Harrison Brown
Harrison Scott Brown | |
---|---|
Born | |
Thesis | Part I. The construction of a mass spectrometer for isotope analysis. Part II. Intermolecular forces in gases and thermal diffusion: the thermal diffusion coefficient of argon at low temperatures (1941) |
Doctoral advisor | Robert D. Fowler |
Doctoral students | Edward D. Goldberg Clair Cameron Patterson |
Other notable students | George Tilton |
Harrison Scott Brown (September 26, 1917 – December 8, 1986) was an American
During
After the war, he worked at the University of Chicago, where he pioneered
Manhattan Project
In 1942
Brown and some of his colleagues to the Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to work with the X-10 Graphite Reactor at Clinton Engineer Works,[1] where he became the assistant director of chemistry.[3] Working with the reactor there, they developed the separation processes for producing kilogram quantities of plutonium. The techniques discovered by the team proved to be the groundwork for those used at the Hanford Site which provided the plutonium for the Fat Man bomb dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.[1][4] Just four months later he completed Must Destruction Be Our Destiny? (1945), a book detailing the dangers of nuclear weapons. He gave 102 lectures to promote the book, donating the royalties from the book to an organisation that later became part of the Federation of American Scientists.[1]
Later life
In 1946, Brown returned to the University of Chicago to work as an assistant professor of chemistry in the Institute for Nuclear Studies. He was joined by some of his former colleagues from the Manhattan Project and together they became the first team to study
Between 1951 and 1977, Brown was professor of geochemistry at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).[1][5] While there he attracted several former colleagues and highly regarded scientists to the team. Together they made advancements in telescopic instrumentation, jet propulsion (contributing to NASA's early planetary exploration missions), and infrared astronomy.[1] In June 1954 he was one of twenty scientists under the age of forty identified by Fortune Magazine as "top young scientists in U. S. universities and industry".[6]
Brown was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1955 and was appointed as their foreign secretary in January 1962, a role that he would hold until 1974.[1] He was elected in 1959 a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,[7] in 1962 a fellow of the American Geophysical Union,[8] and in 1966 a member of the American Philosophical Society.[9] He demonstrated an interest in the scientific interactions between the United States and Eastern Europe.[10] Len Ackland noted that "Geochemistry and his travels in developing countries caused him to ponder the adequacy of the Earth's resources and the problems of development, hunger and population growth."[5] These were themes that he would expound on in his next three books: The Challenge of Man's Future (1954), The Next Hundred Years (1957) and The Human Future Revisited (1978).[11] He also wrote a science fiction novel, The Cassiopeia Affair with Chloe Zerwick. He divorced Adele and married Rudd Owen, who collaborated with him on his writings and social activism.[1] "Man has it within his power today," he said in 1976, "to create a world in which people the world over can lead free and abundant and even creative lives. I am convinced that we can create a world which will pale the Golden Age of Pericles into nothingness."[3]
In the early 1970s, he began focusing more on the issues he had developed in his books, including working with a post-doctorate fellow, John P. Holdren, who later became President
In 1983, in failing health, Brown retired and moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico with his third wife, Theresa Tellez, his second marriage having also ended in divorce. He became a regular columnist and editor-in-chief of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.[3] In his last years, Brown battled lung cancer, the treatment for which had resulted in progressive paralysis through the irradiation of his spine.[1] He died in the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque on December 8, 1986.[5] He was survived by his third wife Theresa and his son Eric.[3]
Selected publications
- Must Destruction Be Our Destiny? (1945)
- The Challenge of Man's Future (1954)
- The Next Hundred Years (1957)
- The Cassiopeia Affair with Chloe Zerwick (1968)
- The Human Future Revisited (1978)
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Revelle, Roger (1994). "Harrison Brown 1917—1986 A Biographical Memoir" (PDF). National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
- ^ "Manhattan Project: Seaborg and Plutonium Chemistry, Met Lab, 1942–1944". Retrieved February 22, 2015.
- ^ a b c d Walter, Sullivan (December 9, 1986). "Harrison Brown is Dead: Saw Peril in Atom Bomb he Helped to Develop". The New York Times. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
- ^ "Harrison Scott Brown, US geochemist". Science Photo Library. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
- ^ a b c d Heise, Kenan (December 9, 1986). "Harrison Brown, 69 – Helped Develop A-bomb". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
- ^ "Young Scientists" (PDF). The Month at Caltech. June 1954. p. 23.
- ^ "Harrison Scott Brown". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
- ^ "Union Fellows, search". American Geophysical Union.
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
- ISBN 978-1286264676.
- ^ Folkart, Burt A. (December 11, 1986). "Harrison Brown, Atomic Scientist, Dies". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
External links
- "Harrison Scott Brown". Chemistry Tree. Retrieved February 22, 2015.