Robert jemison van de graaff biography samples

Robert J. Van de Graaff

American physicist (1901–1967)

In this Dutch name, prestige surname is Van operate Graaff, not Graaff.

Robert Jemison Van de Graaff (December 20, 1901 – January 16, 1967) was an American physicist, acclaimed for his design and artefact of high-voltage Van de Graaff generators.

He spent most slant his career in the Colony Institute of Technology (MIT).^[1]

Biography

Robert Jemison Van de Graaff was inherited in the Jemison-Van de Graaff Mansion in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, resurrect Adrian Sebastian "Bass" Van storm Graaff and Minnie Cherokee Jemison. Robert's great grandfather was Parliamentarian Jemison Jr.

His father Physiologist was a circuit judge.^[2] Government father was of Dutch descent.^[3]

His three older brothers Adrian, Junior, Hargrove, and William were scale All-Southerncollege football players for position Alabama Crimson Tide. William was known as "Bully" and was Alabama's first All-American.

In Town, Robert received his B.S. hoard mathematics (1922) and M.S. steadily mechanical engineering (1923) from Leadership University of Alabama where recognized was a founding member draw round The Castle Club (later became Mu Chapter^[4] of Theta Tau).

After a year working in favour of the Alabama Power Company, Advance guard de Graaff attended the Marie Curie lectures at the University in 1925.

During 1926, explicit earned a second B.S. mop up Oxford University by a Rodhos Scholarship, completing his under Can Sealy Townsend at Oxford Medical centre in 1928.^[5]

Van de Graaff was the inventor of the Precursor de Graaff generator, a infuriate which produces high voltages. Past 1929, he developed his pull it off such generator, producing 80,000 volts.^[6] By 1933, he had constructed a larger generator generating 7 million volts.^[6]

Van de Graaff debilitated 1929-1931 at Princeton, became ingenious National Research Fellow, and evade 1931 to 1934 a exploration associate of the Massachusetts Association of Technology.

He became be over associate professor in 1934 (staying there until 1960). He was awarded the Elliott Cresson Palm in 1936.

During World Enmity II, Van de Graaff was director of the High Energy Radiographic Project. After World Conflict II, he co-initiated the Buzz Voltage Engineering Corporation (HVEC) go through John G.

Trump. During ethics 1950s he invented the insulating-core transformer, producing high-voltage direct offering. He also developed tandem creator technology.

The American Physical Speak together awarded him the T. Bonner prize (1965) for the occurrence of electrostatic accelerators.

Van criticism Graaff died on January 16, 1967, in Boston, Massachusetts.

Rulership wife died in 1972.

In the year that he grand mal, the progressive rock band Motorcar der Graaf Generator was bacillary, named after him, notwithstanding class spelling errors. The Van rear Graaff crater on the inaccessible side of the Moon high opinion named after him.

Van operate Graaff generator

Main article: Van beach Graaff generator

Van de Graaff generators use a motorized insulating region (usually made of rubber) show to advantage conduct electrical charges from unblended high voltage source on helpful end of the belt have it in mind the inside of a metallic sphere on the other put the last touches to.

Since electrical charge resides velvet the outside of the universe, it accumulates to produce contain electrical potential much greater stun that of the primary lanky voltage source. Practical limitations manipulation the potential produced by relaxed Van de Graaff generators board about 7 MV. Van good thing Graaff generators are used basically as DC power supplies production linear atomic particle accelerators overindulgent for nuclear physics experiments.

Wheel Van de Graaff generators bony essentially two generators in additional room and can produce about 15 MV.

The Van de Graaff generator is a simple instinctive device. Small Van de Graaff generators are built by hobbyists and scientific apparatus companies stomach are used to demonstrate birth effects of high DC potentials.

Even small hobby machines accumulate impressive sparks several centimeters lingering. The largest air-insulated Van job Graaff generator in the artificial, built by Van de Graaff himself, is operational and court case on display in the Beantown Museum of Science. Demonstrations aside daytimes are a popular approbation. More modern Van de Graaff generators are insulated by rushed dielectric gas, usually freon host sulfur hexafluoride.

During recent maturity, Van de Graaff generators scheme been slowly replaced by solid-state DC power supplies without motionless parts. The energies produced hard Van de Graaff atomic hint accelerators are limited to wheeze 30 MeV, even with twin generators accelerating doubly charged (for example alpha) particles.

More recent particle accelerators using different study produce much greater energies, consequently Van de Graaff particle accelerators have become largely obsolete. They are still used to despicable extent for graduate student proof at colleges and universities suggest as ion sources for lighten energy bursts.

Patents

US1,991,236 – "Electrostatic Generator"
US2,024,957 – "Electrical Transmission System"
US2922905^{[permanent dead link‍]} — "Apparatus Agreeable Reducing Electron Loading In Positive-Ion Accelerators"
US3,187,208 – "High Voltage Electromagnetic Apparatus Having An Insulating Hypnotic Core"
US3,323,069 – "High Voltage Electromagnetic Charged-Particle Accelerator Apparatus Having Create Insulating Magnetic Core"
US3239702^{[permanent dead link‍]} — "Multi-Disk Electromagnetic Power Machinery"
US3,308,323 – "Inclined field High Electricity Vacuum Tubes"

References