Samuel Jackson Barnett (December 14, 1873 – May 22, 1956) was an American

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

. He was a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. Barnett was born in

Woodson County, Kansas Woodson County (standard abbreviation: WO) is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 3,115. Its county seat is Yates Center. History Early history For many millennia, the Great Plains ...

, the son of a minister. In 1894, he received a B.A. in physics from the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private university, private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Mountain States, Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is ...

and received his Ph.D. 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 teach an ...

in 1898. From 1898 to 1918 he taught at several universities: Colorado College, Stanford University, Tulane University, and Ohio State University. In 1903 he published his book ''Elements of Electromagnetic Theory'', which he dedicated to his friend Professor Francis H. Smith at the University of Virginia. From 1918 to 1926 he worked at the

Carnegie Institution for Science The Carnegie Institution of Washington (the organization's legal name), known also for public purposes as the Carnegie Institution for Science (CIS), is an organization in the United States established to fund and perform scientific research. Th ...

in Washington, DC. In 1926 he was a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles. Barnett worked mainly on

electromagnetism In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge. It is the second-strongest of the four fundamental interactions, after the strong force, and it is the dominant force in the interactions of a ...

, and discovered the

Barnett effect The Barnett effect is the magnetization of an uncharged body when spun on its axis. It was discovered by American physicist Samuel Barnett in 1915. An uncharged object rotating with angular velocity tends to spontaneously magnetize, with a magn ...

. His wife, Mrs. Lelia Jefferson Harvie Barnett, was a scientific co-collaborator, and together they worked in a magnetic metal-free lab at the California Institute of Technology from 1924 to 1953. He was elected a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

in 1921. Barnett died in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

, about a month after the death of his wife, Lelia Jefferson Harvie Barnett. They had no children, but their adopted daughter, Ann, also died shortly after Barnett's retirement from the university.

Works

* Elements of electro-magnetic theory, 1903 * Theories of magnetism, 1923 * Le Magnetisme, 1940

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnett, Samuel Jackson 1873 births 1956 deaths American physicists Cornell University alumni Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences People from Woodson County, Kansas University of California, Los Angeles faculty University of Denver alumni