August Herman Pfund

August Herman Pfund
Born (1879-12-28)December 28, 1879
Madison, Wisconsin
Died January 4, 1949(1949-01-04) (aged 69)
Nationality USA
Fields Physics
Spectroscopy
Calorimetry
Institutions Johns Hopkins University
Alma mater Johns Hopkins University
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Doctoral advisor Robert W. Wood
Known for Pfund line
Pfund telescope
Pfund sky compass
Notable awards

Edward Longstreth Medal (1922)

Frederic Ives Medal (1939)

August Herman Pfund ('Papa Pfund')[1](December 28, 1879 January 4, 1949) was an American born physicist, spectroscopist, and inventor.

Early life

Pfund was born in Madison, Wisconsin and attended Wisconsin public schools until his entry into the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he earned a B.S. degree in physics and studied under Robert W. Wood.

Career

Both Wood and Pfund left Wisconsin for Johns Hopkins University in 1903. From 1903 to 1905 Pfund was a Carnegie research assistant and continued to work under Wood. In 1906 Pfund earned his Ph.D. in physics and was a Johnston scholar from 1907 to 1909. He remained at Hopkins for the remainder of his career, eventually becoming a full professor and later chair of the physics department. From 1943 to 1944 Pfund served as the president of the Optical Society of America.

Within the hydrogen spectral series Pfund discovered the fifth series, where an electron jumps up from or drops down to the fifth fundamental level. This Series is known as the Pfund series, named for him. He also invented the Pfund telescope, which is a method for achieving a fixed telescope focal point regardless of where the telescope line of sight is positioned, and the Pfund sky compass,[2] which arose from Pfund's studies of the polarization of scattered light from the sky in 1944, and which greatly helped transpolar flights by allowing the determination of the Sun's direction in twilight.[3] Pfund is also noted for his work into the area of infrared gas analysis.

See also

References

  1. Niels Bohr Library and Archives
  2. Moody, Lieutenant Commander Alton B., "THE PFUND SKY COMPASS", NAVIGATION, Journal of The Institute of Navigation, Vol. 2, No. 7, 1950
  3. Presidents of the Late 1940s, John Howard, Optics and Photonics News, June 2010, last accessed 2013-04-08.

External links

References and Biography

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