Charles Lauritsen

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Charles Lauritsen
Born
Charles Christian Lauritsen

April 4, 1892
Holstebro, Denmark
Died13 April 1968 (1968-04-14) (aged 76)
NationalityDenmark
USA
Alma materOdense Tekniske Skole
Caltech
Known forX-ray therapy, nuclear physics
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics
InstitutionsCaltech
Doctoral advisorRobert A. Millikan
Doctoral studentsH. Richard Crane
William A. Fowler

Charles Christian Lauritsen (April 4, 1892 – April 13, 1968) was a Danish-American physicist.[1]

Early life and career

Lauritsen was born in

St. Louis
where he was chief engineer at the Kennedy Corporation, a producer of consumer radio receivers.

In 1926, Lauritsen attended a public lecture by

Ph.D.
, and, in 1930, he joined the physics department faculty. He spent the remainder of his academic career as professor of physics at this institution, finally retiring in 1962.

In 1928, he and Ralph D. Bennett developed X-ray tubes of exceptionally high voltage. These tubes were then used for radiation therapy of cancer patients in the Kellogg Radiation Laboratory, built as a treatment clinic in 1931. Sigrid Lauritsen, who was one of the first female graduates of the University of Southern California medical school, worked in the clinic as a radiologist.

In 1932, he converted one of his X-ray tubes into an accelerator of protons and helium ions and began to study nuclear reactions. In 1934, Lauritsen and H. Richard Crane used a sample of recently discovered deuterium, obtained from G.N. Lewis at Berkeley, to generate neutrons with which they made the first accelerator-produced artificial radioactivity. He later measured the radiation produced when a positron and an electron annihilate each other. One of his most significant discoveries was to show that protons could be captured by a carbon nucleus, releasing gamma rays. This radiative capture process was applied to the study of the nuclear processes at the heart of a star, and the production of the heavier elements. In 1939, the laboratory ceased to do medical therapy and concentrated on nuclear physics. (Lauritsen was director of the laboratory from its inception until he retired in 1962.)

In 1937, he invented a radiation detector called the Lauritsen electroscope, widely used as

quartz fiber radiation dosimeters
.

Weapons development

In 1940, more than a year before the U.S. entered

atomic bomb, including development of the "pumpkin bomb", a high explosive copy of the Fat Man
bomb.

He continued his weapons work in the years following the war, and much of his work was classified. Among the projects in which he participated were

Inchon landings
observing and evaluating American weaponry for the Defense Department. He served as an adviser to the U.S. government and as a member of many committees and other groups.

After a lengthy struggle with cancer, he died on April 13, 1968, aged 76.[where?]

Awards and honors

References

  1. doi:10.1063/1.3034996
    .
  2. ^ "Charles Lauritsen". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  3. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved January 25, 2023.

Sources

  • William A. Fowler, "Charles Christian Lauritsen", 1969, in NAS Biographical Memoirs
  • Charles H. Holbrow, "Charles C. Lauritsen: A Reasonable Man in an Unreasonable World", Physics in Perspective, vol. 5, 419-472, 2003.
  • Knud Jakobsen, "Danskeren bag bomben" 2013 (in Danish, catalog entry)

External links

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