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Fluid dynamics of electron gases

NOV 01, 1973
Our understanding of the behavior of electron fluids is one offshoot of Otto Laporte’s deep interest in shock‐wave phenomena.
Richard G. Fowler

Although fluid dynamics may be regarded by many physicists as a quiet and wholly classical backwater, those of us in the field know it to be complex, dynamic and exciting. The resurgence of this field was due in no small way to the work of Otto Laporte, who died on 28 March 1971 after an extraordinarily full career dating from the 1920’s. Laporte’s interest in fluid dynamics, stemming from his early association with Arnold Sommerfeld in Munich, grew after he took over the Shock Tube Laboratory at Michigan in 1946, where he developed many of the now well known results and methods in shock‐wave technique.

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References

  1. 1. O. Laporte, “Propagation of Electromagnetic Waves,” Ann. d. Physik 70, 595 (1923).

  2. 2. O. Laporte, “Structure of the Iron Spectrum Part II,” Zeits. f. Physik 26, 1 (1924).

  3. 3. L. B. Loeb, J. M. Meek, Mechanics of the Electric Spark, Stanford U.P. (1941).

  4. 4. R. G. Fowler, “Electrons as a hydrodynamical fluid,” Adv. Electronics & Electron Phys. 20, 1 (1964).

  5. 5. R. G. Fowler, “Non Linear Electron Acoustic Waves,” Adv. Electronics & Electron Phys., 35 (1974), in press.

  6. 6. R. Klingbeil, D. A. Tidman, R. F. Fernsler, “Ionizing Gas Breakdown Waves,” Phys. Fluids 15, 1969 (1972).https://doi.org/PFLDAS

More about the Authors

Richard G. Fowler. University of Oklahoma, Norman.

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This Content Appeared In
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Volume 26, Number 11

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