Thomas Eugene Everhart | |
|---|---|
 Everhart in 1987 | |
| 5th President of theCalifornia Institute of Technology | |
| In office 1987–1997 | |
| Preceded by | Marvin Goldberger |
| Succeeded by | David Baltimore |
| 4th Chancellor of theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | |
| In office 1984–1987 | |
| Preceded by | John E. Cribbet |
| Succeeded by | Morton W. Weir |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1932-02-15)February 15, 1932 (age 93) Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. |
| Education | Harvard University (BA) University of California, Los Angeles (MS) Clare College, Cambridge (PhD) |
| Scientific career | |
| Awards | Marshall Scholarship(1955) IEEE Centennial Medal(1984) Clark Kerr Award(1992) ASEE Centennial Medallion(1993) IEEE Founders Medal(2002) Okawa Prize(2002) |
| Fields | Electrical Engineering,Applied Physics |
| Institutions | University of California, Berkeley,Cornell University,University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,California Institute of Technology,University of Cambridge |
| Thesis | Contrast formation in the scanning electron microscope (1958) |
| Doctoral advisor | Charles Oatley |
Thomas Eugene EverhartFREng (born February 15, 1932, inKansas City, Missouri)[1] is an American university president, educator, andphysicist. His area of expertise is the physics ofelectron beams. Together withRichard F. M. Thornley he designed theEverhart–Thornley detector. These detectors are still in use inscanning electron microscopes, even though the first such detector was made available as early as 1956.
Everhart was elected a member of theNational Academy of Engineering in 1978 for contributions to the electron optics of the scanning electron microscope and to its use in electronics and biology. He was appointed an InternationalFellow of theRoyal Academy of Engineering in 1990.[2] He served as chancellor of theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1984 to 1987 and as the president of theCalifornia Institute of Technology from 1987 to 1997.
Everhart's parents were William E. Everhart and Elizabeth A. West. Everhart received hisA.B. in physics fromHarvard University in 1953, and hisM.S. in applied physics from theUniversity of California, Los Angeles, in 1955. He held aMarshall Scholarship atClare College, Cambridge, where he completed a PhD in physics under ProfessorCharles Oatley in 1958.[1]
Everhart began working on electron detection and the design ofscanning electron microscopes (SEMs) as a student with Charles Oatley at Cambridge in 1955.[3] An initial prototype, the SEM1, had been developed by Dennis McMullen, who published his dissertationInvestigations relating to the design of electron microscopes in 1952.[3][4] It was further modified by Ken C. A. Smith, who developed a way to efficiently detect low-energy secondary electrons.[5] Oatley and his students used SEM to develop a variety of new techniques for studying surface topography.[3][6]
Everhart developed techniques to detect low-energy secondaries. His Ph.D. thesis, in 1958, wasContrast formation in the scanning electron microscope.[6] Analyzing the electrons detected by the SEM, he reported that about 67% of the signal measured could be attributed to low energy secondaries from the specimen.[7] About 3% was due to higher-energy reflected electrons.[5] He also presented equations to model the noise introduced.[3][7]
Use of the term "voltage contrast" to describe the relationship between the voltage applied to a specimen and the resulting image contrast, is attributed to Everhart.[8][9] As of 1959, Everhart produced the first voltage-contrast images of p-n junctions of biased silicon diodes.[10] Voltage contrast, the ability to detect variations in surface electrical potentials on a specimen, is now one of several imaging modes used for the characterization, diagnosis and failure analysis of semiconductors. As many as half of the SEMs sold are believed to be used in semiconductor applications.[11]
Everhart studied contrast mechanisms in detail and developed a new theory of reflection of electrons from solids.[12] He also made some of the first quantitative studies of the effects of beam penetration on image formation in the SEM.
In 1960 Everhart and Richard F. M. Thornley published a description for the improved design of a secondary electron detector, since known as theEverhart–Thornley detector. Everhart and Thornley increased the efficiency of existing detectors by adding a light pipe to carry the photon signal from the scintillator inside the evacuated specimen chamber of the scanning electron microscopes to the photomultiplier outside the chamber.[13] This strengthened the signal collected and improved the signal-to-noise ratio. In 1963, Pease and Nixon incorporated the Everhart-Thornley detector into their prototype for the first commercial SEM, later developed as theCambridge Scientific Instruments Mark IStereoscan. This type of secondary electron and back-scattered electron detector is still used in modernscanning electron microscopes (SEMs).[14]
By using various types of detectors with SEM, it becomes possible to map the topography, crystallography and composition of specimens being examined.[4] In the 1960s, Wells, Everhart, and Matta built an advanced SEM for semiconductor studies and microfabrication at Westinghouse Laboratories in Pittsburgh. They were able to combine signals so to more effectively examine multiple layers in active devices, an early example of EBIC imaging.[15][16]
From 1958-1978 Everhart was a professor and latterly department chairman of engineering and computer science, at theUniversity of California at Berkeley.[1] There he supported the construction of the first scanning electron microscope in a U.S. university.[17]
In January 1979, he became Joseph Silbert Dean of the college of engineering atCornell University, Ithaca, New York.[18]
Everhart served as chancellor of theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1984 to 1987. As chancellor, Everhart was involved in proposals for and development of theBeckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, an interdisciplinary research institute substantially funded by an appeal toArnold Orville Beckman.[19]: 9–14 In a formal invitation to proposed members of the Administrative Committee for the Beckman Institute, Everhart wrote that creation of the Beckman Institute was "an exceptional opportunity, perhaps the most dramatic and exciting one that we will see in our working lifetimes."[19]: 97
Everhart was president of theCalifornia Institute of Technology from 1987 to 1997.[20] As Caltech's president, Everhart authorized the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) project, a large-scale experiment that seeks to detect gravitational waves and use them for fundamental research in physics and astronomy.[21]
While at Caltech, Everhart was involved in substantial expansion of the university, heading a $350-million fund-raising drive. In 1989, he helped dedicate theBeckman Institute at Caltech, a research center for biology, chemistry, and related sciences.[22] It was the second of five research centers supported byArnold Orville Beckman and his wife Mabel. Everhart also was involved in the development of theW. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii, supported by theW. M. Keck Foundation;[23] the Gordon and Betty Moore Laboratory of Engineering, supported byGordon Moore ofIntel;[24] and the Fairchild Engineering Library, supported by theSherman Fairchild Foundation.[20][25]
Everhart promoted efforts to hire more female faculty and increase the enrollment of women. In his final year at Caltech the number of women in the freshmen class was double that of the year he joined Caltech.[20]
Since 1998, Everhart has served as a trustee of theCalifornia Institute of Technology.[26] He sits on the boards of directors ofRaytheon and theKavli Foundation, among others.[18]
In 1999, Everhart was elected to a six-year term as Overseer ofHarvard University. In 2001 he became a member of the Overseers executive committee. He was one of three overseers who participated in the university's presidential search committee in 2000-01. In 2004, he was elected president of Harvard's Board of Overseers for 2004-05.[27]
Everhart has been elected to a number of scientific societies, including the following:[1]
Everhart has received a number of awards, including the following:[1]
| Academic offices | ||
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| Preceded by | 4th Chancellor of theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 1984 – 1987 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | 5th President of theCalifornia Institute of Technology 1987 – 1997 | Succeeded by |
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