Bardeen is the first of only three people to have won multiple Nobel Prizes in the same category (the others beingFrederick Sanger andKarl Barry Sharpless in chemistry), and one of five persons withtwo Nobel Prizes. In 1990, Bardeen appeared onLife magazine's list of "100 Most Influential Americans of the Century."[5]
Bardeen attendedUniversity of Wisconsin High School in Madison, graduating in 1923 at age 15;[6] he could have graduated several years earlier, but this was postponed because he took courses at another high school and because of his mother's death. Bardeen entered theUniversity of Wisconsin in 1923. While in college, he joined theZeta Psi fraternity. He raised a part of the needed membership fees by playing billiards. Bardeen was initiated as a member ofTau Beta Pi engineering honor society. Not wanting to be an academic like his father, Bardeen chose engineering. He also felt that engineering had good job prospects.[7]
Bardeen received hisB.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1928 from the University of Wisconsin.[8] Despite taking a year off to work in Chicago, he graduated in 1928.[9] Taking all the graduate courses in physics and mathematics that had interested him, Bardeen graduated in five years instead of the usual four. This allowed him time to complete his master's thesis, supervised by Leo J. Peters. He received hisM.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1929 from Wisconsin.[10][8]
Bardeen furthered his studies by staying on at Wisconsin, but he eventually went to work forGulf Research Laboratories, the research arm of theGulf Oil Corporation that was based inPittsburgh.[5] From 1930 to 1933, Bardeen worked there on the development of methods for the interpretation of magnetic and gravitational surveys.[6] He worked as a geophysicist. After the work failed to keep his interest, he applied and was accepted to the graduate program in mathematics atPrinceton University.[7]
As a graduate student, Bardeen studied mathematics and physics. Under the physicistEugene Wigner, he wrote his thesis on a problem insolid-state physics. Before completing his thesis, he was offered a position as junior fellow of theSociety of Fellows at Harvard University in 1935. He spent the next three years there, from 1935 to 1938, working with to-be Nobel laureates in PhysicsJohn Hasbrouck van Vleck[11] andPercy Williams Bridgman on problems in cohesion and electrical conduction in metals—and also did some work on level density of nuclei. He received hisPh.D. in Mathematical Physics from Princeton in 1936.[6]
From 1941 to 1944, Bardeen headed the group working onmagnetic mines andtorpedoes and mine and torpedo countermeasures at theNaval Ordnance Laboratory. During this period, his wife Jane gave birth to a son (Bill, born in 1941) and a daughter (Betsy, born in 1944).[12]
The assignment of the group was to seek a solid-state alternative to fragile glassvacuum tube amplifiers. Their first attempts were based on Shockley's ideas about using an external electrical field on asemiconductor to affect its conductivity. These experiments mysteriously failed every time in all sorts of configurations and materials. The group was at a standstill until Bardeen suggested a theory that invoked surface states that prevented the field from penetrating the semiconductor. The group changed its focus to study these surface states, meeting almost daily to discuss the work. The rapport of the group was excellent and ideas were freely exchanged.[14] By the winter of 1946, they had enough results that Bardeen submitted a paper on the surface states toPhysical Review. Brattain started experiments to study the surface states through observations made while shining a bright light on the semiconductor's surface. This led to several more papers (one of them co-authored with Shockley), which estimated the density of the surface states to be more than enough to account for their failed experiments. The pace of the work picked up significantly when they started to surround point contacts between the semiconductor and the conducting wires withelectrolytes. Moore built a circuit that allowed them to vary the frequency of the input signal easily and suggested that they useglycol borate (gu), a viscous chemical that did not evaporate. Finally, they began to get some evidence of power amplification when Pearson, acting on a suggestion by Shockley,[15] put a voltage on a droplet of gu placed across ap–n junction.
A commemorative plaque remembering John Bardeen and the theory of superconductivity, at theUniversity of Illinois
By 1951, Bardeen was looking for a new job. Fred Seitz, a friend of Bardeen, convinced theUniversity of Illinois to make Bardeen an offer of $10,000 a year. Bardeen accepted the offer and left Bell Labs,[16] joining the engineering and physics faculties at Illinois in 1951, where he was Professor of Electrical Engineering and Professor of Physics.[17]
At Illinois, he established two major research programs, one in the electrical engineering department and one in the physics department. The research program in the electrical engineering department dealt with both experimental and theoretical aspects of semiconductors, and the research program in the physics department dealt with theoretical aspects of macroscopic quantum systems, particularly superconductivity and quantum liquids.[18]
He was an active professor at Illinois from 1951 to 1975 and then becameprofessor emeritus.[5] In his later life, Bardeen remained active in academic research, during which time he focused on understanding the flow of electrons incharge density waves (CDWs) through metallic linear chain compounds. His proposals[19][20][21] that CDW electron transport is a collective quantum phenomenon (seeMacroscopic quantum phenomena) were initially greeted with skepticism.[22] However, experiments reported in 2012[23] show oscillations in CDW current versus magnetic flux through tantalum trisulfide rings, similar to the behavior of superconducting quantum interference devices (seeSQUID andAharonov–Bohm effect), lending credence to the idea that collective CDW electron transport is fundamentally quantum in nature.[24][25] (Seequantum mechanics.) Bardeen continued his research throughout the 1980s, and published articles inPhysical Review Letters[26] andPhysics Today[27] less than a year before he died.
A collection of Bardeen's personal papers are held by the University of Illinois Archives.[28]
Bell Labs' attorneys soon discovered that Shockley's field effect principle had been anticipated and patented in 1930 byJulius Lilienfeld, who filed hisMESFET-like patent in Canada on October 22, 1925.[29]
Shockley publicly took the lion's share of the credit for the invention of the transistor; this led to a deterioration of Bardeen's relationship with him.[30] Bell Labs management, however, consistently presented all three inventors as a team. Shockley eventually infuriated and alienated Bardeen and Brattain, essentially blocking the two from working on the junction transistor. Bardeen began pursuing a theory for superconductivity and left Bell Labs in 1951. Brattain refused to work with Shockley further and was assigned to another group. Neither Bardeen nor Brattain had much to do with the development of the transistor beyond the first year after its invention.[31][32]
The "transistor" (aportmanteau of "transconductance" and "resistor") was 1/50 the size of thevacuum tubes it replaced in televisions and radios, used far less power, was far more reliable, and it allowed electrical devices to become more compact.[5]
In 1956, Bardeen, Brattain, and Shockley were jointly awarded theNobel Prize in Physics "for their researches on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect."[33]
In 1972, Bardeen, Cooper, and Schrieffer were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics "for their jointly developed theory of superconductivity, usually called the BCS theory."[34] This was Bardeen's second Nobel Prize in Physics; he became the first person to win two Nobel Prizes in the same field.[35]
In the late 1960s, Bardeen felt that Cooper and Schrieffer deserved the Nobel Prize for BCS. He was concerned that they might not be awarded because of theNobel Committee's reluctance to award the same person twice, which would be his case as a co-author of the theory. Bardeen nominated scientists who worked on superconductingtunneling effects such as theJosephson effect for the Prize in 1967:Leo Esaki,Ivar Giaever, andBrian Josephson. He recognized that because the tunneling developments depended on superconductivity, it would increase the chances that BCS itself would be awarded first. He also reasoned that the Nobel Committee had a predilection for multinational teams, which was the case for his tunneling nominees, each being from a different country. Bardeen renewed the nominations in 1971, 1972, when BCS received the prize, and finally 1973, when tunneling was awarded.[36]: 230-231
Bardeen became interested in superconducting tunneling in the summer of 1960 after consulting for theGeneral Electric Research Laboratory in Schenectady, New York, where he learned about experiments done by Ivar Giaever atRensselaer Polytechnic Institute, which suggested thatelectrons from a normal material could tunnel into a superconducting one.[36]: 222–223
On June 8, 1962, Brian Josephson, then 23, submitted toPhysics Letters his prediction of a super-current flow across a barrier,[37] effect which later became known as theJosephson effect. Bardeen challenged Josephson's theory on a note in his own paper received ten days later byPhysical Review Letters[36]: 222–225 :[38]
In a recent note, Josephson uses a somewhat similar formulation to discuss the possibility of superfluid flow across the tunneling region, in which no quasi-particles are created. However, as pointed out by the author (reference 3), pairing does not extend into the barrier, so that there can be no such superfluid flow.
The matter was further discussed on the 8thInternational Conference on Low Temperature Physics held September 16 to 22, 1962 atQueen Mary University of London. While Josephson was presenting his theory, Bardeen rose to describe his objections. After an intense debate both men were unable to reach a common understanding, and at points Josephson repeatedly asked Bardeen, "Did you calculate it? No? I did."[36]: 225–226
In 1963, experimental evidence and further theoretical clarifications were discovered supporting the Josephson effect, notably in a paper byPhilip W. Anderson and John Rowell from Bell Labs.[39] After this, Bardeen came to accept Josephson's theory and publicly withdrew his previous opposition to it at a conference held in August 1963. Bardeen also invited Josephson as a postdoc in Illinois for the academic year of 1965–1966, and later nominated Josephson and Giaever for the Nobel Prize in Physics, which they received in 1973.[36]: 226
While studying at Princeton, Bardeen met Jane Maxwell (1907–1997) during a visit to his old friends inPittsburgh. He married Jane on July 18, 1938.
Bardeen was a scientist with a very unassuming personality. While he served as a professor for almost 40 years at the University of Illinois, he was best remembered by neighbors for hosting cookouts where he would prepare food for his friends, many of whom were unaware of his accomplishments at the university. He would always ask his guests if they liked the hamburger bun toasted (since he liked his that way). He enjoyed playing golf and going on picnics with his family.Lillian Hoddeson said that because he "differed radically from the popular stereotype of 'genius' and was uninterested in appearing other than ordinary, the public and the media often overlooked him."[17]
When Bardeen was asked about his beliefs during a 1988 interview, he responded: "I am not a religious person, and so do not think about it very much". However, he has also said: "I feel that science cannot provide an answer to the ultimate questions about the meaning and purpose of life." Bardeen did believe in a code of moral values and behavior.[40] John Bardeen's children were taken to church by his wife, who taught Sunday school and was a church elder.[36]: 168–169 Despite this, he and his wife made it clear that they did not have faith in an afterlife and other religious ideas.[41] He was the father ofJames M. Bardeen,William A. Bardeen, and daughter Elizabeth.[42]
"In recognition of their contributions to the theory of surface states in semiconductors and of their invention of the point-contact transistor" (withWalter Brattain)
"For his brilliant contributions to the theory of electrical conductivity in solid materials, and especially those which led to the development of a successful theory of superconductivity"
"For his profound contributions to the understanding of the conductivity of solids, to the invention of the transistor, and to the microscopic theory of superconductivity"
Near the end of this decade, when they begin enumerating the names of the people who had the greatest impact on the 20th century, the name of John Bardeen, who died last week, has to be near, or perhaps even arguably at, the top of the list ... Mr. Bardeen shared two Nobel Prizes and has been awarded numerous other honors. But what greater honor can there be when each of us can look all around us and everywhere see the reminders of a man whose genius has made our lives longer, healthier and better.
In honor of Bardeen, the engineeringquadrangle at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is named theBardeen Quad.
Also in honor of Bardeen,Sony Corporation endowed a $3 million John Bardeen professorial chair at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, beginning in 1990.[43] Sony Corporation owed much of its success to commercializing Bardeen's transistors in portable TVs and radios, and had worked with Illinois researchers. As of 2022[update], the John Bardeen Professor isYurii Vlasov.[59]
At the time of Bardeen's death, then-University of Illinois chancellor Morton Weir said, "It is a rare person whose work changes the life of every American; John's did."[35]
Bardeen was honored on a March 6, 2008, United Statespostage stamp as part of the "American Scientists" series designed by artistVictor Stabin. The $0.41 stamp was unveiled in a ceremony at the University of Illinois.[60] His citation reads: "Theoretical physicist John Bardeen (1908–1991) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics twice—in 1956, as co-inventor of the transistor and in 1972, for the explanation of superconductivity. The transistor paved the way for all modern electronics, from computers to microchips. Diverse applications of superconductivity include infrared sensors and medical imaging systems." The other scientists on the "American Scientists" sheet include biochemistGerty Cori, chemistLinus Pauling and astronomerEdwin Hubble.
^Hoddeson, Lillian; Daitch, Vicki (2002).True Genius: The Life and Science of John Bardeen. Joseph Henry Press.ISBN978-0-309-16954-7.John's mother, Althea, had been reared in the Quaker tradition, and his stepmother, Ruth, was Catholic, but John was resolutely secular throughout his life. He was once "taken by surprise" when an interviewer asked him a question about religion. "I am not a religious person," he said, "and so do not think about it very much." He went on in a rare elaboration of his personal beliefs. "I feel that science cannot provide an answer to the ultimate questions about the meaning and purpose of life. With religion, one can get answers on faith. Most scientists leave them open and perhaps unanswerable, but do abide by a code of moral values. For a civilized society to succeed, there must be a common consensus on moral values and moral behaviour, with due regard to the welfare of our fellow man. There are likely many sets of moral values compatible with successful civilized society. It is when they conflict that difficulties arise."
^Vicki Daitch, Lillian Hoddeson (2002). "Last Journey".True Genius:: The Life and Science of John Bardeen. Joseph Henry Press. p. 313.ISBN978-0-309-16954-7.Every time we attend a funeral service," Jane had once told her sister Betty, "we decide again that we want no such ceremony when we die." She and John agreed that the family could, if they wanted to, have a memorial service conducted by friends and family, "but not a sermon by a stranger, who, if a minister, is bound to dwell on life after death and other religious ideas in which we have no faith.
