1961, is named "lawrencium" in his honor. In 1968 the Lawrence Hall of Science public science center was established in honor of Ernest Lawrence. The museum features a permanent exhibit devoted to Lawrence's life. The Regents of the University of California make up the governing board of the University of California. ... Aerial view of the lab and surrounding area. ... The Berkeley Lab is perched on a hill overlooking the Berkeley central campus and San Francisco Bay. ... The Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award was established in 1959 in honor of a scientist who helped elevate American physics to world leadership. ... Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ... General Name, Symbol, Number lawrencium, Lr, 103 Chemical series actinides Group, Period, Block n/a, 7, d Appearance unknown, probably silvery white or metallic gray Atomic mass (264) g·mol−1 Electron configuration probably [Rn] 5f14 7s2 7p1 Electrons per shell 2, 8, 18, 32, 32, 8, 3 Physical properties... The Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS) is a public science center, run by the University of California, Berkeley. ...


On March 7, 2007 Lawrence's Nobel Prize gold medal was briefly stolen from a low-security glass cabinet in the museum. [2] The perpetrator was Michael Sanchez, a 22 year old local student and part-time nightshift guard, who confessed to using a copied key to remove the medal as part of a prank project. Mr. Sanchez is currently incarcerated in the Santa Rita Jail, New Dublin, pending a USD 10,000 bail. The medal was returned two days later, but will not be presented to the public until May 2008, when a new armoured vault will be constructed for the exhibit's purposes. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Santa Rita Jail is a county jail located in Dublin, Alameda County, California adjacent to the Camp Parks Reserve Forces Training Area, and operated by the Alameda County Sheriffs Office. ... 2008 (MMVIII) will be a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...


External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Preceded by
none
Sylvanus Thayer Award recipient
1958
Succeeded by
John Foster Dulles

  Results from FactBites:
 
Ernest O. Lawrence and the Cyclotron (554 words)
‘Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is the namesake and legacy of its founder, Ernest Orlando Lawrence, winner of the 1939 Nobel Prize for Physics for his invention of the cyclotron,...
Lawrence was also the legal inventor of the Calutron isotope separator - but he assigned the patent rights to the U.S. government for a fee of one dollar.
Ernest Lawrence's Cyclotron: Invention for the Ages, LBNL
Ernest Lawrence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (761 words)
Ernest Orlando Lawrence (August 8, 1901 – August 27, 1958) was an American physicist and Nobel Laureate best known for his invention, utilization, and improvement of the cyclotron beginning in 1929, and his later work in uranium-isotope separation in the Manhattan Project.
In 1939, Lawrence was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the cyclotron and its applications.
Lawrence is held to be one of the great usherers of the era of "Big Science" with its requirements for big machines and big money.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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