Saul Dushman (July 12, 1883 – July 7, 1954) was a Russian-American physical
chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...
.
Dushman was born on July 12, 1883, in
Rostov, Russia; he immigrated to the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
in 1891. He received a doctorate from the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
in 1912. That year, he joined the Research Laboratory of
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston.
Over the year ...
Company (GE). He would work at GE for the rest of his career except for a 1922-1925 stint as the Research Division director at Edison Lamp Works. His main research interests were
quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics is the fundamental physical Scientific theory, theory that describes the behavior of matter and of light; its unusual characteristics typically occur at and below the scale of atoms. Reprinted, Addison-Wesley, 1989, It is ...
,
electromotive force
In electromagnetism and electronics, electromotive force (also electromotance, abbreviated emf, denoted \mathcal) is an energy transfer to an electric circuit per unit of electric charge, measured in volts. Devices called electrical ''transducer ...
,
atomic structure,
electron emission
In physics, electron emission is the ejection of an electron from the surface of matter, or, in beta decay (β− decay), where a beta particle (a fast energetic electron or positron) is emitted from an atomic nucleus transforming the original nuc ...
, unimolecular force, and
high vacuum, and he authored several standard science textbooks.
His textbook "Scientific Foundations of Vacuum Technique" (1922 and 1949) is a classic covering vacuum design principles. This book and the later editions are still in use today. It was completely revised in 1961 by his colleague James Lafferty.
His research on
thermionic emission
Thermionic emission is the liberation of charged particles from a hot electrode whose thermal energy gives some particles enough kinetic energy to escape the material's surface. The particles, sometimes called ''thermions'' in early literature, a ...
is remembered in the form of the
Richardson-Dushman equation.
He died in
Scotia, New York.
Notes
References
* http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9031599/Saul-Dushman
* http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives/d8101.htm
* https://sova.si.edu/record/nmah.ac.0101
External links
Saul Dushman papers*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dushman, Saul
Russian physical chemists
American physical chemists
1883 births
1954 deaths
Jewish Russian scientists
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States
20th-century American chemists