Robert Williams Wood ( born Robert Williams Wood ; May 2, 1868 , Concord - August 11, 1955 , Amityville , New York ) is an American experimental physicist [3] .
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| Awards and prizes | Frederick Ives Medal ( 1933 ) B. Rumford medal ( 1938 ) Henry Draper Medal ( 1940 ) Matteucci Medal ( 1918 ) Rumford Prize ( 1938 ) [d] ( 1914 ) [d] |
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Biography
Robert Williams Wood was born on May 2, 1868 in Concord , Massachusetts , USA . In his youth he visited Moscow, was at the Nizhny Novgorod Fair, traveled along the Trans-Siberian Railway. In 1891 he graduated from Harvard University . In 1901-1938 - professor at J. Hopkins University in Baltimore .
In 1915, together with Arthur Train, published the science fiction novel " The Man Who Shook the Earth" ( The Man Who Rocked the Earth ).
In 1934 he was elected vice president, and in 1935 - president of the American Physical Society.
Scientific Contribution
The main field of interest for Wood was physical optics :
- discovered and investigated optical resonance ( 1902 )
- discovered the resonance emission of mercury vapor in the ultraviolet region
- discovered and studied the polarization of resonant radiation and its dependence on the magnetic field
- first made a telescope with a rotating parabolic mirror of liquid mercury , investigated its advantages and limitations
- first made a glass filter that transmits ultraviolet rays and is opaque to visible light - “Wood Glass”
- designed the first fisheye lens (1906)
- first took pictures of the moon in ultraviolet light and showed that the darkest part in this part of the spectrum is the part called the Aristarchus plateau ( 1909 )
- the first to start photographing in the ultraviolet and infrared parts of the spectrum: it is considered the "father" of such a photograph
- first photographed fluorescence under the influence of ultraviolet radiation
- designed a “ Wood lamp " emitting only in the ultraviolet range
- discovered the high reflectivity of green plants in infrared photography - “Wood effect”
- improved diffraction grating
- discovered the optical diffraction effect called the Wood anomaly ; the first explanation was given by Rayleigh (1907), interpretation in terms of surface plasma polaritons was given by W. Fano (1941)
- investigated ultrasonic vibrations and their effect on liquids and solids
It is a common misconception that Robert Wood invented the so-called Wood alloy with a low melting point (which could be affected by the mention of the raffle with the alloy in his biography written by W. Seabrook ), but the alloy was actually invented even before the birth of the future physicist by his namesake American dentist Barnabas Wood.
Honors and degrees
- Clark University Doctor of Law (LL.D.)
- Doctor of Law (LL.D.), University of Birmingham, UK
- Doctor of Law (LL.D.) University of Edinburgh, UK
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Berlin
- foreign member of the Royal Society
- Honorary Member of the London Optical Society
- Gottingen Royal Academy Corresponding Member
- Foreign Member, Lynch Academy, Rome
- foreign member of the USSR Academy of Sciences
- Member, American National Academy of Sciences
- Member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences
- member of the Philosophical Society
- member of the Physical Society
- Honorary Member, Royal Institute, London
- Honorary Member of the London Physical Society
- foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy
- Foreign Member of Indian Association of Sciences
Rewards
- Royal Society of the Arts Medal for the Use of Diffraction in Photography (1899)
- Franklin Institute John Scott Medal for Diffraction in Color Photography (1908)
- Rumford Prize of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for the Study of the Optical Properties of Metal Vapors (1909)
- J. Trail Taylor Medal for the development of invisible photography (1910)
- Guthrie Medal and Award (1914)
- Matteucci Medal for Excellence in Science (1918)
- Frederick Ives Medal of the American Optical Society for Contribution to Physical Optics (1933)
- Royal Rumford Medal for Physical Optics (1938)
- Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of Sciences for his contribution to astrophysics and spectroscopy (1940)
Commemorative
- Crater Wood on the far side of the moon is named after him
- Wood Award
See also
- Wood Lamp
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 SNAC - 2010.
- ↑ 1 2 Internet Speculative Fiction Database - 1995.
- ↑ Robert Williams Wood (American physicist) (English) / Encyclopedia Britannica
Literature
- Seabrook W. Robert Wood: The Modern Sorcerer of the Physical Laboratory: The Story of an American Boy Who Became the Most Impudent and Original Experimenter of Our Day, But Never Growed = William Seabrook. Doctor Wood: Modern wisard of the laboratory. NY / William Seabrook / Trans. from English V. S. Vavilova , ed. Acad. S. I. Vavilova . - Ed. 2nd. - M .: State. publishing house of physical and mathematical literature , 1960. - 324, [14] p. - 40,000 copies. (in trans., superobl.)
- Temples Yu. A. Wood Robert (Wood Robert) Williams // Physicists: Biographical Reference / Ed. A.I. Akhiezer . - Ed. 2nd, rev. and add. - M .: Nauka , 1983 .-- S. 69 .-- 400 p. - 200,000 copies. (per.)