Kusch was born inBlankenburg, Germany to John Mathias Kusch, a Lutheran missionary, and his wife, Henrietta van der Haas. In 1912, Kusch and his family had emigrated to the United States, where by 1922 he became a naturalized citizen. After graduating from grade school in the Midwest, Kusch attended Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, Ohio (now known asCase Western Reserve University), where he majored inphysics. After graduating from the Case Western Reserve University with bachelor of science degree in 1931, Kusch joinedUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, from where he received hismaster's degree in 1933. He continued his education at the same alma mater, studying for his Ph.D. under mentorship fromF. Wheeler Loomis and after defending his thesis titled "The Molecular Spectrum of Caesium and Rubidium", graduated from it in 1936. In 1935, prior to moving to theUniversity of Minnesota, Kusch married his girlfriend, Edith Starr McRoberts. Together, they had three daughters.[1]He was a Lutheran.[2]
Kusch then moved toNew York City, where from 1937 and until his departure for the newly foundedUniversity of Texas at Dallas, he spent much of his career as a professor atColumbia University, and served as the university'sprovost for several years. He worked on molecular beam resonance studies underI. I. Rabi, then discovered the electron anomalous magnetic moment. Many measurements of magnetic moments and hyperfine structure followed. He expanded intochemical physics and continued to publish research onmolecular beams. During his tenure at Columbia, he was the doctoral supervisor forGordon Gould, the inventor of thelaser.[1]
Kusch's wife Edith died in 1959, and in the following year he married Betty Pezzoni. They had two daughters. Kusch House, a residential dormitory for undergraduate students at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio on the South Campus, is named after Kusch. It is located on Carlton Road in Cleveland Heights. The University of Texas at Dallas has a Polykarp Kusch Auditorium with a plaque.
Kusch died on March 20, 1993, aged 82. His widow Betty died in 2003, aged 77.[1]
Rabi, I. I.; Millman, S.; Kusch, P.; Zacharias, J. R. (1939). "The Molecular Beam Resonance Method for Measuring Nuclear Magnetic Moments. The Magnetic Moments of 3Li6, 3Li7 and 9F19".Physical Review.55 (6):526–535.Bibcode:1939PhRv...55..526R.doi:10.1103/PhysRev.55.526.
Rabi, I. I.; Zacharias, J. R.; Millman, S.; Kusch, P. (1992). "Milestones in Magnetic Resonance: 'A new method of measuring nuclear magnetic moment'. 1938".Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging.2 (2):131–133.doi:10.1002/jmri.1880020203.PMID1562763.S2CID73238886.
