Joseph Kaplan

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Joseph Kaplan (born September 8, 1902 as József Káplán in Tapolca , then Kingdom of Hungary ; † October 3, 1991 in Santa Monica , California ) was a Hungarian- American physicist ( geophysics ) at the University of California, Los Angeles .

He dealt with the spectra of diatomic molecules, in particular of nitrogen and oxygen and their compounds, in the uppermost layers of the earth's atmosphere . Kaplan is considered to be one of the founders of aeronomy .

Life

Kaplan came to the United States in 1910 with his parents and eleven siblings. After studying at Johns Hopkins University ( Bachelor in Chemistry in 1924, Ph.D. with Robert Williams Wood in Physics in 1927), he worked as a postdoctoral fellow with Karl Taylor Compton at Princeton University . In 1928 Kaplan was appointed assistant professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) , in 1935 he became an associate professor , and in 1940 he was given a full professorship. From 1939 to 1944 he was Chairman of the Department of Physics. 1946/47 Kaplan headed the Institute for Geophysics at UCLA. In 1970 he retired.

During the war Kaplan was involved in organizing the training of weather officers for the US Air Force . Even after the war he continued to work in an advisory capacity for the air force. Kaplan was involved in NASA's effort to launch a satellite into space. He was chairman of the US Committee for the International Geophysical Year 1957-1958 . Kaplan was active in the International Union for Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG), for whose Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy he was Vice President in 1954 and President in 1957. In 1960 he became Vice President, 1963 President of the IUGG. He was also a leader in establishing the International Hydrological Decade and the Global Atmospheric Research Program .

Kaplan was a Fellow of the American Physical Society and since 1954 a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science . In 1957 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences . Mount Kaplan in Antarctica has been named after him since 1962 . In 1970 Kaplan received the American Geophysical Union's John Adam Fleming Award . He has held honorary doctorates from Carleton College , the University of Notre Dame , Yeshiva University , the Hebrew Union College, and the University of Judaism .

Joseph Kaplan was first married to Katherine E. Feraud since 1933. After her death in 1977 he married Frances I. Baum in 1984, who survived him. He died of a heart attack in 1991.

literature

  • William W. Kellogg, Charles A. Barth: Joseph Kaplan 1902–1991 (PDF; 144 kB). In: Biographical Memoirs. National Academy of Sciences, 1988.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kaplan József. In: Veszprém megyei életrajzi lexikon. Retrieved August 20, 2019 (Hungarian).
  2. ^ Administration of the IUGG: Past Officers. In: iugg.org. International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics , accessed August 19, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Joseph Kaplan. In: nasonline.org. National Academy of Sciences , accessed August 19, 2019 .
  4. ^ Kaplan, Mount, Antarctica - Geographical Names, map, geographic coordinates. In: geographic.org. Geographical Names, accessed August 19, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Chaplain, Joseph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Káplán, József (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian-American physicist
DATE OF BIRTH September 8, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Tapolca , Hungary
DATE OF DEATH 3rd October 1991
Place of death Santa Monica , California