Merle Antony Tuve: Pioneer Nuclear Physicist

JAN 01, 1988

Working during the years between the world wars, first with Tesla coils and then with Van de Graaff generators, he established one of the earliest nuclear physics programs based on particle accelerators.

DOI: 10.1063/1.881153

Thomas D. Cornell

Despite the effects of the Depression on the institutions that supported its work, the American physics community of the 1930s was booming intellectually. In particular, many of its members were contributing significantly to the rapid emergence of nuclear physics as a distinctive field of research. Among the most active of these participants was Merle Antony Tuve.

References

1. G. E. Pendray, New Outlook 163, 39 (1934).
2. E. O. Lawrence, letter to M. A. Tuve, 25 July 1922,
M. A. Tuve Papers, Box 2 (MAT‐2), Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
3. M. A. Tuve, notebook entry, 28 July 1922, MAT‐388.
4. M. A. Tuve, lecture draft (1928), MAT‐5.
5. G. Breit, M. A. Tuve, O. Dahl, Phys. Rev. 35, 51 (1930). https://doi.org/PHRVAO
M. A. Tuve, G. Breit, L. R. Hafstad, Phys. Rev. 35, 66 (1930).https://doi.org/PHRVAO
6. M. A. Tuve, letter to K. F. Herzfeld, 3 February 1930, MAT‐4.
7. M. A. Tuve, report for May 1930, 5 June 1930, MAT‐15.
8. E. O. Lawrence, letter to M. A. Tuve, 4 January 1931, MAT‐8.
9. M. A. Tuve, report for September 1931, 3 October 1931, MAT‐15.
10. G. Breit, letter to M. A. Tuve, 20 January 1933, MAT‐4.
11. M. A. Tuve, L. R. Hafstad, O. Dahl, Phys. Rev. 43, 942 (1933).https://doi.org/PHRVAO
12. inh R. H. Stuewer, Am. J. Phys. 54, 206 (1986).https://doi.org/AJPIAS
13. J. D. Cockcroft, letter to M. A. Tuve, 30 April 1934, MAT‐16.
14. L. R. Hafstad, M. A. Tuve, Phys. Rev. 45, 902 (1934).https://doi.org/PHRVAO
15. M. A. Tuve, letter to L. R. Hafstad, 2 July 1934, MAT‐16.
16. G. Breit, E. U. Condon, R. D. Present, Phys. Rev. 50, 825 (1936).
17. M. A. Tuve, L. R. Hafstad, O. Dahl, Phys. Rev. 48, 315 (1935). https://doi.org/PHRVAO
L. R. Hafstad, N. P. Heydenburg, M. A. Tuve, Phys. Rev. 50, 504 (1936). https://doi.org/PHRVAO
L. H. Rumbaugh, L. R. Hafstad, Phys. Rev. 50, 681 (1936). https://doi.org/PHRVAO
M. A. Tuve, N. P. Heydenburg, L. R. Hafstad, Phys. Rev. 50, 806 (1936). https://doi.org/PHRVAO
E. Amaldi, L. R. Hafstad, M. A. Tuve, Phys. Rev. 51, 896 (1937).https://doi.org/PHRVAO
18. E. Rutherford, letter to M. A. Tuve, 17 November 1936, Carnegie Institution Archives, 1530 P Street NW, Washington, D.C., under the heading of “Department of Terrestrial Magnetism—Director 1935–1940.”.
19. L. R. Hafstad, report on the International Conference on Physics, London, England, 1–6 October 1934, 1934, MAT‐15.
20. M. A. Tuve, proposal, A Full‐Scale Equipment for Researchers in High‐Energy Physics, 30 September 1935, Carnegie Institution Archives, under the heading of “Department of Terrestrial Magnetism—Director 1935–1940.”.
21. M. A. Tuve, letter to J. Franck, 28 March 1938, MAT‐17.
22. M. A. Tuve, report for March 1937, 7 April 1937, MAT‐15.
23. R. D. Potter, The Atomic Revolution, McBride, NY (1946), p. 15.

More about the Authors

Thomas D. Cornell. Rochester Institute of Technology.