Bridgman's parents were both born in New England. His father, Raymond Landon Bridgman, was "profoundly religious and idealistic" and worked as a newspaper reporter assigned to state politics. His mother, Mary Ann Maria Williams, was described as "more conventional, sprightly, and competitive".[6]
Bridgman attended both elementary and high school in Auburndale, where he excelled at competitions in the classroom, on the playground, and while playing chess. Described as both shy and proud, his home life consisted of family music, card games, and domestic and garden chores. The family was deeply religious; reading the Bible each morning and attending aCongregational Church.[6] However, Bridgman later became an atheist.[7]
Bridgman enteredHarvard University in 1900, and studiedphysics through to hisPhD. From 1910 until his retirement, he taught at Harvard, becoming a full professor in 1919. In 1905, he began investigating the properties of matter underhigh pressure. A machinery malfunction led him to modify his pressure apparatus; the result was a new sealing device enabling him to create pressures eventually exceeding 100,000kgf/cm2 (10GPa; 100,000atmospheres). This was a huge improvement over previous machinery, which could achieve pressures of only 3,000 kgf/cm2 (0.3 GPa).[8] This new apparatus led to an abundance of new findings, including a study of the compressibility, electric andthermal conductivity,tensile strength andviscosity of more than 100 different compounds.[citation needed] Bridgman is also known for his studies of electrical conduction in metals and properties of crystals. He developed theBridgman seal and is the eponym forBridgman's thermodynamic equations, which were used to further his research.
J. Robert Oppenheimer, the director of theManhattan Project, was an undergraduate student of Bridgman's. Of his teaching abilities, Oppenheimer said that, “I found Bridgman a wonderful teacher because he never really was quite reconciled to things being the way they were and he always thought them out.”[13]
Bridgman married Olive Ware (1882-1972), ofHartford, Connecticut, in 1912. Ware's father,Edmund Asa Ware, was the founder and first president ofAtlanta University. The couple had two children and were married for nearly 50 years, living most of that time in Cambridge. The family also had a summer home inRandolph, New Hampshire, where Bridgman was known as a skilled mountain climber.[6]
Bridgman was a "penetrating analytical thinker" with a "fertile mechanical imagination" and exceptional manual dexterity. He was a skilled plumber and carpenter, known to shun the assistance of professionals in these matters. He was also fond of music and played the piano, and took pride in his flower and vegetable gardens.[6]
Bridgman committed suicide by gunshot after suffering frommetastaticcancer for some time. His suicide note was a mere two sentences; "It isn't decent for society to make a man do this thing himself. Probably this is the last day I will be able to do it myself."[14][15] Bridgman's words have been quoted by many in theassisted suicide debate.[16][17]
— (1961) [First published separately in 1925 and 1934].Thermodynamics of Electrical Phenomena in Metals and a Condensed Collection of Thermodynamic Formulas. New Haven: Macmillan.OCLC610252150.
^Ray Monk (2013).Robert Oppenheimer: A Life Inside the Center. Random House LLC.ISBN9780385504133. In many ways they were opposites; Kemble, the theorist, was a devout Christian, while Bridgman, the experimentalist, was a strident atheist.
^Bird, Kai (2006).American Prometheus: the triumph and tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer (1st Vintage books ed.). New York: Vintage.ISBN978-0-307-42473-0.OCLC695567255.
^Tschauner, O., Ma, C., Beckett, J.R., Prescher, C., Prakapenka, V.B., Rossman, G.R. (2014) Discovery of bridgmanite, the most abundant mineral in Earth, in a shocked meteorite. Science: 346: 1110-1112. doi:10.1126/science.1259369
