Kenneth M. Watson

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Kenneth M. Watson
Born(1921-09-07)September 7, 1921
San Diego, California, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Alma materIowa State University
University of Iowa
Known forWatson-Lepore renormalization coupling constant[2]
AwardsMarquis Lifetime Achievement Award[1]
Scientific career
Fieldstheoretical physics;
oceanography
InstitutionsUniversity of California, Berkeley
University of California, San Diego
Doctoral advisorJosef-Maria Jauch
Doctoral studentsErnest M. Henley
Shang-keng Ma

Kenneth Marshall Watson (September 7, 1921 – August 18, 2023) was an American theoretical physicist and physical oceanographer.[3]

Life and career

Watson graduated in 1943 with BS in electrical engineering from

Marine Physical Laboratory, Scripps Institute of Oceanography, as well as a professor of physical oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. In 1991 he retired as professor emeritus.[4] His doctoral students include Shang-keng Ma.[6]

Watson was an advisor to various United States organizations associated with the

Marvin L. Goldberger, Keith Brueckner, and Murray Gell-Mann to join John A. Wheeler, Charles H. Townes, and others in forming the JASON group of government advisors. Watson remained in JASON until 1998. In 1971 he, with four others, formed the company Physical Dynamics, Inc. and then remained on the board of directors until 1981.[5]

Watson did research in the early 1950s on nuclear and

plasma physics
and controlled nuclear fusion.[5]

To quote Watson:

In the mid-1960s I began a series of investigations, in collaboration with M. L. Goldberger of the observation of “entangled” quantum mechanical systems. We were concerned with sequential measurements and interference effects for correlated systems.[5]

Watson did research in the early 1970s on atomic and molecular scattering and in the late 1970s on fluid mechanics related to oceanography. He worked in the early 1980s on applying methods of statistical mechanics to internal wave turbulence and in the early 1990s on analyzing the coupling of surface and internal gravity waves.[5]

To quote Watson:

In the mid 1990s my interest in nonlinear classical mechanics and ocean surface waves led to a study of capillary waves (few centimeter wavelengths) interacting with longer waves (10 cm to a meter wavelengths).[5]

Ocean surface wave dynamics can be formulated as nonlinear interactions among a set of harmonic oscillators. The Hamiltonian formulation of this is mathematically very similar to the equations of classical and quantum mechanical field theory that I had encountered at the beginning of my career. I developed a canonical transformation technique which greatly simplified numerical integration of the equations. Calculations of the “long wave effect” agreed with observations of the radar scattering.[5]

Personal life and death

Watson married in 1946 and had two sons.[5] His father was Louis Erwin Watson (1884–1957) and his mother was Irene Marshall Watson (born 1886 in Roanoke, Illinois).

Kenneth M. Watson died in

San Diego, California on August 18, 2023, at the age of 101.[7]

Selected publications

References

  1. ^ "Kenneth M. Watson Presented with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award by Marquis Who's Who". 24-7press-release.com. 16 August 2019.
  2. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.76.1157
    .
  3. ^ "Kenneth M. Watson". Member Directory, National Academy of Sciences.
  4. ^ a b "Kenneth M. Watson". American Institute of Physics.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h "Autobiographical Note: Kenneth M. Watson" (PDF). Science Library, University of California, San Diego. 8 January 2004.
  6. ISSN 0031-9228
    .
  7. ^ "Kenneth Watson Obituary". San Diego Union-Tribune.
  8. doi:10.1063/1.3051231
    .
  9. doi:10.1063/1.3047917
    .
  10. ^ "Brief Biography of John Nuttall". publish.uwo.ca. John Nuttall received his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge in 1961 with advisor Richard John Eden, OBE.
  11. doi:10.1126/science.160.3825.297-a
    .
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