John G. Trump

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Signature of John G. Trump

John George Trump (* 21st August 1907 in Woodhaven, Queens , New York City ; † 21st February 1985 in Cambridge , Massachusetts ) was an US -American electrical engineer and physicist . He made a significant contribution to reducing the side effects of radiation therapy for cancer .

One of his nephews is Donald Trump , the current US President.

Origin and education

John Trump was born in Queens , New York City , in 1907 , the youngest of three children. His parents Frederick Trump and Elizabeth Christ Trump had emigrated to the United States from Kallstadt in the Palatinate . His father fell victim to the Spanish flu in 1918 but left a fortune that included some vacant lots in Queens.

His mother and older brother Fred began building and selling houses as part of Elizabeth Christ & Son , a forerunner of the Trump Organization . After graduating from high school, John began studying architecture and designed some houses. The hoped-for collaboration with his brother turned out to be difficult, however, because Fred, an ambitious entrepreneur, had no understanding of John's more aesthetic goals. Since Fred prevailed again and again, John dropped out after a year and took a different career.

In 1929 he earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn , in 1931 a master's in physics from Columbia University, and in 1933 a Doctor of Science in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

He was married to Elora Gordon Trump, b. Sauerbrun, a church organist from Queens also of German descent. He had three children with her.

Career

After receiving his doctorate in 1933, Trump became an assistant at MIT, an assistant professor in 1936 and finally a professor in 1952. There he worked with Robert Jemison Van de Graaff in the new field of generating and using extra- high electrical voltages . His main interests were the isolation of high voltages in vacuum and compressed gases and the biological application of high voltage radiation. This included cancer treatment with X-rays and electron beams , the preservation of food with electron beams and the treatment of sewage and sewage sludge with electron beams.

In 1937 he built the first megavolt generator, which was used in cancer therapy at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, California . Because the X-rays generated could penetrate deeper into the body than with previous devices, the new generator allowed the treatment of deeper-lying tumors with greatly reduced damage to adjacent tissue, because the radiation dose could be significantly reduced. He then built two even more powerful generators with 1.25 and 1.75 MV in Massachusetts General Hospital and in Philadelphia . The latter, however, was drafted by the army for the Manhattan Project .

In World War II he interrupted his research and worked at the MIT Radiation Lab in the field of microwave - radar . At first he headed the field service there; Later, however, he was transferred to the British branch of the Radiation Lab and took over its management in 1944. In this role he worked directly with General Dwight D. Eisenhower's military command . When Paris was liberated , he drove into the city with Eisenhower in order to immediately set up another branch there. In this context, he was awarded the Presidential Citation and the King's Medal for Service in the Cause of Freedom .

After the Radiation Lab was dissolved in 1946, Trump turned back to high-voltage research and together with Van de Graaff founded the High Voltage Engineering Company , which developed and produced Van-de-Graaff generators . Most significant during this period were his contributions to improving radiation therapy , particularly in terms of reducing side effects . For deep-seated tumors, his team at MIT developed the method of rotating the patient 360 ° around the location of the tumor during the irradiation, whereby the X-ray beam remains fixed on the tumor, but the healthy tissue in between is no longer massively damaged in one place. rather, the damage is spread over a much larger area. In addition, he started a long-term research project on the preservation of food with high-voltage radiation and investigations into the effect of this radiation on bacteria and viruses.

As early as 1940 Trump and Van de Graaff had proposed using electron beams instead of the usual X-rays to treat superficial tumors. While X-rays unfold their effect quite evenly along the line on which they penetrate the body, electron beams work almost exclusively in a narrowly limited area. Therefore, they are particularly suitable for irradiating superficial tumors with minimal damage to the underlying tissue. This method was first clinically tested in 1951 and quickly established itself as the standard.

In 1973 Trump retired, but continued his research until 1980. His last major projects dealt with the use of electron beams to treat wastewater. Trump calculated that a 2 MV generator would be comparable in cost to the conventional method of chlorination , and argued that electron beams could also destroy viruses and convert toxic chemicals into less toxic ones. With his participation, a corresponding plant was built near Boston ( Deer Island in Boston Harbor ) and one near Miami .

John Trump died on February 21, 1985 after a long illness.

Awards

In 1938 Trump became a Fellow of the American Physical Society . In 1950 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 1977 to the National Academy of Engineering . In 1983 he was awarded the National Medal of Science .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gwenda Blair : The Trumps. Three Generations of Builders and a Presidential Candidate . Simon & Schuster , New York 2015.
  2. ↑ Gwenda Blair : The Trumps. Three Generations of Builders and a Presidential Candidate . Simon & Schuster , New York 2015. p. 122.
  3. ↑ Louis Smullin: John George Trump 1907-1985 In: Memorial Tributes: National Academy of Engineering , Volume 3 (1989), p. 333.
  4. ↑ Gwenda Blair : The Trumps. Three Generations of Builders and a Presidential Candidate . Simon & Schuster , New York 2015. p. 148.
  5. ↑ Louis Smullin: John George Trump 1907-1985 In: Memorial Tributes: National Academy of Engineering , Volume 3 (1989), pp. 333f.
  6. ↑ Louis Smullin: John George Trump 1907-1985 In: Memorial Tributes: National Academy of Engineering , Volume 3 (1989), p. 334.
  7. ↑ Louis Smullin: John George Trump 1907-1985 In: Memorial Tributes: National Academy of Engineering , Volume 3 (1989), pp. 334f.
  8. ↑ Louis Smullin: John George Trump 1907-1985 In: Memorial Tributes: National Academy of Engineering , Volume 3 (1989), p. 335.
  9. ↑ a b John Trump dies; engineer was 78. In: New York Times, February 26, 1985.
  10. ↑ a b Louis Smullin: John George Trump 1907-1985 In: Memorial Tributes: National Academy of Engineering , Volume 3 (1989) 336th
  11. ↑ Louis Smullin: John George Trump 1907-1985 In: Memorial Tributes: National Academy of Engineering , Volume 3 (1989), p. 333.
personal data
SURNAME Trump, John G.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Trump, John George (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American electrical engineer and physicist
DATE OF BIRTH August 21, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Woodhaven, Queens , New York City
DATE OF DEATH February 21, 1985
Place of death Cambridge , Massachusetts