Francis Pettit Bundy (September 1, 1910,
Columbus, Ohio – February 23, 2008,
Lebanon, Ohio
Lebanon is a city in and the county seat of Warren County, Ohio, United States. The population was 20,841 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Cincinnati metropolitan area.
History
Lebanon is in the Symmes Purchase. The first European settler ...
)
was an American physicist, known as a member of
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...
's team of researchers that in December 1954 created diamond chips by applying ultra high pressure (65
kbar
The bar is a metric unit of pressure, but not part of the International System of Units (SI). It is defined as exactly equal to 100,000 Pa (100 kPa), or slightly less than the current average atmospheric pressure on Earth at sea lev ...
) to
graphite
Graphite () is a crystalline form of the element carbon. It consists of stacked layers of graphene. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Synthetic and natural graphite are consumed on lar ...
with
iron sulfide
Iron sulfide or Iron sulphide can refer to range of chemical compounds composed of iron and sulfur.
Minerals
By increasing order of stability:
* Iron(II) sulfide, FeS
* Greigite, Fe3S4 (cubic)
* Pyrrhotite, Fe1−xS (where x = 0 to 0.2) (monocli ...
as a catalyst.
Biography
Bundy graduated in 1927 from Lancaster, Ohio's
Lancaster High School and in 1931 from Westerfield, Ohio's Otterbein College, now named
Otterbein University
Otterbein University is a private university in Westerville, Ohio. It offers 74 majors and 44 minors as well as eight graduate programs. The university was founded in 1847 by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ and named for United Bre ...
. In 1937 he received his Ph.D. in physics from
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
. From 1937 to 1942 he taught at
Ohio University
Ohio University is a public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confederation and subseq ...
. During World War II he worked in sonar research at the Harvard Underwater Sound Laboratory. In 1946 he went to General Electric's research laboratories in
Schenectady, New York
Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...
.
In 1951 General Electric started "Project Superpressure", managed by Anthony J. Nerad, to synthesize diamonds in the laboratory. In February 1955, General Electric announced that the research team consisting of Francis P. Bundy,
H. Tracy Hall,
Herbert M. Strong, and
Robert H. Wentorf Jr. had synthesized "tiny diamonds made from a carbonaceous material subjected to extreme pressures and temperature." In 1977 the four team members jointly received the International Prize for New Materials, now called the
James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials, for "their outstanding research contributions and inventions which include the first reproducible process for making diamond; the synthesis of cubic boron nitride; and the development of the high pressure processes that are required to produce these materials."
Bundy was the author or co-author of over 100 scientific publications.
[ He was elected in 1946 a Fellow of the ]Acoustical Society of America
The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is an international scientific society founded in 1929 dedicated to generating, disseminating and promoting the knowledge of acoustics and its practical applications. The Society is primarily a voluntary org ...
and in 1953 a Fellow of the American Physical Society. In 1987 he received the Bridgman Award.[
Bundy gained considerable fame as a glider pilot. (His wife Hazel Bundy was also a glider pilot.)] He logged over 8,000 glider flights,[ designed and built sailplanes, worked as an instructor and flight examiner, was very active in competitions, and sometimes served as a contest official. In 2001 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the ]National Soaring Museum
The National Soaring Museum (NSM) is an aviation museum whose stated aim is to preserve the history of motorless flight. It is located on top of Harris Hill near Elmira, New York, United States.
The NSM is the Soaring Society of America's officia ...
.[
On October 24, 1936 in Springfield, Illinois, he married Hazel Victoria Forwood (1910–2006).] They had two sons and two daughters.[
]
Selected publications
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References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bundy, Francis P.
1910 births
2008 deaths
20th-century American physicists
21st-century American physicists
20th-century American inventors
21st-century American inventors
American glider pilots
General Electric people
People from Columbus, Ohio
Otterbein University alumni
Ohio State University alumni
Ohio University faculty
Scientists from Ohio
Fellows of the Acoustical Society of America
Fellows of the American Physical Society