William Webster Hansen (May 27, 1909 – May 23, 1949) 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 ...

and professor. He was one of the founders of the technology of

microwave Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively. Different sources define different frequency ran ...

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

Biography

Hansen's father William G Hansen, who was a son of immigrants from

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

, was a hardware store owner in

Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, makin ...

. He encouraged his son's early talent in

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and enthusiasm for electronics. He entered

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

at the age of 16, earning his B.A. in 1929 and his Ph.D. in 1933.Süsskind (1981) Hansen went on to become interested in the problem of accelerating

electron The electron ( or ) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary electric charge. Electrons belong to the first generation of the lepton particle family, and are generally thought to be elementary particles because they have no kn ...

s for

X-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...

experiments, using

oscillating Oscillation is the repetitive or periodic variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value (often a point of equilibrium) or between two or more different states. Familiar examples of oscillation include a swinging pendulum ...

fields, rather than large static

voltage Voltage, also known as electric pressure, electric tension, or (electric) potential difference, is the difference in electric potential between two points. In a static electric field, it corresponds to the work needed per unit of charge to m ...

s. At the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

Ernest Lawrence Ernest Orlando Lawrence (August 8, 1901 – August 27, 1958) was an American nuclear physicist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939 for his invention of the cyclotron. He is known for his work on uranium-isotope separation fo ...

and his assistant David H. Sloan, had worked on an accelerator driven by a

resonant Resonance describes the phenomenon of increased amplitude that occurs when the frequency of an applied periodic force (or a Fourier component of it) is equal or close to a natural frequency of the system on which it acts. When an oscilla ...

coil. Hansen proposed replacing the coil with a

cavity resonator A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance or resonant behavior. That is, it naturally oscillates with greater amplitude at some frequencies, called resonant frequencies, than at other frequencies. The oscillations in a resonator ...

. In 1937, brothers Russel H. Varian and Sigurd F. Varian came to Stanford to work on the foundations of what was to become

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

. Hansen exploited some of the Varian's work to develop the

klystron A klystron is a specialized linear-beam vacuum tube, invented in 1937 by American electrical engineers Russell and Sigurd Varian,Pond, Norman H. "The Tube Guys". Russ Cochran, 2008 p.31-40 which is used as an amplifier for high radio frequenci ...

and during the years 1937 to 1940, along with collaborators such as John R. Woodyard, founded the field of microwave electronics. In 1941, he moved his team to the

Sperry Gyroscope Company Sperry Corporation was a major American equipment and electronics company whose existence spanned more than seven decades of the 20th century. Sperry ceased to exist in 1986 following a prolonged hostile takeover bid engineered by Burroughs ...

where they spent the war years employing their expertise in radar applications and in other problems. Returning to Stanford in 1945 as a full professor, he embarked on the construction of a series of

linear accelerators A linear particle accelerator (often shortened to linac) is a type of particle accelerator that accelerates charged subatomic particles or ions to a high speed by subjecting them to a series of oscillating electric potentials along a linear be ...

based on klystron technology and of

GeV GEV may refer to: * ''G.E.V.'' (board game), a tabletop game by Steve Jackson Games * Ashe County Airport, in North Carolina, United States * Gällivare Lapland Airport, in Sweden * Generalized extreme value distribution * Gev Sella, Israeli-Sou ...

performance. Along with the Varian brothers and

Edward Ginzton Edward Leonard Ginzton (December 27, 1915 – August 13, 1998) was a Ukrainian-American engineer. Education Ginzton completed his B.S. (1936) and M.S. (1937) in Electrical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and his Ph. ...

, he co-founded

Varian Associates Varian Associates was one of the first high-tech companies in Silicon Valley. It was founded in 1948 by Russell H. and Sigurd F. Varian, William Webster Hansen, and Edward Ginzton to sell the klystron, the first vacuum tube which could amplif ...

in 1948. Sadly, he was never to see the completion of the klystron project. He died at age 39 in

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto (; Spanish language, Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree kno ...

berylliosis Berylliosis, or chronic beryllium disease (CBD), is a chronic allergic-type lung response and chronic lung disease caused by exposure to beryllium and its compounds, a form of beryllium poisoning. It is distinct from acute beryllium poisoning, wh ...

and fibrosis of the lungs, caused by inhaling the

beryllium Beryllium is a chemical element with the symbol Be and atomic number 4. It is a steel-gray, strong, lightweight and brittle alkaline earth metal. It is a divalent element that occurs naturally only in combination with other elements to form mi ...

used in his research. In 1947, the

Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory The Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory (HEPL) was founded in 1947 and is a facility at Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. Th ...

(HEPL) was founded as a facility at Stanford University. The facility is designed to promote interdisciplinary enterprises across different branches of science and was named in his honor.

Personal life

In October 1938, William Webster Hansen married Betsy Ross, who was the younger daughter of

Perley Ason Ross Perley Ason Ross (6 April 1883 – 13 March 1939) was a U.S. experimental physicist who worked, carefully and without seeking publicity, at some essential problems in the behaviour of X-rays. Born in Panacea, Missouri he was awarded his PhD from S ...

, professor of physics at Stanford. Shortly after his death Betsy committed suicide. Their only child had died six months after his birth during the fall of 1947.

Honors

IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award The initially called Morris Liebmann Memorial Prize provided by the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE), the IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award was created in 1919 in honor of Colonel Morris N. Liebmann. It was initially given to awardees who h ...

of the

Institute of Radio Engineers The Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) was a professional organization which existed from 1912 until December 31, 1962. On January 1, 1963, it merged with the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) to form the Institute of Electrical a ...

(1944) *

President's Certificate of Merit The President's Certificate of Merit was created June 6, 1946 by Executive Order 9734 signed by US President Harry Truman, "for award by the President or at his direction to any civilian who on or after December 7, 1941'' (see Attack on Pearl Harbor ...

(1948) *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 ...

(1949)

References

Sources

*Obituaries: **''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', 24 May 1949 **''Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers'', 37 (1949), 910 * * *

External links

* *
Memorial Resolution-William Webster Hansen

William Webster Hansen Papers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hansen, William Webster 1909 births 1949 deaths 20th-century American physicists Accelerator physicists American people of Danish descent Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences