James Murle Cork (July 9, 1894,

Yale, Michigan Yale is a city in St. Clair County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,955 at the 2010 census. Yale is considered unofficially as the Bologna Capital of the world, in part due to its Yale Bologna Festival, which began in 1989. Ya ...

– November 27, 1957,

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor ...

) was an American physicist, known for his research in nuclear physics and nuclear spectroscopy.

Biography

He graduated in 1911 from Yale High School in Yale, Michigan. At the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, he graduated in 1916 with a B.S., in 1917 with an M.S., and in 1922 with a Ph.D. From 1917 to 1918 he was a first lieutenant in the

U.S. Army Signal Corps ) , colors = Orange and white , colors_label = Corps colors , march = , mascot = , equipment = , equipment_label = ...

. He was from 1917 to 1919 an assistant physicist at the

Bureau of Standards A standards organization, standards body, standards developing organization (SDO), or standards setting organization (SSO) is an organization whose primary function is developing, coordinating, promulgating, revising, amending, reissuing, interpr ...

in Washington, D.C. and from 1919 to 1920 an assistant professor at

Pennsylvania State College The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State became ...

. In the department of physics of the

he was from 1920 to 1922 an instructor, from 1922 to 1937 an associate professor, and from 1937 until his death in 1957 a full professor. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Cork was from 1942 to 1946 a section member and research supervisor of the

National Defense Research Committee The National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) was an organization created "to coordinate, supervise, and conduct scientific research on the problems underlying the development, production, and use of mechanisms and devices of warfare" in the Un ...

(NDRC). He gained an international reputation for his research in nuclear physics and radioactivity. He was a consultant for

Argonne National Laboratory Argonne National Laboratory is a science and engineering research United States Department of Energy National Labs, national laboratory operated by University of Chicago, UChicago Argonne LLC for the United States Department of Energy. The facil ...

and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). He was one of the assistant editors for the ''American Institute of Physics Handbook''. Cork was elected in 1928 a fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

and in 1940 a fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

. He married Laurie Mae Kaufmann in 1918. They had two children.

Selected publications

Articles

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Books

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2nd edition, 1950
**

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cork, James M. 1894 births 1957 deaths 20th-century American physicists American nuclear physicists University of Michigan alumni University of Michigan faculty Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of the American Physical Society People from St. Clair County, Michigan