George Daniels Watkins (born 28 April 1924) is an American solid-state physicist.

Biography

Watkins was born in

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, Wil ...

and received his bachelor's degree in physics from Randolph-Macon College in 1943. He earned his master's degree in 1947 and his Ph.D. in 1952 from Harvard University with the thesis ''A R. F. Spectrometer with Applications to Studies of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Absorption in Solids''. From 1952 to 1975 he did research in solid state physics at the General Electric Research Laboratory 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 ...

. During his time at General Electric, he was also an adjunct professor at

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

from 1962 to 1965 and at the

State University of New York, Albany The State University of New York at Albany, commonly referred to as the University at Albany, UAlbany or SUNY Albany, is a public research university with campuses in Albany, Rensselaer, and Guilderland, New York. Founded in 1844, it is one ...

from 1969 to 1973. From 1975 until his retirement in 1996, he was "Sherman Fairchild Professor for Physics'" at Lehigh University. Watkins has done research on "the physics of defects in solids, radiation damage, electronic structure of deep levels in semiconductors, nuclear and electron paramagnetic resonance, optical spectroscopy, optical detection of magnetic resonance, and deep level transient capacitance spectroscopy of point defects in solids." His research focused on defects in semiconductors (including defects caused by radiation) and exploration of such defects with magnetic resonance techniques ( electron spin resonance and

electron nuclear double resonance Electron nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) is a magnetic resonance technique for elucidating the molecular and electronic structure of paramagnetic species.Kevan, L and Kispert, L. D. ''Electron Spin Double Resonance Spectroscopy'' Interscience: New ...

). In 1966/67 he was a visiting scientist at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

(Clarendon Laboratory) as a Fellow of the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

and in 1983/84 at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart as U.S. Senior Scientist of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. In 1990/91 he was a visiting professor for three months each at the University of Lund,

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

, and

Fraunhofer Institute The Fraunhofer Society (german: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V., lit=Fraunhofer Society for the Advancement of Applied Research) is a German research organization with 76institutes spread throughout Germany ...

for Applied Solid State Physics (Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Festkörperphysik — IAF) in

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population o ...

. In 1978 Watkins received the

Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize The Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize is an annual award given by the American Physical Society "to recognize and encourage outstanding theoretical or experimental contributions to condensed matter physics." It was endowed by AT&T Bell Lab ...

. In 1988 he was elected a member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

. In 1999 he received the silver medal in Physics (Materials Science) of the International ESR/EPR Society.International ESR/EPR Society - Awards
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References

External links

George D. Watkins's homepage at Lehigh University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watkins, George D. 1924 births Living people 21st-century American physicists Lehigh University faculty Randolph–Macon College alumni Harvard University alumni Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize winners 20th-century American physicists Fellows of the American Physical Society American expatriates in the United Kingdom