John Newton Dodd
| John Newton Dodd | |
|---|---|
| Born |
19 April 1922 Hastings, New Zealand |
| Died |
20 May 2005 (aged 83) Dunedin, New Zealand |
| Residence | New Zealand |
| Alma mater | University of Birmingham |
| Awards | Hector Medal (1976) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Atomic spectroscopy, nuclear physics |
| Institutions | University of Otago |
| Thesis | Proton scattering experiments: a study of the elastic and inelastic scattering of protons from gold, aluminium, magnesium and carbon (1952) |
John Newton "Jack" Dodd (19 April 1922 – 20 May 2005) was a New Zealand physicist who worked in the field of atomic spectroscopy.
Born in Hastings in 1922,[1] [2] Dodd attended the University of Otago, graduating with an MSc with first-class honours in 1946.[3] After a PhD at the University of Birmingham, he returned to the University of Otago to take up a lectureship. He was awarded a professorial chair in 1965 and retired in 1988.[1]
While on leave in Oxford in 1959–1960, he worked with George Series who was applying techniques developed by Alfred Kastler's research group in Paris to demonstrate that radiation from a coherent superposition of excited states of atoms would display interference effects, known as quantum beats, and together they developed the theoretical explanation for the phenomenon [4][5]. His friendship with Series was long lasting, and it was Jack Dodd who edited a memorial Festschrift for George Series after his death in 1995[6].
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1964,[7], and was president of the society from 1989 to 1993. [8]. He won the society's Hector Medal, then the highest prize in New Zealand science, in 1976.[9]
The Dodd-Walls Centre for Quantum Technology, a New Zealand Centre of Research excellence based in the University of Otago, was named[2] after Jack Dodd and Dan Walls in recognition of their pioneering roles in establishing New Zealand's internationally recognised standing in Photonics, Quantum Optics and Ultra-Cold atoms.
Selected works
- Dodd, John N. (1991). Atoms and light: interactions. New York: Springer. ISBN 978-1-4757-9333-8.
References
- 1 2 Ballagh, Rob. "John Newton Dodd". Royal Society of New Zealand. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
- 1 2 "About Jack Dodd and Dan Walls". Retrieved 10 June 2018.
- ↑ "NZ university graduates 1870–1961: Da–Do". Retrieved 4 October 2014.
- ↑ Dodd, J N; Fox, W N; Series, G W; Taylor, M J (1959). "Light Beats as Indicators of Structure in Atomic Energy Levels". Proceedings of the Physical Society. 74: 789.
- ↑ Dodd, J N; Series, G W (1961). "Theory of Modulation of Light in a Double Resonance Experiment". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences. 263: 1314.
- ↑ Dodd, J N (1997). "Editorial". Physica Scripta. T70: 5.
- ↑ "The Academy: D–F". Royal Society of New Zealand. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
- ↑ https://royalsociety.org.nz/who-we-are/our-people/our-council/presidents
- ↑ "Hector Medal". Royal Society of New Zealand. Retrieved 4 October 2014.