Bruce H. Billings

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Bruce H. Billings
BornJuly 6, 1915
DiedOctober 21, 1992 (1992-10-22) (aged 77)
Alma materHarvard University
Johns Hopkins University
AwardsAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences (1952)
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics

Bruce Hadley Billings (July 6, 1915 – October 21, 1992[1]) was an American physicist. He was president of the Optical Society of America in 1971.[2] and the Polaroid Corporation's chief physicist between 1941 and 1947.[3]

Billings was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy. He received his bachelor's degree in 1936 and his master's degree in 1937, both from Harvard University.[4] Billings obtained his Ph.D. in 1941 from Johns Hopkins University.[3] He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1952.[5]

In the 1950s and 1960s Billings was senior vice president for research at Baird-Atomic, Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he contributed to the development of analytical instrumentation for emission spectroscopy, dual-beam, recording infra-red absorption spectrometry, flame photometry, and investigated the potential of circular dichroism as the basis for instrumentation, a technology that Baird-Atomic, Inc. never commercialized.

Billings died in Long Beach, California, aged 77 from pancreatic cancer.[4]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Bruce H. Billings". Social Security Death Index. New England Historic Genealogical Society. Retrieved July 20, 2011.
  2. ^ "Past Presidents of the Optical Society of America". Retrieved 2009-02-22.
  3. ^ a b "Local Section News: Personalia: Dr. Bruce H. Billings" (PDF). Journal of the Optical Society of America. 46: 306. 1956. doi:10.1364/JOSA.46.000306.
  4. ^ a b "Bruce Billings, optics pioneer, Polaroid's chief physicist; at 77". The Boston Globe. 1992-10-31. Archived from the original on 2012-10-23. Retrieved 2009-02-22.
  5. ^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved July 20, 2011.

See also[edit]