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William Clyde Martin Jr. (November 27, 1929 – September 15, 2013) 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 ...
. After receiving his Ph.D. degree from Princeton University in 1956, he joined the staff of the
National Bureau of Standards The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...
(NBS: now NIST, the National Institute of Standards and Technology), where he was employed until his retirement in 1998. As Chief of the NBS
Atomic Spectroscopy Atomic spectroscopy is the study of the electromagnetic radiation absorbed and emitted by atoms. Since unique elements have characteristic (signature) spectra, atomic spectroscopy, specifically the electromagnetic spectrum or mass spectrum, is appl ...
Section (and its successor organizations) from 1962 to 1998, he led the development of its reference data resources on the spectra of rare-earth elements, substantially increased its coverage of highly excited and ionized species, and pioneered the publication of NIST Standard Reference Data on the internet.


Life

Martin was in born in
Cullman, Alabama Cullman is the largest city and county seat of Cullman County, Alabama, United States. It is located along Interstate 65, about north of Birmingham and about south of Huntsville. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 14,775, with an ...
on November 27, 1929. He received a B.S. in physics from the
University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School ...
in 1951 and then pursued graduate studies at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nin ...
, where he received a
Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
in physics after completing a doctoral dissertation, titled "The energy levels and spectra of neutral and singly ionized
phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ea ...
", under the supervision of Allen G. Shenstone. As a student at Princeton, he had some encounters with
Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
, who lived near his lodgings. Martin served as an instructor in physics at Princeton during 1955–1957. In 1957 he was hired as a physicist by the
National Bureau of Standards The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...
, where he spent the rest of his career, retiring in 1998 and remaining active as an emeritus member of staff until his death in 2013. In 1959 he married Dolores Moyano. They had two sons, Eric B. Martin and Christian B. Martin.


Scientific contributions

In 1962, Martin was appointed chief of the NBS Atomic Spectroscopy Section (later renamed the Atomic Spectroscopy Group), and his most influential work was done in that capacity and during his subsequent leadership of its successor organizations until 1998. The generation, curation and publication of critically evaluated data on atomic energy levels was a major scientific activity of NBS when Martin joined its staff. That program had resulted in the publication of three landmark monographs Widely known in the spectroscopy community as ''Charlotte Moore's tables'', these monographs, which have been cited over 10,000 times in the scientific literature, tabulated the energies and other properties of atomic energy levels of the elements from
hydrogen Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxi ...
(
atomic number The atomic number or nuclear charge number (symbol ''Z'') of a chemical element is the charge number of an atomic nucleus. For ordinary nuclei, this is equal to the proton number (''n''p) or the number of protons found in the nucleus of every ...
''Z'' = 1) through
actinium Actinium is a chemical element with the symbol Ac and atomic number 89. It was first isolated by Friedrich Oskar Giesel in 1902, who gave it the name ''emanium''; the element got its name by being wrongly identified with a substance And ...
(
atomic number The atomic number or nuclear charge number (symbol ''Z'') of a chemical element is the charge number of an atomic nucleus. For ordinary nuclei, this is equal to the proton number (''n''p) or the number of protons found in the nucleus of every ...
''Z'' = 89), except for the rare-earth elements,
cerium Cerium is a chemical element with the symbol Ce and atomic number 58. Cerium is a soft, ductile, and silvery-white metal that tarnishes when exposed to air. Cerium is the second element in the lanthanide series, and while it often shows the +3 o ...
(
atomic number The atomic number or nuclear charge number (symbol ''Z'') of a chemical element is the charge number of an atomic nucleus. For ordinary nuclei, this is equal to the proton number (''n''p) or the number of protons found in the nucleus of every ...
''Z'' = 58) through
lutetium Lutetium is a chemical element with the symbol Lu and atomic number 71. It is a silvery white metal, which resists corrosion in dry air, but not in moist air. Lutetium is the last element in the lanthanide series, and it is traditionally counted am ...
(
atomic number The atomic number or nuclear charge number (symbol ''Z'') of a chemical element is the charge number of an atomic nucleus. For ordinary nuclei, this is equal to the proton number (''n''p) or the number of protons found in the nucleus of every ...
''Z'' = 71). Martin began a long project of analysis of the spectra of the rare earths that resulted in numerous research publications and a fourth monograph, that completed the NBS coverage of the periodic table up to the actinide series. In 1963, he established that the ground level of atomic
cerium Cerium is a chemical element with the symbol Ce and atomic number 58. Cerium is a soft, ductile, and silvery-white metal that tarnishes when exposed to air. Cerium is the second element in the lanthanide series, and while it often shows the +3 o ...
is of the form 6''s''25''d''4''f'' 1G4°, in standard notation. At the time, it was widely believed that the ground electronic configuration of this element was 6''s''24''f''2, an error that could still be found in reference sources fifty years later. In the 1970s and 1980s, basic scientific advances, such as laser and plasma spectroscopy, and user needs, particularly those of the nuclear fusion and astrophysics communities, were generating vast quantities of new atomic spectral data and additional data needs, notably those associated with highly excited or ionized species. Martin and his co-workers initiated analyses that covered data from all ions of most second-row elements in the periodic table: *
sodium Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na (from Latin ''natrium'') and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 of the periodic table. Its only stable is ...
. *
magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic ...
. *
aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It h ...
. *
silicon Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic luster, and is a tetravalent metalloid and semiconductor. It is a member of group 14 in the periodic tab ...
. *
phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ea ...
. *
sulfur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...
. The culminating effort of this period was a major atomic spectral compilation, issued in print by NBS in 1985 under Martin's supervision: a 664-page compilation of all data known then, for all ionization stages of the elements potassium (
atomic number The atomic number or nuclear charge number (symbol ''Z'') of a chemical element is the charge number of an atomic nucleus. For ordinary nuclei, this is equal to the proton number (''n''p) or the number of protons found in the nucleus of every ...
''Z'' = 19) through
nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow to ...
(
atomic number The atomic number or nuclear charge number (symbol ''Z'') of a chemical element is the charge number of an atomic nucleus. For ordinary nuclei, this is equal to the proton number (''n''p) or the number of protons found in the nucleus of every ...
''Z'' = 28). At that time it was clear that the vast expansion of atomic data could no longer be adequately disseminated by print publications alone. Many NIST data publications had been converted to magnetic storage media, which could be purchased from the NIST Standard Reference Data Program. In the early 1990s, perceiving the potential of the
World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web se ...
, Martin persuaded NIST management to allow free distribution of NIST atomic data on the internet. This was the first foray of NIST into free online data distribution, which remains in place today and has since been followed by other NIST data resources. The most comprehensive of the NIST atomic data products is the ''NIST Atomic Spectra Database'' (ASD). First placed online in March, 1995, it was serving about 60,000 page requests per month in late 2013. In addition to his many contributions to ASD, Martin was coauthor of ''The Handbook of Basic Atomic Spectroscopic Data'', which contains data on spectra of neutral atoms and singly charged ions of all elements from
hydrogen Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxi ...
through
einsteinium Einsteinium is a synthetic element with the symbol Es and atomic number 99. Einsteinium is a member of the actinide series and it is the seventh transuranium element. It was named in honor of Albert Einstein. Einsteinium was discovered as a comp ...
(
atomic number The atomic number or nuclear charge number (symbol ''Z'') of a chemical element is the charge number of an atomic nucleus. For ordinary nuclei, this is equal to the proton number (''n''p) or the number of protons found in the nucleus of every ...
''Z'' = 99). He was also the architect of the NIST ''Periodic Table: Atomic Properties of the Elements'', which has had over 100,000 copies distributed in its print version as of 2013. Another of Martin's abiding concerns was the accurate description of the spectrum of atomic
helium Helium (from el, ἥλιος, helios, lit=sun) is a chemical element with the symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. It ...
. This spectrum is of particular importance as a calibration reference, a benchmark for theoretical calculations of atomic structure and of quantum electrodynamics effects in atoms, and for applications in astrophysics. Martin's publications on this spectrum, beginning in his early years at NBS and spanning five decades, remain the definitive sources of reference data as of 2013.


Honors

*
Department of Commerce Silver Medal The Department of Commerce Silver Medal is the second highest of three honor awards of the United States Department of Commerce. Since 1949, the Silver Medal is presented by the Secretary of Commerce for exceptional service. The award may be prese ...
(1968) *
Department of Commerce Gold Medal The Department of Commerce Gold Medal is the highest honor award of the United States Department of Commerce. Since 1949, the Department of Commerce Gold Medal is presented by the Secretary of Commerce for distinguished performance. The award may b ...
(1981) * William F. Meggers Award,
Optical Society of America Optica (formerly known as The Optical Society (OSA) and before that as the Optical Society of America) is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals and organizes conference ...
(1983) *
Allen V. Astin Allen Varley Astin (June 12, 1904 – January 28, 1984) was an American physicist who served as director of the United States National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology) from 1951 until 1969. During the ...
Measurement Science Award,
National Institute of Standards and Technology The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...
(1992) *Office of Measurement Services Award,
National Institute of Standards and Technology The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...
(1997) *Fellow,
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 responsi ...
*Fellow,
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 ...
*Fellow,
Optical Society of America Optica (formerly known as The Optical Society (OSA) and before that as the Optical Society of America) is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals and organizes conference ...


Obituaries

* * * *


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, William Clyde 1929 births 2013 deaths American physicists Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of the American Physical Society Fellows of Optica (society) Princeton University alumni University of Richmond alumni People from Cullman, Alabama Recipients of the Department of Commerce Silver Medal Rare earth scientists