Carl Eckart

Carl Henry Eckart ( born May 4, 1902 in St. Louis, Missouri, † October 23, 1973 in La Jolla, California ) was an American physicist and oceanographer.

His studies in physics he joined after the master's degree at Washington University in St. Louis in 1923 with a Ph.D. 1925 from Princeton University. After that, he was 1925-1927 at Caltech and 1927/28, as Guggenheim Fellow at Arnold Sommerfeld at the University of Munich. From 1928 to 1946 he was a professor at the University of Chicago ( first as assistant professor, associate professor from 1931 ).

Best known Eckart came through his contributions to quantum physics, especially through the Wigner- Eckart theorem (Reviews of Modern Physics, 1930).

During the Second World War he worked on underwater sound. 1946 to 1952 he was director of the Marine Physical Laboratory of the University of California. From 1948 to 1951 he was director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. His successor was Roger Revelle. He thereafter remained until his retirement in 1971, Professor of Geophysics at the Scripps Institute.

From 1963 to 1965 he sat in front of the Academic Senate of the University of California, San Diego. In 1965 he became Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs of the University.

In 1958 he married - her second husband - Klara Dan von Neumann, the widow of John von Neumann.

Since 1953 he was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Alexander Agassiz Medal he received in 1966. He translated with FC Hoyt 's book Werner Heisenberg The physical principles of quantum theory into English. In 1972 he was awarded the William Bowie Medal.

Writings

• The Application of Group Theory to the Quantum Dynamics of Mona Tomic system, Rev. Mod Phys, Vol 2, 1930, pp. 305 -. 380
• With others: Principles and Applications of Underwater Sound, Washington DC, 1946 (originally secret, declassified in 1954 ), Reprint by Navy Headquarters Naval Material Command 1968
• Hydrodynamics of Oceans and Atmospheres, Pergamon Press, 1960