Henry H. Barschall | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1917-04-29)April 29, 1917 |
| Died | February 4, 1997(1997-02-04) (aged 79) |
| Alma mater | Princeton University(AM, 1939)(PhD, 1940) |
| Known for | Contributed to the understanding ofneutron physics and its applications tomedical radiotherapy andfusion technology |
| Awards | Tom W. Bonner Prize(1965) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Nuclear Physics |
| Institutions | Princeton University University of Kansas Manhattan Project,Los Alamos Laboratory University of Wisconsin–Madison |
Henry Herman ("Heinz") Barschall (April 29, 1915 – February 4, 1997) was aGerman-Americanphysicist.[1][2]
Barschall was born as Heinrich Hermann Barschall inBerlin, Germany; his father was a patent attorney who had received a Ph.D. in chemistry after studying with Nobel LaureatesEmil Fischer andFritz Haber. After beginning study at several universities in Germany, he emigrated to theUnited States in 1937 during the earlyHolocaust period; though raised as a Lutheran, he had someJewish ancestry.[citation needed] He received his Ph.D. fromPrinceton University in 1940 under the direction ofRudolf Ladenburg; he also worked closely withJohn A. Wheeler. After a suggestion byNiels Bohr, he carried out in only a few days with fellow graduate studentMorton H. Kanner the first demonstration offission by fastneutrons andthorium anduranium.[3] His thesis was on the interaction of fast neutrons with helium. In a paper withJohn A. Wheeler he reported the discovery ofspin-orbit coupling in neutron scattering.[4]
He worked at theUniversity of Kansas, and then at theManhattan Project inLos Alamos, New Mexico continuing his work with fast neutrons. In 1946 he joined theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison, where he remained for most of his career following a program on determining fast neutron cross-sections, directing the doctoral dissertation research of over forty students.[1] In 1970, his laboratory was destroyed by aterrorist attack on a military research facility there, which seriously injured one of his graduate students and killed a member of another research group. In dismay, he stopped work in nuclear physics, and left for two years at theLawrence Livermore Laboratories where he worked on the development of intense sources of high-energy neutrons for materials testing and medical uses. Returning to Wisconsin, with a joint appointment in the departments of Nuclear Engineering and Physics—and, later, also Medical Physics, he concentrated on the medical application of neutrons in cancer therapy until his retirement in 1986. He was elected a Fellow of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1987.[5] His doctoral students includeCharles K. Bockelman.
Barschall was the first recipient of theBonner Prize, an editor ofNuclear Physics Review C, a member of the board of theAmerican Institute of Physics, and a member of theNational Academy of Sciences.[1]
He was editor ofPhysical Review C for 15 years, and chairman of the publications committee of theAmerican Physical Society.
In addition to his scientific work, he was noted for an article he published inPhysics Today[6] discussing thecost of scientific journals. In this article he demonstrated the dramatically lower costs associated with publishing in non-profit society journals as compared to those of commercial publishers. This article provoked a lawsuit fromGordon and Breach, one of the publishers discussed—the one with the highest costs. The company sued Barschall, the American Physical Society, and theAmerican Institute of Physics, in the United States and in several countries in Europe. The eventual decision fully supported Barschall.[7]
His autobiography appears at H.H. Barschall, "Reminiscences," Physics in Perspective 1 (1999) 390–444.[8]
Barschall died at age 81 on February 4, 1997 in Madison, WI.[9]
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