Martin Lewis Perl
Aug 11, 2019 7:37:04 GMT
Post by Admin on Aug 11, 2019 7:37:04 GMT
Martin Lewis Perl, ingegnere chimico premio Nobel per la fisica.
Fonte : www.mediatheque.lindau-nobel.org/research-profile/laureate-perl
From Chemical Engineering to Physics
Martin L. Perl was born on June 24, 1927, in New York City to Jewish parents who had emigrated from the former Polish area of Russia around 1900. Growing up in a family that was striving to move into the middle class, Martin Perl was motivated to excel as a student in elementary and high school. Early in his life, Perl showed his talent for the sciences and decided to cultivate his natural inclination pursuing a career in a profession that could bring Perl financial stability. In 1939, driven by his interest in chemistry, Perl enrolled at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn to study chemical engineering.
After having interrupted his course of study to serve as an engineering cadet in the United States Merchant Marine during World War II, Perl earned his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering in 1948. His training at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn would prove to be crucial in Perl’s later work in experimental physics. It provided Perl with a deep knowledge of several aspects of experimental practices (e.g. the strength of materials, manufacturing processes, metallurgy, engineering drawings, etc.), which were not addressed in a traditional physics undergraduate curriculum.
Soon after graduation, Perl joined the General Electric Company. His main area of research concerned the production of electron tubes. Thanks to his involvement in this research, Perl discovered his interests in physics—a discovery that served as a turning point in Perl’s career. While Perl was taking courses in atomic physics and advanced calculus at Union College (Schenectady, NY) to better understand the properties of electron vacuum tubes, the professor of physics Vladimir Rojansky recognized that Perl was much more interested in physics than in chemistry and encouraged Perl to switch his career. In 1950, at the age of 23, Perl began pursuing his PhD studies in physics at Columbia University, under the supervision of the Nobel Laureate I. I. Rabi.
Training inAtomic Physics at Columbia
When Perl began the doctoral program, the Columbia physics department was one the World’s premier institutions for the training of would-be physicists. Rabi had been establishing an inclusive environment in which young experimental physicists could work productively together with senior physicists expert in novel experimental techniques as well as with talented theoretical physicists. The list of the physicists who made research at Columbia between the late 1940s and the early 1950s is impressive: Apart from Rabi, Perl had the opportunity to work with P. Kusch—who would be awarded the Physics Nobel Prize in 1955—and to meet several younger researchers who would become leading physicists in the following years, including T.D. Lee, M. Schwartz, L. Lederman, J. Steinberger, and many others. His PhD research project was aimed at measuring the quadrupole moment of the sodium nucleus by employing Rabi’s atomic beam resonance method—the procedure that had gained Rabi the Nobel Prize in 1944. During his doctoral research, Perl strived to acquire a deep expertise in the experimental techniques and the practices of instrumentation. Perl developed his particular style of approaching experimental science that he later called “mechanical view,” with a strong attention to the mechanical aspects of the experimental design. In addition, Perl benefited from Rabi’s teachings, which gave Perl a broader view of the role of the experimenters in physics. Rabi was a particular kind of experimental physicist, more concerned with the theoretical implications of experiments than with the skills necessary to actually manipulate the instruments. From Rabi, Perl learned the importance of being independent in choosing fundamental problems on which to work. Rabi also convinced Perl to focus on particle physics instead of atomic physics in his future plans, because Rabi thought that particle physics was becoming the most relevant research area in physics.
Martin L. Perl was born on June 24, 1927, in New York City to Jewish parents who had emigrated from the former Polish area of Russia around 1900. Growing up in a family that was striving to move into the middle class, Martin Perl was motivated to excel as a student in elementary and high school. Early in his life, Perl showed his talent for the sciences and decided to cultivate his natural inclination pursuing a career in a profession that could bring Perl financial stability. In 1939, driven by his interest in chemistry, Perl enrolled at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn to study chemical engineering.
After having interrupted his course of study to serve as an engineering cadet in the United States Merchant Marine during World War II, Perl earned his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering in 1948. His training at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn would prove to be crucial in Perl’s later work in experimental physics. It provided Perl with a deep knowledge of several aspects of experimental practices (e.g. the strength of materials, manufacturing processes, metallurgy, engineering drawings, etc.), which were not addressed in a traditional physics undergraduate curriculum.
Soon after graduation, Perl joined the General Electric Company. His main area of research concerned the production of electron tubes. Thanks to his involvement in this research, Perl discovered his interests in physics—a discovery that served as a turning point in Perl’s career. While Perl was taking courses in atomic physics and advanced calculus at Union College (Schenectady, NY) to better understand the properties of electron vacuum tubes, the professor of physics Vladimir Rojansky recognized that Perl was much more interested in physics than in chemistry and encouraged Perl to switch his career. In 1950, at the age of 23, Perl began pursuing his PhD studies in physics at Columbia University, under the supervision of the Nobel Laureate I. I. Rabi.
Training inAtomic Physics at Columbia
When Perl began the doctoral program, the Columbia physics department was one the World’s premier institutions for the training of would-be physicists. Rabi had been establishing an inclusive environment in which young experimental physicists could work productively together with senior physicists expert in novel experimental techniques as well as with talented theoretical physicists. The list of the physicists who made research at Columbia between the late 1940s and the early 1950s is impressive: Apart from Rabi, Perl had the opportunity to work with P. Kusch—who would be awarded the Physics Nobel Prize in 1955—and to meet several younger researchers who would become leading physicists in the following years, including T.D. Lee, M. Schwartz, L. Lederman, J. Steinberger, and many others. His PhD research project was aimed at measuring the quadrupole moment of the sodium nucleus by employing Rabi’s atomic beam resonance method—the procedure that had gained Rabi the Nobel Prize in 1944. During his doctoral research, Perl strived to acquire a deep expertise in the experimental techniques and the practices of instrumentation. Perl developed his particular style of approaching experimental science that he later called “mechanical view,” with a strong attention to the mechanical aspects of the experimental design. In addition, Perl benefited from Rabi’s teachings, which gave Perl a broader view of the role of the experimenters in physics. Rabi was a particular kind of experimental physicist, more concerned with the theoretical implications of experiments than with the skills necessary to actually manipulate the instruments. From Rabi, Perl learned the importance of being independent in choosing fundamental problems on which to work. Rabi also convinced Perl to focus on particle physics instead of atomic physics in his future plans, because Rabi thought that particle physics was becoming the most relevant research area in physics.
Fonte : www.mediatheque.lindau-nobel.org/research-profile/laureate-perl