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Homer D. Hagstrum

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Homer Dupre Hagstrum (March 11, 1915 – September 7, 1994) was an American physicist who specialized in surface physics.[1][2]

Born in St Paul, Minnesota he gained a BA degree in 1936, an MS in 1939 and a PhD in physics in 1940 at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. He then worked for Bell Labs, Murray Hill, New Jersey, where he was a research physicist from 1940 to 1954, head of Surface Physics Research from 1954 to 1978 and Research Physicist in Surface Physics from 1978 to 1985. [2] After 1946 Homer specialized in surface physics which was an unknown sub-field of physics at that time. He developed a metal multipurpose vacuum chamber in 1961 that is a model for many surface physics scientists today.

In 1942 he and John R Pearce traveled to England to meet with British scientists working on RADAR. During this meeting Pearce (who wrote Science fiction stories) arranged a meeting with H. G. Wells, an internationally known science fiction writer. Pearce and Hagstrum also met with Rudy Kompfner during this trip.

Hagstrum was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1949 [3] and a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1976.[1][2] He was chairman of Division of Electron and Atomic Physics of the American Physical Society in 1957,[2]

He was a recipient of the Medard W. Welch Award in 1974 and the Davisson–Germer Prize in 1975.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b National Academies Press:Biographical Memoirs, V.83, Homer Dupre Hagstrum
  2. ^ a b c d e "Homer D. Hagstrum". American Institute of Physics. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  3. ^ "APS Fellow Archive". APS. Retrieved 24 September 2020.