John Torrence Tate Sr. (July 28, 1889 – May 27, 1950) was an American physicist noted for his editorship of ''

Physical Review ''Physical Review'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal. The journal was established in 1893 by Edward Nichols. It publishes original research as well as scientific and literature reviews on all aspects of physics. It is published by the Ame ...

'' between 1926 and 1950. He is the father of mathematician John Torrence Tate Jr.

Biography

Tate was born on July 28, 1889, in Lenox, Iowa. He attended the

University of Nebraska A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

, studying electrical engineering, earning a BS in 1910. He continued at the University of Nebraska, shifting his focus to physics and earning an MA in 1912. He departed for Germany to further his studies, earning a PhD under

James Franck James Franck (; 26 August 1882 – 21 May 1964) was a German-American physicist who received the 1925 Nobel Prize in Physics with Gustav Hertz "for their discovery of the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom". He completed hi ...

in 1914, with a dissertation on "The Heat of Vaporization of Metals". He returned to the University of Nebraska as a faculty member, where he stayed until 1916, when he was offered a post at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

. With the exception of brief sabbaticals to conduct war-related work, Tate remained at Minnesota for the following 34 years. Tate Laboratory of Physics at the University of Minnesota is named in his honor.

Editor of ''Physical Review''

While a professor at the University of Minnesota, Tate presided over the growth of the ''Physical Review'' into a high impact journal. Physicist John H. Van Vleck, who was a colleague of Tate's at Minnesota from 1923 to 1928, recalled that in the early 20th century "''The Physical Review'' was only so-so, especially in theory, and in 1922 I was greatly pleased that my doctor's thesis was accepted for publication by the ''

Philosophical Magazine 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)" Dictionary of National Biography#Oxford Dictionary of ...

'' in England . . . By 1930 or so, the relative standings of ''The Physical Review'' and Philosophical Magazine were interchanged." Alfred Nier and John Van Vleck credited the rapid growth of the journal's size and influence in the 1920s to Tate's sensitivity to the importance of the emerging quantum revolution, and in particular the rapidity with which he published papers relating to quantum phenomena.

Reviewing Einstein and Rosen

On June 1, 1936, Tate, as the editor of the ''Physical Review'', received a submission from

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

and

Nathan Rosen Nathan Rosen (; March 22, 1909 – December 18, 1995) was an American and Israeli physicist noted for his study on the structure of the hydrogen molecule and his collaboration with Albert Einstein and Boris Podolsky on entangled wave functions and ...

. Tate sent the submission to H.P. Robertson, who made an anonymous critical peer review questioning the basic conclusion of the paper. On July 23, Tate returned the submission with the anonymous review. On July 27, Einstein replied:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tate, John Torrence Sr. 20th-century American physicists 1889 births 1950 deaths People from Lenox, Iowa Mass spectrometrists University of Nebraska alumni University of Minnesota faculty Presidents of the American Physical Society