#scientistsaturday

Science and Scientists Throughout History

It is easy enough to look through the records of history and pinpoint famous scientists who have made incredible contributions to the field of materials science and engineering. One can come up with a list of the top 100 most cited materials scientists published since January 2000, or generate a list of the top 100 moments in materials science history, or even just look up all the materials scientists important enough to have a Wikipedia page. None of these methods are comprehensive but none of them are inherently wrong if one is looking to celebrate scientific achievement through the ages. I used the list of top 100 moments to come up with many of the scientists (though not all) that I posted about on this blog over the past year.

However, it is important to acknowledge that science is - like life - a collaborative effort. Scientists build on the knowledge of those who come before them and publish to share their own discoveries with those who will come after. No one scientist ever accomplished any task alone.

Image source.

Constance Tipper (16 February 1894 – 14 December 1995)

An English metallurgist, Constance Tipper (born Constance Fligg Elam) studied engineering at Newnham College in Cambridge in 1912. She would go on to hold a number of positions at various laboratories in the UK. By 1949 she had gained a position at Cambridge University, becoming the only full-time female faculty member in engineering. Tipper's research focus was primarily on the strength of metals and she is most well known for her work establishing existence of the ductile to brittle transition temperature in steels in the 1940s. The Tipper test is still used today to determine the brittleness of steels. She is also noted as the first person to study metal fracture surfaces using scanning electron microscopy.

James Andrew Harris (26 March 1932 – 12 December 2000)

An American chemist, James Andrew Harris was born in the state of Texas before moving to California at a young age and remaining there for much of the rest of his life. He obtained his bachelor's degree in chemistry from Huston-Tillotson College in Texas and his master's in public administration from California State University. Harris is most well known for his work as the head of the Heavy Isotopes Production Group at the University of California, Berkeley. There, Harris was involved in the discovery of two elements, rutherfordium and dubnium, and is often credited as the first African American to contribute to the discovery of new elements. Personally, Harris was responsible for designing and purifying the targets used in the lab and was praised by his colleagues for his work.

Niels Henrik David Bohr (7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962)

A Danish physicist, Niels Henrik David Bohr is perhaps most well known for his work on the structure of the atom and the resulting Bohr model. Bohr built off of Ernest Rutherford's previous atomic model, proposing that electrons orbited the nucleus at discrete energy levels and were able to jump between levels with the addition or expulsion of energy. Although more accurate models exist today, the Bohr model remains a useful tool for understanding atomic structure. Bohr was eventually awarded the 1922 Nobel prize in physics for his work. He also predicted the existence of hafnium (named for Copenhagen) and worked extensively in the field of quantum mechanics.

Though he spent most of his life in Denmark, Bohr and his family were forced to flee the country when the Nazis took over during World War II as his mother was Jewish. As a result, he spent the final years of the war in Britain and the United States, working on the Manhattan project and was an early proponent of international cooperation regarding nuclear weapons and nuclear power.

Element 107, bohrium, is named in his honor.

André Guinier (1 August 1911 – 3 July 2000)

A French scientist, André Guinier lived, was educated, and worked in the country of his birth. His initial degrees were in the field of physics, followed by a doctorate thesis on X-ray crystallography. His work on this latter topic is perhaps one of the things he is most well known for, including the development of small-angle X-ray scattering. In the field of metallurgy, however, he is also well known for his work on age- and precipitation-hardening of alloys, specifically aluminum-copper alloys. He shares credit with G.D. Preston (who independently researched the same phenomena) for these observations and the Guinier–Preston zone is named in honor of both of them.

Wallace Hume Carothers (27 April 1896 – 29 April 1937)

An American chemist and inventor, Wallace Hume Carothers grew up in the state of Iowa before gaining his first degree in chemistry in Missouri, including working as an instructor even before his graduation. He worked for a number of universities during and after obtaining further degrees before moving to work for DuPont in 1927. Carothers spent his time at DuPont working on polymer science and is perhaps most well known for being largely credited with the discovery of nylon. He holds the patent for this polymer alongside Julian Hill and other researchers for this laboratory. In addition, Carothers was also instrumental in the development/invention of neoprene.

Stephanie Louise Kwolek (31 July 1923 – 18 June 2014)

An American chemist, Stephanie Louise Kwolek grew up in the state of Pennsylvania and obtained her degree from Carnegie Mellon University before beginning her career at DuPont in 1946, where she would remain until her retirement in 1986. Kwolek is most famous for her invention of the polymer Kevlar. Kevlar is a high-strength, heat-resistant, low-weight material that can withstand impacts particularly well and the invention has been used in everything from tires to body armor to airplanes.

John Bardeen (23 May 1908 – 30 January 1991), Walter Houser Brattain (10 February 1902 – 13 October 1987), and William Bradford Shockley Jr. (13 February 1910 – 12 August 1989)

American physicists, John Bardeen, Walter Houser Brattain, and William Bradford Shockley Jr. were colleagues together in the 1940s at Bell Labs. Their work, together, led to the invention of the transistor, a crucial element for nearly all modern electronics and computing technology. The relationships between Bardeen, Brattain, and Shockley, however, was not a cordial one. Though Bell Labs gave all three credit for the invention, Shockley was known to proclaim most of the effort was his. Shockley also became known as a racist and eugenicist later in life, alienating his former and current colleagues even further. Due to Shockley's attitudes, both Bardeen and Brattain left Bell Labs shortly after the transistor was invented and moved on to other things.

All three men shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in physics for their invention. Bardeen would go on to become the only man to win two Nobel Prizes in the field, awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1972 for his work on superconductivity with Leon N. Cooper and John Robert Schrieffer. The BCS theory is named for these three men.