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Wayne B. Nottingham

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Wayne Buckles Nottingham
Portrait 1937
Born(1899-04-17)17 April 1899
Died4 December 1964(1964-12-04) (aged 65)
Alma materPrinceton University
Known forNottingham gauge
Nottingham effect
Scientific career
FieldsSolid state physics
InstitutionsMIT
Thesis Normal arc characteristic curves: Dependence on absolute temperature of anode  (1929)
Doctoral advisorKarl Taylor Compton

Wayne B. Nottingham (17 April 1899 – 4 December 1964) was a US physics professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), specialized on electronics, field electron emission, thermionics, photoelectrics and low pressure equipment.

Life

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Wayne Buckles Nottingham was born in Tipton, Indiana, United States in 1899.[1]

He made his Bachelor of Science in Purdue University and in 1921 he went to Uppsala University in Sweden under a Benjamin Franklin Transatlantic fellowship by The American-Scandinavian Foundation. Upon his return he joined what later became the Bell Labs in New Jersey.[1]

Nottingham received a master's degree from Princeton University in 1926 and continued there as PhD student under the supervision of Karl Taylor Compton. He defended his thesis in 1929.[2] The same year, he was also awarded the degree of electrical engineer by Purdue.[1]

As a postdoctoral researcher, Nottingham worked as a Bartol Research Fellow at the Franklin Institute in Pennsylvania.[1]

Nottingham joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1931 as assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor in 1936, and to professor in 1942.[1]

Nottingham devised the Nottingham gauge, an electronic pressure measuring device which operated in vacuum of about 10−10 millimetre of mercury.[1]

In 1935, he organized and conducted the first Physical Electronics Conference (PEC) at MIT.[1]

During World War II, he served as a special representative of the MIT Radiation Laboratory to the federal Office of Scientific Research and Development in Washington D. C.[1]

Nottingham retired in July 1964 and proceeded to do a tour of Europe presenting his work, in company of his wife. Nottingham died in December in Aerdenhout, Netherlands.[1]

Awards, honors and fellowships

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Nottingham was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences[3] and a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, the Optical Society of America and the American Physical Society (APS)[4] in 1931.[1]

Nottingham was awarded the Louis E. Levy medal in Engineering of the Franklin Institute in 1932.[5]

The Wayne B. Nottingham Prize was established in 1966 in Nottingham's honor by the Physical Electronics Conference (PEC), awarded to best papers in electronics during the conference.[6]

Books

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  • Nottingham, Wayne Buckles (1956). Thermionic Emission. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Research Laboratory of Electronics.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Nottingham, Wayne B. (Wayne Buckles) (2023-03-26). "Biographical". MIT Archives.
  2. ^ Nottingham, Wayne B. (1926). Normal arc characteristic curves: dependence on absolute temperature of anode ... [Minneapolis, Minn. OL 6737275M.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ^ American Academy of Arts and Sciences. "Book of Members 1780–present, Chapter N." (PDF). amacad.org. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
  4. ^ "APS Fellow Archive". www.aps.org. Retrieved 2023-08-04.
  5. ^ "Laureates Search". The Franklin Institute. 2023-01-18. Retrieved 2023-08-04.
  6. ^ "Nottingham Prize". Universiteit Twente. Retrieved 2023-08-04.