Lawrence, Ernest Orlando

Lawrence, Ernest Orlando

▪ American physicist

born Aug. 8, 1901, Canton, S.D., U.S.
died Aug. 27, 1958, Palo Alto, Calif.
 American physicist, winner of the 1939 Nobel Prize for Physics for his invention of the cyclotron, the first particle accelerator to achieve high energies.

      Lawrence earned his Ph.D. at Yale University in 1925. An assistant professor of physics at Yale (1927–28), he went to the University of California, Berkeley, as an associate professor and became full professor there in 1930.

      Lawrence first conceived the idea for the cyclotron in 1929. One of his students, M. Stanley Livingston, undertook the project and succeeded in building a device that accelerated hydrogen ions (protons) to an energy of 13,000 electron volts (eV). Lawrence then set out to build a second cyclotron; when completed, it accelerated protons to 1,200,000 eV, enough energy to cause nuclear disintegration. To continue the program, Lawrence built the Radiation Laboratory at Berkeley in 1936 and was made its director.

      One of Lawrence's cyclotrons produced technetium, the first element that does not occur in nature to be made artificially. His basic design was utilized in developing other particle accelerators (particle accelerator), which have been largely responsible for the great advances made in the field of particle physics. With the cyclotron, he produced radioactive phosphorus and other isotopes for medical use, including radioactive iodine for the first therapeutic treatment of hyperthyroidism. In addition, he instituted the use of neutron beams in treating cancer.

      During World War II he worked with the Manhattan Project as a program chief in charge of the development of the electromagnetic process of separating uranium-235 for the atomic bomb. In 1957 he received the Fermi Award from the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. Besides his work in nuclear physics, Lawrence invented and patented a colour-television picture tube. In his honour were named Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory at Berkeley; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory at Livermore, Calif.; and element 103, lawrencium.

Additional Reading
Herbert Childs, An American Genius (1968), is a biography for the general reader based on more than 800 interviews with Lawrence's family, friends, and colleagues. Nuel Pharr Davis, Lawrence and Oppenheimer (1968), traces the changing relationship between Lawrence and fellow physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. J.L. Heilbron and Robert W. Seidel, Lawrence and His Laboratory: A History of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, vol. 1 (1989), is a major study.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Lawrence,Ernest Orlando — Lawrence, Ernest Orlando. 1901 1958. American physicist. He won a 1939 Nobel Prize for the development of the cyclotron. * * * …   Universalium

  • Lawrence , Ernest Orlando — (1901–1958) American physicist Lawrence was the son of a superintendent of public schools in Canton, South Dakota. He was educated at the universities of South Dakota, Minnesota, Chicago, and Yale (where he obtained his PhD in 1925). He taught at …   Scientists

  • Lawrence, Ernest Orlando — ► (1901 58) Físico estadounidense. Fue premio Nobel de Física en 1939, por el perfeccionamiento del ciclotrón …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Ernest Orlando Lawrence — Ernest Lawrence, 1939 Ernest Orlando Lawrence (* 8. August 1901 in Canton/South Dakota; † 27. August 1958 in Palo Alto, Kalifornien) war ein US amerikanischer Atomphysiker und Nobelpreisträger. Inhaltsverzeichni …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award — The Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award was established in 1959 in honor of a scientist who helped elevate American physics to world leadership.E. O. Lawrence was the inventor of the cyclotron, an accelerator of subatomic particles, and a 1939 Nobel… …   Wikipedia

  • Ernest Orlando Lawrence — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Lawrence. Ernest O. Lawrence Naissance 8 aout 1901 Canton (Dakota du Sud) (USA) …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award — Der Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award wurde 1959 zu Ehren von Ernest Lawrence, dem Erfinder des Zyklotrons und Nobelpreisträger, unmittelbar nach dessen Tod vom US amerikanischen Energieministerium gestiftet. Er ist mit 50.000 Dollar dotiert und… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Ernest-Orlando-Lawrence-Preis — Der Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award wurde 1959 zu Ehren von Ernest Lawrence, dem Erfinder des Zyklotrons und Nobelpreisträger, unmittelbar nach dessen Tod vom US amerikanischen Energieministerium gestiftet. Er ist mit 50.000 Dollar dotiert und… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory — Das LBNL liegt auf einem Hügel über dem Campus der UCB mit Blick auf die San Francisco Bay. Das Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL, früher auch Berkeley Radiation Laboratory; übliche Abkürzung Berkeley Lab oder LBL) ist… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Ernest Orlando Lawrence — noun United States physicist who developed the cyclotron (1901 1958) • Syn: ↑Lawrence, ↑E. O. Lawrence • Instance Hypernyms: ↑nuclear physicist …   Useful english dictionary

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