William Duane (physicist)

William Duane
Born (1872-02-17)February 17, 1872
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died March 7, 1935(1935-03-07) (aged 63)
Devon, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Nationality United States
Alma mater Berlin University
Known for Duane-Hunt law
Duane's hypothesis
Awards Comstock Prize in Physics (1923)
Scientific career
Fields Physics
Institutions Harvard University
Doctoral advisor Walther Nernst
Influences Madame Curie
Influenced Alfred Landé

William Duane (February 17, 1872 March 7, 1935) was an American physicist. A coworker of Marie Curie, he developed a method for generating quantities of radon in the laboratory.

Biography

Display about Duane at the University of Colorado Boulder

Studies

  • 1888-1892 University of Pennsylvania
  • 1892-1895 Harvard University
  • 1895 Universities of Göttingen (as a Tyndall Fellow)
  • 1895-1897 Berlin

doctor father: Max Planck

Academic career

  • 1898-1907 professor at the University of Colorado Boulder
  • 1908-1913 at the laboratory of Pierre and Marie Curie in Paris
  • 1913-1917 assistant professor of physics at Harvard University
  • 1917-1934 professor of biophysics at Harvard University

Research activities

  • Radioactivity
  • X-ray spectroscopy, Duane-Hunt law, relating the minimum wavelength of X-rays to the threshold voltage of the cathode rays that excite them; and Duane's hypothesis of quantized translative momentum transfer.

Death

Starting in 1925, Duane began suffering a continual decline in health brought on by diabetes. This culminated in his death on 7 March 1935 due to his second paralytic stroke.

Honours and awards

The physics department building in the University of Colorado Boulder is named after him. In 1923 Duane was awarded the Comstock Prize in Physics from the National Academy of Sciences.[1]

References

  1. "Comstock Prize in Physics". National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
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