Edward Hutchinson Synge
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Edward Hutchinson Synge (1 June 1890 – 26 May 1957) was an Irish physicist who published a complete theoretical description of the
near-field scanning optical microscope Near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) or scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) is a microscopy technique for nanostructure investigation that breaks the far field resolution limit by exploiting the properties of evanescent waves ...
, an instrument used in
nanotechnology Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal o ...
, several decades before it was experimentally developed. He never completed university yet did significant original research in both
microscopy Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view objects and areas of objects that cannot be seen with the naked eye (objects that are not within the resolution range of the normal eye). There are three well-known branches of micr ...
and
telescopy A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to observe ...
. He was the first to apply the principle of scanning in imaging, which later became important in a wide range of technologies including television,
radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...
, and scanning electron microscopy.Novotny (2011) He was the older brother of distinguished mathematician and theoretical physicist
John Lighton Synge John Lighton Synge (; 23 March 1897 – 30 March 1995) was an Irish mathematician and physicist, whose seven-decade career included significant periods in Ireland, Canada, and the USA. He was a prolific author and influential mentor, and is cre ...
.


Early life and education

Edward Hutchinson Synge was born in 1890, in
County Dublin "Action to match our speech" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg , map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...
, Ireland, to Edward Synge and Ellen Frances Price. He was familiarly known as "Hutchie".Trinity (March 2012) He was the nephew of playwright
John Millington Synge Edmund John Millington Synge (; 16 April 1871 – 24 March 1909) was an Irish playwright, poet, writer, collector of folklore, and a key figure in the Irish Literary Revival. His best known play ''The Playboy of the Western World'' was poorly r ...
and the brother of
John Lighton Synge John Lighton Synge (; 23 March 1897 – 30 March 1995) was an Irish mathematician and physicist, whose seven-decade career included significant periods in Ireland, Canada, and the USA. He was a prolific author and influential mentor, and is cre ...
who edited the collected works of
Sir William Rowan Hamilton Sir William Rowan Hamilton LL.D, DCL, MRIA, FRAS (3/4 August 1805 – 2 September 1865) was an Irish mathematician, astronomer, and physicist. He was the Andrews Professor of Astronomy at Trinity College Dublin, and Royal Astronomer of Irela ...
at Hutchie's urging.Donegan (2012) He and brother John were great-great-great-grandsons of Irish bishop Hugh Hamilton.Florides (2008) He is also the uncle of the mathematician
Cathleen Synge Morawetz Cathleen Synge Morawetz (May 5, 1923 – August 8, 2017) was a Canadian mathematician who spent much of her career in the United States. Morawetz's research was mainly in the study of the partial differential equations governing fluid flow, parti ...
.Trinity (April 2012) Throughout his life Synge was very physically active, pursuing walking, cycling, swimming and sailing. In his later life, he took up painting and was good at it. In 1908 he entered
Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...
to study Mathematics and
old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic ( sga, Goídelc, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ga, Sean-Ghaeilge; gd, Seann-Ghàidhlig; gv, Shenn Yernish or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive writt ...
. For three years he was a brilliant student and won several prizes and a Foundation Scholarship in mathematics in 1910. Then at the end of his third year, he came into an inheritance from his uncle John Millington Synge, and in 1913 he dropped out of university.Dublin Graduate Physics Programme (2012)


Career

Starting in 1928, with encouragement from
Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
,Hebrew (2014) Hutchie launched on a period of intense productivity during which he laid the foundation for new kinds of microscopes and telescopes. Nobody, including his famous brother John, appreciated Hutchie's achievements at the time. His work was overlooked for decades, but is now better-known thanks to the book ''The Life and Works of Edward Hutchinson Synge'' published by Living Edition in 2012. On 22 April 1928, Synge wrote to Albert EinsteinHebrew (2014) about an idea he had for a new microscopic imaging method in which an optical field scattered from a tiny gold particle could be used as a radically new light source. Einstein replied that although Synge's method appeared essentially unworkable, the basic ideas seemed correct and he should publish his research. There followed a remarkable period from 1928 to 1932 in which Synge produced all of his key works which he published in the Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science.Synge (1928)Synge (1931)Synge (1932) Remarkably, he did all of this work alone, without a laboratory, and while living at his home in Dundrum in the suburbs of Dublin. By 1932 he had laid out the theory of the near-field microscope and his description was incredibly accurate. The idea was ahead of its time. In 1956 a similar theory was developed by John A. O'Keefe and in 1972, Ash and Nicholls gave the first experimental demonstration of the technique using electromagnetic radiation.Novotny (2007) It was not until Synge's original papers re-emerged in the 1980s that his priority was finally recognised. Synge proposed a design for very large astronomical telescopes, based on multiple mirrors, an idea realised much later in Tucson, Arizona, and elsewhere. He also invented a new kind of remote sensing technique using searchlights. Today this is known as
Lidar Lidar (, also LIDAR, or LiDAR; sometimes LADAR) is a method for determining ranges (variable distance) by targeting an object or a surface with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected light to return to the receiver. It can also be ...
and uses pulsed lasers.


Later life

According to the people who knew him best, E. H. Synge suffered from what these days would be called
Asperger syndrome Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's, is a former neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in Interpersonal relationship, social interaction and nonverbal communication, along with restricted and re ...
. Becoming increasingly socially isolated, he dropped out of university in 1913 and worked alone without any support from the academic community until all work stopped in 1932. In 1936 he had a mental breakdown and was committed to a Dublin nursing home where he remained until his death in 1957.
Unknown genius
' by Denis Weaire, John F. Donegan and Petros S. Florides, ''
Physics World ''Physics World'' is the membership magazine of the Institute of Physics, one of the largest physical societies in the world. It is an international monthly magazine covering all areas of physics, pure and applied, and is aimed at physicists in ...
'', Volume 25, Number 12


Publications


A suggested method for extending microscopic resolution into the ultra-microscopic region
The
London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science The ''Philosophical Magazine'' is one of the oldest scientific journals published in English. It was established by Alexander Tilloch in 1798;John Burnett"Tilloch, Alexander (1759–1825)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford Univ ...
, 1928, Series 7, Volume 6, Issue 35, pp. 356–362
A design for a very large telescope
The
London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science The ''Philosophical Magazine'' is one of the oldest scientific journals published in English. It was established by Alexander Tilloch in 1798;John Burnett"Tilloch, Alexander (1759–1825)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford Univ ...
, 1930, Series 7, Volume 10, Issue 63, pp. 353–360
A microscopic method
The
London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science The ''Philosophical Magazine'' is one of the oldest scientific journals published in English. It was established by Alexander Tilloch in 1798;John Burnett"Tilloch, Alexander (1759–1825)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford Univ ...
, 1931, Series 7, Volume 11, Issue 68, pp. 65–80
An application of piezo-electricity to microscopy
The
London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science The ''Philosophical Magazine'' is one of the oldest scientific journals published in English. It was established by Alexander Tilloch in 1798;John Burnett"Tilloch, Alexander (1759–1825)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford Univ ...
, 1932, Series 7, Volume 13, Issue 83, pp. 297–300


References


Sources

* Hebrew University (2014).
Einstein Archives Online: E.H. Synge correspondence
' The
Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...
in co-operation with the
Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial su ...
, launched on 5 December 2014 * Trinity College Dublin (April 2012).
From peering at atoms to gazing at the stars
' Trinity College Dublin, 19 April 2012 * Trinity College Dublin (March 2012).
Hutchinson Synge – A Nanoscience Visionary
' Trinity College Dublin, 30 March 2012 * Donegan, J.F. (2012).
Hutchie: The Life and Works of Edward Hutchinson Synge
' (co-edited with D. Weaire and P. Florides), Pöllauberg, Austria : Living Edition, * Novotny, Lukas (2011).
From near-field optics to optical antennas
' by Lukas Novotny,
Physics Today ''Physics Today'' is the membership magazine of the American Institute of Physics. First published in May 1948, it is issued on a monthly schedule, and is provided to the members of ten physics societies, including the American Physical Society. I ...
, July 2011, pp. 47–52 * Dublin Graduate Physics Programme (2012)
Edward Hutchinson Synge Symposium
3 October 2012 *
Petros Serghiou Florides Petros Serghiou Florides is a Greek Cypriot mathematical physicist whose career has been based in Ireland. He was born in Lapithos, Cyprus, and in 1958 received his bachelor's degree from the University of London. His 1960 PhD from Royal Holl ...
(2008).
John Lighton Synge
' Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, School of Mathematics, Trinity College Dublin, doi:10.1098/rsbm.2007.0040 * Novotny, Lukas (2007).
The History of Near-field Optics
' Adapted from Novotny, "The History of Near-field Optics,"
Progress in Optics ''Progress in Optics'' are a series of books edited by Emil Wolf published by Elsevier. They consist of collections of already published review articles A review article is an article that summarizes the current state of understanding on a ...
50, E. Wolf (ed.), chapter 5, p. 137- 184 (Elsevier, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) * Rubincam, David P.; Lowman, Paul D. (2000).
John Aloysius O'Keefe (1916–2000)
' American Astronomical Society * * *


External links

*
Hutchie Synge and near field optics
' Lukas Novotny,
University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The University of Roc ...
video series * McMullan D: ''The prehistory of scanned image microscopy Part 1: scanned optical microscopes''. Proc Roy Microsc Soc 25, 127–131 (1990)
The grave of Edward Hutchenson Synge at Saint John’s Church in Limerick, Ireland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Synge, Edward Hutchinson Irish physicists 20th-century physicists Experimental physicists Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Microscopists Irish inventors 1890 births 1957 deaths People from County Dublin 20th-century inventors Optical physicists