Sir Rudolf Ernst Peierls, (June 5, 1907, Berlin – September 19, 1995, Oxford), was a German-born British physicist. Events 70 - Titus and his Roman Legions breach the middle wall of Jerusalem in the Siege of Jerusalem Year 1907 ( MCMVII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. Events 335 - Dalmatius is raised to the rank of Caesar by his uncle Constantine I. Year 1995 ( MCMXCV) was a Common year starting on Sunday. Events of 1995 Oxford is currently bidding for the 2010 Wikimania Conference Oxford () is a city, and the County town of Oxfordshire, Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. A physicist is a Scientist who studies or practices Physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning Rudolph Peierls had a major role in Britain's nuclear program, but he also had a role in many modem sciences. The United Kingdom was the third state to test an independently developed Nuclear weapon in October 1952 His impact on physics can probably be best described by his obituary in Physics Today: "Rudolph Peierls. . . a major player in the drama of the irruption of nuclear physics into world affairs. Nuclear physics is the field of Physics that studies the building blocks and interactions of Atomic nuclei. . . "[1].
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Early years
The son of assimilated Jewish parents, he assisted Egon Orowan in understanding the force required to move a dislocation which would be expanded on by Frank Nabarro and called the Peierls-Nabarro force. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ Egon Orowan ( Orován Egon) ( August 2, 1902 — August 3, 1989) was a Hungarian / British / U In Physics, a force is whatever can cause an object with Mass to Accelerate. In Materials science, a dislocation is a Crystallographic defect, or irregularity within a Crystal structure. Frank Reginald Nunes Nabarro MBE OMS ( 7 March 1916 - 20 July 2006 in London, England) was an Peierls stress is the force (first discovered by Rudolph Peierls and modified by Frank Nabarro) needed to move a Dislocation within a plane of atoms in In 1929, he studied solid-state physics in Zurich under the tutelage of Werner Heisenberg and Wolfgang Pauli. Solid-state physics, the largest branch of Condensed matter physics, is the study of rigid Matter, or Solids The bulk of solid-state physics theory and Zürich (, Zürich German: Züri, Zurich, Zurigo; in English generally Zurich) is the largest city in Switzerland and capital of the Werner Heisenberg (5 December 1901 in Würzburg &ndash1 February 1976 in Munich) was a German theoretical physicist best known for enunciating the His early work on quantum physics led to the theory of positive carriers to explain the thermal and electrical conductivity behaviors of semiconductors. Quantum mechanics is the study of mechanical systems whose dimensions are close to the Atomic scale such as Molecules Atoms Electrons An electron hole is the conceptual and mathematical Opposite of an Electron, useful in the study of Physics and Chemistry. A semiconductor' is a Solid material that has Electrical conductivity in between a conductor and an insulator; it can vary over that He was a pioneer of the concept of "holes" in semiconductors. [2] He actually established "zones" before Leon Brillouin despite Leon's name being currently attached to the idea and applied it to phonons. Léon Nicolas Brillouin ( August 7, 1889 &ndash December 1969 was a French physicist In Physics, a phonon is a quantized mode of vibration occurring in a rigid crystal lattice, such as the Atomic lattice of a Solid Doing this, he discovered the Boltzmann equations for phonons and the Umklapp process. The Boltzmann equation, also often known as the Boltzmann transport equation, devised by Ludwig Boltzmann, describes the statistical distribution of Umklapp scattering (also U-process or Umklapp process) is an anharmonic Phonon -phonon (or Electron -phonon Scattering process Physics Today states "His many papers on electrons in metals have now passed so deeply into the literature that it is hard to identify his contribution to conductivity in magnetic fields and to the concept of a hole in the theory of electrons in solids. In Solid-state physics, the electronic band structure (or simply band structure) of a Solid describes ranges of Energy that an Electron Scientific literature comprises scientific Publications that report original empirical and theoretical work in the natural and Social sciences An electron hole is the conceptual and mathematical Opposite of an Electron, useful in the study of Physics and Chemistry. In Solid-state physics, the electronic band structure (or simply band structure) of a Solid describes ranges of Energy that an Electron "[1]
Leading up to World War II
He was studying on a Rockefeller Scholarship at Cambridge University when Adolf Hitler came to power in his native Germany. The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University) located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately Granted leave to remain in Britain, he worked in Manchester under a fund set up for refugees, with Hans Bethe on photodisintegration and the statistical mechanics of alloys when asked by James Chadwick. Hans Albrecht Bethe (/hans ˈalbʀɛçt ˈbeːtə/ ( July 2 1906 &ndash March 6, 2005) was a German - American Physicist Photodisintegration is a physical process in which extremely high energy Gamma rays interact with an Atomic nucleus and cause it to enter an excited state which immediately Statistical mechanics is the application of Probability theory, which includes mathematical tools for dealing with large populations to the field of Mechanics An alloy is a Solid solution or Homogeneous mixture of two or more elements, at least one of which is a Metal, which itself has Sir James Chadwick, CH (20 October 1891 &ndash 24 July 1974 was an English Physicist and Nobel laureate in physics awarded for his discovery of the Their results still serve as the basis for mean-field theories of structural phase changes in complete alloys. A Many-body system with interactions is generally very difficult to solve exactly except for extremely simple cases ( Gaussian field theory, 1D Ising model. In the Physical sciences a phase is a Set of states of a macroscopic physical system that have relatively uniform chemical composition and physical properties An alloy is a Solid solution or Homogeneous mixture of two or more elements, at least one of which is a Metal, which itself has Moving back to Cambridge, he worked with P. G. L. Kapur at Mond Laboratory on superconductivity and liquid helium. Superconductivity is a phenomenon occurring in certain Materials generally at very low Temperatures characterized by exactly zero electrical resistance Helium exists in Liquid form only at very low Temperatures The Boiling point and critical point depend on the Isotope The group derived the dispersion formula for nuclear reactions originally given in perturbation theory by Gregory Breit and Eugene Wigner, but now included generalizing conditions. In Nuclear physics, a nuclear reaction is the process in which two nuclei or nuclear particles collide to produce products different from the initial particles In Quantum mechanics, perturbation theory is a set of approximation schemes directly related to mathematical perturbation for describing a complicated quantum system Gregory Breit ( July 14, 1899 &ndash September 11, 1981) was a Russian-born American Physicist and professor at universities Eugene Paul "EP" Wigner ( Hungarian Wigner Pál Jenő) ( November 17, 1902 &ndash January 1, 1995) was a This is now known as the Kapur-Peierls derivation. In 1937, he became Professor of Physics at the University of Birmingham, Birmingham, England. The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a British red brick University located in the city of Birmingham Birmingham ( ˈbɜːmɪŋəm Ber -ming-um England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland [1]
World War II
In 1939, he started working on atomic research with Otto Robert Frisch and James Chadwick. Year 1939 ( MCMXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Otto Robert Frisch ( 1 October 1904 &ndash 22 September 1979) Austrian British Physicist. Ironically, both Peierls and Frisch were excluded from working on radar (then known as RDF) as it was considered too secret for scientists with foreign backgrounds. Radar is a system that uses electromagnetic waves to identify the range altitude direction or speed of both moving and fixed objects such as Aircraft, ships
Frisch-Peierls memorandum
In March 1940, he co-authored the Frisch-Peierls memorandum with Frisch. Year 1940 ( MCMXL) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Frisch-Peierls memorandum was written by Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls while they were both working at Birmingham University, England and given This short paper was the first to set out how one could construct an atomic bomb from a small amount of fissionable uranium-235. A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from Nuclear reactions either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. In Nuclear engineering, a fissile material is one that is capable of sustaining a Chain reaction of Nuclear fission. Uranium-235 is an isotope of uranium that differs from the element's other common isotope Uranium-238, by its ability to cause a rapidly expanding fission They calculated that about 1kg would be needed. [3] Until then it had been assumed that such a bomb would require many tons of uranium, and consequently was impractical to build and use. The paper was pivotal in igniting the interest of first the British and later the American authorities in atomic weapons. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from Nuclear reactions either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. In 1941 its findings made their way to the United States through the report of the MAUD Committee, an important trigger in the establishment of the Manhattan Project and the subsequent development of the atomic bomb. The Maud Committee was the beginning of the British atomic bomb project before the United Kingdom joined forces with the United States The World War II Manhattan Project developed the first Nuclear weapon (atomic bomb He was also responsible for the recruitment of his compatriot Klaus Fuchs to the British project, an action which was to result in Peierls falling under suspicion when Fuchs was exposed as a Soviet spy in 1950. Klaus Emil Julius Fuchs ( December 29, 1911 &ndash January 28, 1988) was a German -born theoretical physicist and In 1995, The Spectator garnered outrage from his family when they alleged Rudolph Peierls was a spy codenamed "perls" for the Soviet Union. [4]
Manhattan project
Following the signature of the Quebec Agreement in August, 1943, Peierls joined the Manhattan Project in the United States, initially in New York and later at the Los Alamos Laboratory, where he played an important role in the development of the atomic bomb. The Quebec Agreement was an Anglo - Canadian - American document which outlined the terms of nuclear Nonproliferation between the United Kingdom Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL (previously known at various times as Site Y, Los Alamos Laboratory, and Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory) is a Notably, when the materials were shipped to build the first nuclear bomb at Los Alamos, Rudolph Peierls courageously assembled the bomb by hand. A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from Nuclear reactions either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. [5]
Post-war
After the war, Peierls reassumed his position in the physics department at the University of Birmingham where he worked until 1963 before joining the University of Oxford. The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a British red brick University located in the city of Birmingham Year 1963 ( MCMLXIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The University of Oxford (informally "Oxford University" or simply "Oxford" located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England is the At Birmingham he worked on nuclear forces, scattering, quantum field theories, collective motion in nuclei, transport theory, and statistical mechanics. The nuclear force (or nucleon-nucleon interaction or residual strong force) is the force between two or more Nucleons It is responsible for Scattering is a general physical process whereby some forms of Radiation, such as Light, Sound or moving particles for example are forced to deviate from In quantum field theory (QFT the forces between particles are mediated by other particles This page is an adapted translation of the corresponding - As will be noted there remain void paragraphs as on the original In Mathematics and Economics, transportation theory is a name given to the study of optimal transportation and allocation of resources Statistical mechanics is the application of Probability theory, which includes mathematical tools for dealing with large populations to the field of Mechanics Also while at Birmingham, he worked as a consultant to the British atomic programme at Harwell. He was knighted in 1968, and retired from Oxford in 1974. Year 1968 ( MCMLXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Year 1974 ( MCMLXXIV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. He wrote several books including Quantum Theory of Solids, The Laws of Nature (1955), Surprises in Theoretical Physics (1979), More Surprises in Theoretical Physics (1991) and an autobiography, Bird of Passage (1985). Concerned with the nuclear weapons he had helped to unleash, he worked on the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, was President of the Atomic Scientists' Association in the UK, and was a major player in the Pugwash movement. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is a nontechnical magazine that covers global security and public policy issues especially related to the dangers posed by nuclear The British Atomic Scientists Association ( ASA or BASA) was founded by Joseph Rotblat in 1946 The Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs is an International organization that brings together scholars and public figures to work toward reducing the danger [1]
Honors
He was awarded the Lorentz Medal in 1962. Lorentz Medal is an award given every four years by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1980 he received the Enrico Fermi Award from the US Government for exceptional contribution to the science of atomic energy. Year 1980 ( MCMLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar) The Enrico Fermi Award is a US government "Presidential" award honoring scientists of international stature for their lifetime achievement in the development use or production [6]
Legacy
On 2 October 2004, the building housing the sub-department of Theoretical Physics at the University of Oxford was formally named the Sir Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics. Events 1187 - Siege of Jerusalem: Saladin captures Jerusalem after 88 years of Crusader rule "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " Theoretical physics employs Mathematical models and Abstractions of Physics in an attempt to explain experimental data taken of the natural world The University of Oxford (informally "Oxford University" or simply "Oxford" located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England is the
References
- ^ a b c d Edwards, Sam. "Rudolph E. Peierls". Physics Today. February 1996. January 27, 2004. <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9602090338&site=ehost-live>. 74, 75
- ^ 1. R. E. Peierls, "Zur Theorie der galvanomagnetischen Effekte", 1929. 2. R. E. Peierls, "Zur Theorie des Hall Effekts", 1929. The English translation of these 2 papers can be found in "Selected Scientific Papers of Sir Rudolf Peierls", edited by R H Dalitz & Sir Rudolf Peierls, World Scientific, 1997.
- ^ Sherrow, Victoria. The Making of the Atom Bomb. San Diego: Lucent Books, 2000. 24
- ^ Durr, Matin. New spy claims meet firm denial". Physics web. July 1, 1999. January 27, 2004. <http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/3014>.
- ^ Cohen, Daniel. The Manhattan Project. Brookfield: Twenty-First Century Books, 1999. 69
- ^ [1]
External links
- Selected Scientific Papers of Sir Rudolf Peierls, edited by R H Dalitz & Sir Rudolf Peierls, World Scientific Series in 20th Century Physics, Volume 19, 1997.
- Sir Rudolf Peierls: Selected Private and Scientific Correspondence Volume 1, by Sabine Lee (University of Birmingham, UK).
- Pictures in the National Portrait Gallery, London. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom.
- Annotated bibliography for Rudolf Peierls from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues
- Rudolph Peierls own biographical notes from Los Alamos National Laboratory as a pdf
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