Donald William Kerst
Donald William Kerst ( born November 1, 1911 in Galena, Illinois; † August 19, 1993 in Madison, Wisconsin ) was an American physicist who built independently of other 1940, the betatron.
Life
Kerst was born in Galena, Illinois. He studied at the University of Wisconsin, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1934 and 1937, the academic degree of PhD. The following year he worked for General Electric, then he taught from 1938 to 1957 at the University of Illinois, most recently as Professor. During the Second World War he worked as part of the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, New Mexico. From 1957 to 1962 he was for General Dynamics at its nuclear-related laboratory ( General Atomic Laboratory, today General Atomics ) active in La Jolla. After that, he taught as a professor until his retirement in 1980 at the University of Wisconsin. From 1972 to 1973 he was chairman of the range Plasma Physics of the American Physical Society.
The first functional betatron was developed in 1935 by Max Steenbeck in the research laboratory of the Siemens Schuckert Berlin, but initially kept secret and not pursued because of other priorities. Regardless of the betatron was built in 1940 by William Donald Kerst at the University of Illinois, with which it he was the first to accelerate electrons by means of electromagnetic induction up to an energy of 2.3 MeV. Kerst, therefore, is regarded today as the inventor of the betatron, but he was referring to in his publication in Physical Review explicitly to Rolf Wideröe, who had the idea for the betatron already in the 1920s.
Emerged in the subsequent period under his direction ( in Illinois, Los Alamos, at General Electric) more betatron models growing power, last up to 300 MeV ( University of Illinois ). From 1953 to 1957 he presented as technical director of the Research Association of the Midwestern Universities ( MURA ) before more advanced concepts for particle acceleration. Later he worked on problems of plasma physics, particularly for the control of fusion reactors. There he worked with Tihiro Ohkawa.
At General Atomics he devoted himself to plasma physics and nuclear fusion research.
Kerst enjoyed a legendary reputation in the teaching of physics.
Donald William Kerst was married to Dorothy Birkett Kerst, the couple had two children.
He died at the Hospital of the University in Madison, Wisconsin, to a brain tumor.
Honors and Awards
- Comstock Prize in Physics of the National Academy of Sciences, 1943
- John Scott Award of the City of Philadelphia, 1946.
- John Price Wetherill Medal of the Franklin Institute, 1950.
- James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics of the American Physical Society, 1984.
- Robert R. Wilson Prize for physics acceleration, 1988.
- Ehrendoktorder Lawrence University, 1942.
- Ehrendoktorder University of São Paulo, 1953.
- Ehrendoktorder University of Illinois, 1989.
- Election to the National Academy of Sciences, 1951.