Ronald Wilfrid Gurney
Ronald Wilfrid Gurney | |
|---|---|
Ronald Gurney at Bristol University (c. 1935) | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 1, 1898 |
| Died | April 14, 1953 (aged 54) New York, New York, U.S. |
| Education | Cambridge University (BS, PhD) |
| Scientific career | |
| Known for | Quantum tunneling theory of alpha decay Theory of latent image formation in photography Theory of F-center formation in ionic solids Theoretical electrochemistry Theory of solutions and target of McCarthyism |
| Spouse(s) |
Natalie (Nalinka, Natalia) Kouteinikoff
(m. 1934) |
| Fields | Physics, theoretical physics, solid-state physics, electrochemistry, ionic solutions,electron tunneling |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | (1926) |
| Doctoral advisor | Ernest Rutherford |
Ronald Wilfrid Gurney (1 July 1898 – 14 April 1953)[1] was a British theoretical, solid-state, and chemical physicist and research pupil of Ernest Rutherford at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge University during the 1920s. He moved to Princeton University in 1926-1928 on a International Education Board and Commonwealth Fund fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation to work with Karl Compton. He was granted a Japanese research fellowship to work at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research for 1929. Upon returning to England in 1930, he first worked as a researcher at Cambridge University and then moved to the University of Manchester as a teaching fellow. He was appointed as a George Wills Research Associateship at Bristol University in 1933 and worked with Nevill Mott. He moved to the US after the start of World War II,[1] where he died in New York City.
He was born in Cheltenham in 1898.[2]
Radioactive decay processes
Whilst at the Palmer Physical Laboratory at Princeton University from 1926 to 1928,[2] he discovered alpha decay via quantum tunnelling, together with Edward Condon and independently of George Gamow. In the early 1900s, radioactive materials were known to have characteristic exponential decay rates or half lives. At the same time, radiation emissions were known to have certain characteristic energies. By 1928, Gamow had solved the theory of the alpha decay of a nucleus via quantum tunnelling and the problem was also solved independently by Gurney and Condon.[3][4][5]
Contributions to solid-state physics
Gurney contributed to the understanding of the formation of latent image formation on photographic plates [6][7] and the theory of color centers or F-centers in ionic solids in collaboration with Nevill Mott.[8][9]
Mott and Gurney's book Electronic Processes in Ionic Crystals was published ni 1940 during World War II and influenced a generation of solid-state physicists.
Books
- Elementary Quantum Mechanics, Cambridge University Press, 1934.[10]
- Ions in Solution, Cambridge University Press, 1936.
- Electronic Processes in Ionic Crystals, Oxford University Press, 1940 (with N.F. Mott) [11]
- Introduction to Statistical Mechanics, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1949.
- Ionic Processes in Solution, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1953.
See also
References
- ^ a b Bristol Physics in the 1930s, Sir Nevill Mott, Melville Wills Chair of Theoretical Physics, Bristol University 1933-ca.1953
- ^ a b Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 371, 56-66 (1980) "Memories of early days in solid state physics", N F Mott FRS, Accessed 7 April 2010
- ^ R W Gurney and E U Condon, "Quantum Mechanics and Radioactive Disintegration" Nature 122, 439 (1928); Phys. Rev. 33, 127 (1929)
- ^ Interview with Hans Bethe by Charles Weiner and Jagdish Mehra at Cornell University, 27 October 1966 accessed 5 April 2010
- ^ Friedlander, Gerhart; Kennedy, Joseph E; Miller, Julian Malcolm (1964). Nuclear and Radiochemistry, 2nd edition. New York, London, Sydney: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 225–7. ISBN 978-0-471-86255-0.
{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) - ^ R W Gurney, “Internal Photoelectric Absorption in Halide Crystals”, Proceedings of the Royal Society A 141, 209-215 (1933)
- ^ R.W. Gurney and N.F. Mott, “The Theory of the Photolysis of Silver Bromide and the Photographic Latent Image”, Proceedings of the Royal Society A 164, 151-167 (1938).
- ^ R.W. Gurney and N.F. Mott, “Trapped Electrons in Polar Crystals”, Proceedings of the Physical Society 49, 32-35 (1937).
- ^ R.W. Gurney and N.F. Mott, “Conduction in Polar Crystals. III. On the colour centres in alkali-halide crystals”, Transactions of the Faraday Society 34, 506-511 (1938).
- ^ Hoyt, F. C. (September 1935). "Review of Elementary Quantum Mechanics by R. W. Gurney". Astrophysical Journal. 82: 224. Bibcode:1935ApJ....82..224H. doi:10.1086/143670.
- ^ Leighton, Philip A. (1941). "Review of Electronic Processes in Ionic Crystals by N. F. Mott and R. W. Gurney". Journal of Chemical Education. 18 (5): 249. doi:10.1021/ed018p249.1. ISSN 0021-9584.