Robert Thomas Beyer (January 27, 1920 – August 20, 2008) was an American physicist,Obituary from the Providence Journal at legacy.com
/ref> best known for his work in acoustics, and for his translations of Russian and German physics books and journals into English.

Early life and education

Beyer was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on January 27, 1920. He received his A.B. in Mathematics from

Hofstra Hofstra University is a private university in Hempstead, New York. It is Long Island's largest private university. Hofstra originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University (NYU) under the name Nassau College – Hofstra Memorial of New ...

in 1942, and his doctorate in Physics from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

in 1945, with a dissertation focused on magnetic amplifiers.

Career

Beyer was hired as an instructor at Brown University in 1945, where

Robert Bruce Lindsay Robert Bruce Lindsay (1 January 1900 – 2 March 1985) was an American physicist and physics professor, known for his prolific authorship of physics books in acoustics, and historical and philosophical analyses of physics. Biography R(obert ...

quickly persuaded him to join the physical acoustics laboratory. He spent his entire career at Brown, being appointed assistant professor in 1947, associate professor in 1951, and full professor in 1958, serving as Chairman of the Physics Department from 1968-74. He co-wrote the book "College Physics" in 1957, followed by the advanced treatises "Physical Ultrasonics" and "Nonlinear Acoustics" in 1969 and 1976, respectively. In 2000, his book "Sounds of Our Times", a history of the science of acoustics since 1800, was published by

Springer Science+Business Media Springer Science+Business Media, commonly known as Springer, is a German multinational publishing company of books, e-books and peer-reviewed journals in science, humanities, technical and medical (STM) publishing. Originally founded in 1842 ...

Translations

Beyer translated

John von Neumann John von Neumann (; hu, Neumann János Lajos, ; December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957) was a Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, computer scientist, engineer and polymath. He was regarded as having perhaps the widest cove ...

's ''

Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics The book ''Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics'' (1932) by John von Neumann is an important early work in the development of quantum theory. Publication history The book was originally published in German in 1932 by Julius Springer, un ...

'' from German into English, in 1955, for

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 financia ...

Personal life

Beyer was afflicted with severe rheumatic fever as a teenager, which damaged his heart, and later by multiple sclerosis. He married the former Ellen Fletcher on Valentine's Day in 1944, and they remained devoted to each other until Ellen's death in 2005. They had four children: Catherine Beyer Hurst, Margaret Beyer, Rick Beyer, and Mary Beyer Trotter. He died in August 2008.

References

External links

Oral history interview transcript for Robert T. Beyer on 11 November 1991, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beyer, Robert Thomas 20th-century American physicists 1920 births 2008 deaths Brown University faculty Acousticians People from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Hofstra University alumni Cornell University alumni Fellows of the Acoustical Society of America ASA Gold Medal recipients Fellows of the American Physical Society