Edgar Bright Wilson
Edgar Bright Wilson Jr. , called Bright Wilson , (born December 18, 1908 in Gallatin , Tennessee , † July 12, 1992 in Cambridge , Massachusetts ) was an American chemist.
Life
Wilson grew up in Yonkers , New York , and was a radio amateur and radio hobbyist in his youth . Reading a thermodynamics textbook started a career as a scientist. He studied at Princeton University (1930 bachelor's degree and 1931 master's degree) and from 1931 at Caltech , where he received his doctorate under Linus Pauling in 1933 and then did research for a year as a post-doctoral student. From 1934 he was one of the first Junior Fellows at Harvard University , where he became Assistant Professor in 1936. In 1939 he became Associate Professor, in 1946 Professor and stayed there for the rest of his career, most recently as Theodore William Richards Professor. From 1979 he was Professor Emeritus.
During World War II he was director of research at the Woods Hole Underwater Explosion Laboratory.
Wilson was a pioneer in the theoretical analysis of molecular spectra and their derivation from quantum mechanics, particularly with the application of group theory . He developed the GF method to represent the Hamilton function in the internal degrees of freedom of a polyatomic molecule using normal coordinates (shown in his textbook from 1955 on molecular vibrations). He was also a pioneer in the application of microwave spectroscopy, based on the development of radar in World War II, to the elucidation of molecular structures and their degrees of freedom of rotation, both experimentally and theoretically. He and Pauling wrote a textbook on quantum mechanics, which was long the standard work for chemists in the USA.
In 1939 he became a Fellow of the American Physical Society . In 1944 Wilson was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , in 1946 to the American Philosophical Society, and in 1947 to the National Academy of Sciences . In 1975 he received the National Medal of Science , 1976 the Antonio Feltrinelli Prize , 1982 the Elliott Cresson Medal and 1978 the Welch Award in Chemistry . In 1979 he received the Willard Gibbs Award , in 1973 the Rumford Medal and in 1937 the American Chemical Society Award in Pure Chemistry . In 1949 and 1970 he was a Guggenheim Fellow .
He was married to Emily Buckingham since 1935, who died in 1954. With her he had two sons and a daughter. His second marriage was to the photochemist Therese Wilson. He is the father of the Nobel laureate in physics Kenneth Wilson . Dudley Herschbach and Robert Karplus are among his around 150 doctoral students .
Honors
The E. Bright Wilson Award in Spectroscopy of the American Chemical Society, which has been presented in 1997, is named in his honor.
Works (selection)
- Single issues
- with Linus Pauling : Introduction to quantum mechanics. With applications in chemistry . Dover Publ., New York 1985, ISBN 0-486-64871-0 (reprint of the New York 1935 edition)
- Introduction to scientific research . Dover Publ., New York 1990, ISBN 0-486-66545-3 (reprint of New York 1952 edition).
- with John C. Decius, Paul C. Cross: Molecular Vibrations. The theory of Infrared and Raman vibrational spectra . Dover Publ., New York 1980, ISBN 0-486-63941-X (reprint of New York 1955 edition).
- Work edition
- Dudley R. Herschbach (Ed.): Molecular symmetry, structure, spectra and selected papers of E. Bright Wilson . World Scientific Press, Singapore 1997, ISBN 978-981-02-1774-7 .
literature
- Roy Gordon, Dudley R. Herschbach , William Klemperer , Frank Westheimer : Obituary . In: American Philosophical Society : Proceedings , Vol. 130 (1995).
Web links
- A. Peter Cox: Obituary - Professor E. Bright Wilson . In: The Independent of July 22, 1992.
Footnotes
- ^ Gilbert Newton Lewis , Merle Randall: Thermodynamics and the free energy of chemical substances ("Thermodynamics and the free energy of chemical substances"). Springer, Vienna 1927.
- ↑ Book of Members 1780 – present, Chapter W. (PDF; 852 kB) In: American Academy of Arts and Sciences (amacad.org). Retrieved February 10, 2018 .
- ^ Member History: Edgar Bright Wilson. American Philosophical Society, accessed November 17, 2018 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wilson, Edgar Bright |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Wilson, Edgar Bright Junior (full name); Wilson, Bright |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American chemist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 18, 1908 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Gallatin , Tennessee |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 12, 1992 |
| Place of death | Cambridge , Massachusetts |