John Hasbrouck Van Vleck

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John Hasbrouck Van Vleck
John Hasbrouck Van Vleck, 1974
Born(1899-03-13)March 13, 1899
Middletown, Connecticut, US
DiedOctober 27, 1980(1980-10-27) (aged 81)
Cambridge, Massachusetts, US
Alma materUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison
Harvard University
Known forCrystal field theory
Van Vleck paramagnetism
Van Vleck transformations
Van Vleck formula (propagator)
Spouse
Abigail Pearson
​
(m. 1927)​
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics
InstitutionsUniversity of Minnesota
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Harvard University
University of Oxford
Balliol College, Oxford
Doctoral advisorEdwin C. Kemble
Doctoral students
Other notable studentsJohn Bardeen[2]

John Hasbrouck Van Vleck (March 13, 1899 – October 27, 1980) was an American physicist and mathematician. He was co-awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1977, for his contributions to the understanding of the behavior of electronic magnetism in solids.

Education and early life

Van Vleck was born to mathematician Edward Burr Van Vleck and Hester L. Raymond in Middletown, Connecticut, while his father was an assistant professor at Wesleyan University, and where his grandfather, astronomer John Monroe Van Vleck, was also a professor. He grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, and received an A.B. degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1920, before earning his Ph.D. at Harvard University in 1922 under the supervision of Edwin C. Kemble.[3][4]

Career and research

He joined the

Honoris Causa, degree from Wesleyan University in 1936.[5]

J. H. Van Vleck established the fundamentals of the

metal complexes). He is regarded as the Father of Modern Magnetism.[6][7][8]

During

molecules.[9][10][11][12]
This was to have important consequences not just for military (and civil)
radioastronomy
.

Hendrik Brugt Gerhard Casimir at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
, Amsterdam.

J. H. Van Vleck participated in the

atomic bomb design.[13][14][15]

J. H. Van Vleck's theoretical work led to the establishment of the

Harvard; and Richard C. Tolman, Vice Chairman of NDRC. The committee's important contribution (originating with Rose) was a reduction in the size of the firing gun for the Little Boy atomic bomb, a concept that eliminated additional design weight and sped up production of the bomb for its eventual release over Hiroshima. However, it was not employed for the Fat Man bomb at Nagasaki, which relied on implosion of a plutonium shell to reach critical mass.[16][17]

The philosopher and historian of science Thomas Kuhn completed a Ph.D. in physics under Van Vleck's supervision at Harvard.[18]

From 1951, Van Vleck was Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Harvard. He concurrently held the first deanship of Harvard's Division of Engineering and Applied Physics until 1957.[19]

In 1961/62 he was

professorship at Balliol College.[21]

In 1950 he became foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.[22] He was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1966[23] and the Lorentz Medal in 1974.[24] For his contributions to the understanding of the behavior of

Nevill Mott.[25] Van Vleck transformations, Van Vleck paramagnetism and Van Vleck formula[26]
are named after him.

Van Vleck died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, aged 81.[27]

Awards and honors

Van Vleck was elected to the

Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1967.[1] He was awarded the Elliott Cresson Medal in 1971, the Lorentz Medal in 1974 and the Nobel Prize in Physics
in 1977.

Personal life

J. H. Van Vleck met Abigail Pearson, a student at University of Minnesota, during his professorship there, and married her on June 10, 1927.[5] He and his wife Abigail were also important art collectors, particularly in the medium of Japanese woodblock prints (principally Ukiyo-e), known as Van Vleck Collection. It was inherited from his father Edward Burr Van Vleck. They donated the collection to the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison, Wisconsin in 1980s.[31]

Publications

References

  1. ^
    JSTOR 769913
    .
  2. S2CID 121788084
    .
  3. ^ "John H. van Vleck Biographical".
  4. ^ "NAS Biography of E.B. Van Vleck" (PDF).
  5. ^ a b John Hasbrouck Van Vleck on Nobelprize.org Edit this at Wikidata including the Nobel Lecture, December 8, 1977 Quantum Mechanics The Key to Understanding Magnetism
  6. ^ John H. van Vleck, International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science.
  7. ^ On the verge of Umdeutung in Minnesota: Van Vleck and the correspondence principle. Part One Archived 2009-05-20 at the Wayback Machine, Anthony Duncan, Michel Janssen; Elsevier Science, 8 May 2007.
  8. ^ On the verge of Umdeutung in Minnesota: Van Vleck and the correspondence principle. Part Two Archived 2009-05-20 at the Wayback Machine, Anthony Duncan, Michel Janssen; Elsevier Science, 8 May 2007.
  9. NORMAN F. RAMSEY
    : An Interview Conducted by John Bryant, IEEE History Center, 20 June 1991.
  10. ^ Oral History Transcript Archived 2015-01-12 at the Wayback Machine, Interview with John H. Van Vleck by Katherine Sopka at Lyman Laboratory of Physics, 28 January 1977.
  11. ISBN 0750306599
    , pp. 442, 521.
  12. doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.17.227. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 2011-07-15.
  13. ^ New Weapons Laboratory Gives Birth to the "Gadget", 50th Anniversary Article, Los Alamos National Laboratory.
  14. ^ Berkeley Summer Study Group Archived 2012-02-21 at the Wayback Machine, The Atomic Heritage Foundation.
  15. ^ Atomic History Timeline 1900– 1942 Archived 2012-02-21 at the Wayback Machine, The Atomic Heritage Foundation.
  16. ^ "Oversight Committee Formed as Lab Begins Research – 50th Anniversary Article, Los Alamos National Laboratory".
  17. Leslie R. Groves
    , Lieutenant General, U.S. Army, Retired; Now It Can Be Told, Harper, 1962, pp. 162–63.
  18. ISBN 9780226457987
    .
  19. ^ "Van Vleck Dies at 81". Harvard Crimson. October 28, 1980. Retrieved July 23, 2023.
  20. ^ Nobel Laureates Archived 2013-10-20 at the Wayback Machine, University of Oxford.
  21. ^ Inspiring minds: the Eastman Professors, Floreat Domus, Balliol College News, Issue 12, June 2006.
  22. ^ "John Hasbrouck van Vleck (1899–1980)". Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  23. ^ "The President's National Medal of Science: Recipient Details". National Science Foundation.
  24. ^ "The Lorentz medal". Lorentz.leidenuniv.nl. Retrieved 2012-07-27.
  25. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Physics 1977". Nobelprize.org. Retrieved 2012-07-27.
  26. OCLC 883391909.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  27. ^ "John Van Vleck, Nobel Laureate Known for Work on Magnetism; Earned Three Degree". The New York Times. October 28, 1980. p. A32.
  28. ^ "John Hasbrouck Van Vleck". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. 9 February 2023. Retrieved 2023-05-10.
  29. ^ "J. H. Van Vleck". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 2023-05-10.
  30. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2023-05-10.
  31. ^ E. B. Van Vleck Collection Archived 2008-10-06 at the Wayback Machine, Chazen Museum of Art

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Hasbrouck Van Vleck.
Wikiquote has quotations related to John Hasbrouck Van Vleck.

Oral histories

Archival collections

Academic offices
Preceded by
Hollis Chair of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy

1951–1969 		Succeeded by
Andrew Gleason
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