Ernest Orlando Lawrence, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1939

Fekk Nobelprisen i Fysikk i 1939. Stend mykji om han på Wikipedia. Det kom ut ei bok om han i 1968:An American Genius The life of Ernest Orlando Lawrence Forfattar er Herbert Childs. E. P. Dutton & Inc Forlag i New York

From American Institute of Physics

Ernest Lawrence

Bilete: Ernest Lawrence photos

By magellan (Santa Clara, CA) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (COMMUNITY FORUM 04) (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) This review is from: An American Genius: The Life of Ernest From [http://www.amazon.com/review/RV987AERL8YSX/ref=cm_cr_pr_perm?ie=UTF...]

Orlando Lawrence, Father of the Cyclotron (Hardcover)

I am Lawrence's great-nephew, or one of them (there weren't that many), and this is an excellent book on probably the greatest of America's early 20th century physicists, who won the Nobel Prize in 1939 in Physics for the invention of the cyclotron, the first atom smasher. Lawrence went on to make many other important discoveries, including creating Technetium, the first atomic element to be made artificially, inventing the first atomic clock, and also the first color TV tube.

With the cyclotron, Lawrence produced radioactive phosphorus and other isotopes for medical use, including radioactive iodine for the first medical treatment of hyperthyroid conditions. In addition, he was the first to use neutron beams in treating cancer.

The giant Bevatron collider he created at U.C. synthesized the Plutonium that went into the Fat Man bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki. He founded Lawrence Berkeley Lab, and later Lawrence Livermore Labs. Later, he was appointed by president Eisenhower to head the American delegation to Geneva to negotiate the first Soviet American nuclear weapons test ban. He was truly a many-sided genius who died all too young at the age of 57.

The book by Nuell Pharr Davis is less flattering toward my famous great-uncle than toward Oppenheimer, but it presents another view if you're interested. Another book is Greg Herken's, The Brotherhood of the Bomb: The Secret Lives of Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence, and Edward Teller, which gives a dramatic account of how these three influential physicists worked, competed, and in the case Teller and Oppenheimer, ultimately betrayed one another.

Lawrence was successful in creating large projects and facilities for his research, which enabled him to attract large numbers of top grad students, and as a result to make great contributions, because he was equally astute about politics and physics, and was able to obtain, and maintain, the ear of the politicos, who had their hands on the purse strings. Using his prestige as one of America's first Nobel Laureates, he put his fame and prestige to good use raising money for U.C. Berkeley and for the labs he directed there. As a result, he was able to accomplish a great deal during his short lifetime. This book was compiled from over 800 interviews with his family, friends, and associates, and presents an excellent picture of the man and his accomplishments.

Other References

• Waterston, Charles D; Macmillan Shearer, A (July 2006). Biographical index of former fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1783-2002: Biographical Index. II. Edinburgh: The Royal Society of Edinburgh. ISBN 978-0-902198-84-5. page 531

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