Comstock Prize in Physics
Encyclopedia
The Comstock Prize in Physics is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences
"for recent innovative discovery or investigation in electricity, magnetism, or radiant energy, broadly interpreted."
Honorees must be residents of North America. Named after Cyrus B. Comstock
, it has been awarded about every five years since 1913.
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
"for recent innovative discovery or investigation in electricity, magnetism, or radiant energy, broadly interpreted."
Honorees must be residents of North America. Named after Cyrus B. Comstock
Cyrus B. Comstock
Cyrus Ballou Comstock was a career officer in the Regular Army of the United States. After graduating from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1855, Comstock served with the Army Corps of Engineers. At the beginning of the American Civil War, he assisted with the fortification of...
, it has been awarded about every five years since 1913.
List of Comstock Prize winners
- 2009: Charles L. BennettCharles L. BennettCharles L. Bennett is an American observational astrophysicist and the Alumni Centennial Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University. He is the Principal Investigator of NASA's highly successful Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe...
- 2004: John N. BahcallJohn N. BahcallJohn Norris Bahcall was an American astrophysicist, best known for his contributions to the solar neutrino problem, the development of the Hubble Space Telescope and for his leadership and development of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.-Early and family life:Bahcall was born in...
- 1999: John ClarkeJohn Clarke (physicist)John Clarke is an English physicist and a Professor of Experimental Physics at University of California at Berkeley.Clarke received BA, MA, and Ph.D. in Physics from Cambridge University in 1964, 1968, and 1968, respectively....
- 1993: E. L. HahnErwin HahnErwin L. Hahn is a U.S. physicist, best known for his work on nuclear magnetic resonance . In 1950 he discovered the spin echo....
and Charles P. SlichterCharles Pence SlichterCharles Pence Slichter is an American physicist, best known for his work on nuclear magnetic resonance and superconductivity.... - 1988: Paul C. W. ChuChu Ching-wuPaul Chu is an Chinese-American physicist specializing in superconductivity, magnetism, and dielectrics. He is a Professor of physics and T.L.L. Temple Chair of Science in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at the University of Houston...
and Maw-Kuen Wu - 1983: Theodor W. Hänsch and Peter P. Sorokin
- 1978: Raymond Davis, Jr.
- 1973: Robert H. DickeRobert H. DickeRobert Henry Dicke was an American physicist who made important contributions to the fields of astrophysics, atomic physics, cosmology and gravity.-Biography:...
- 1968: Leon N CooperLeon CooperLeon N Cooper is an American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate, who with John Bardeen and John Robert Schrieffer, developed the BCS theory of superconductivity...
and J. Robert SchriefferJohn Robert SchriefferJohn Robert Schrieffer is an American physicist and, with John Bardeen and Leon N Cooper, recipient of the 1972 Nobel Prize for Physics for developing the BCS theory, the first successful microscopic theory of superconductivity.-Biography:... - 1963: C. S. WuChien-Shiung WuChien-Shiung Wu was a Chinese-American physicist with expertise in the techniques of experimental physics and radioactivity. Wu worked on the Manhattan Project...
- 1958: Charles H. TownesCharles Hard TownesCharles Hard Townes is an American Nobel Prize-winning physicist and educator. Townes is known for his work on the theory and application of the maser, on which he got the fundamental patent, and other work in quantum electronics connected with both maser and laser devices. He shared the Nobel...
- 1953: William ShockleyWilliam ShockleyWilliam Bradford Shockley Jr. was an American physicist and inventor. Along with John Bardeen and Walter Houser Brattain, Shockley co-invented the transistor, for which all three were awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics.Shockley's attempts to commercialize a new transistor design in the 1950s...
- 1948: Merle A.TuveMerle TuveMerle Anthony Tuve, PhD was an American scientist and geophysicist who was the founding director of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. He was a pioneer in the use of pulsed radio waves whose discoveries opened the way to the development of radar and nuclear...
- 1943: Donald W. KerstDonald William KerstDonald William Kerst was an American physicist.He was born in Galena, Illinois. At the University of Wisconsin he earned a bachelor's degree in 1934, then was awarded a Ph.D. in 1937. For a year he worked at General Electric Company, then he taught at the University of Illinois from 1938 until...
- 1938: Ernest O. LawrenceErnest LawrenceErnest Orlando Lawrence was an American physicist and Nobel Laureate, known for his invention, utilization, and improvement of the cyclotron atom-smasher beginning in 1929, based on his studies of the works of Rolf Widerøe, and his later work in uranium-isotope separation for the Manhattan Project...
- 1933: Percy W. BridgmanPercy Williams BridgmanPercy Williams Bridgman was an American physicist who won the 1946 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the physics of high pressures. He also wrote extensively on the scientific method and on other aspects of the philosophy of science.- Biography :Bridgman entered Harvard University in 1900,...
- 1928: Clinton J. DavissonClinton DavissonClinton Joseph Davisson , was an American physicist who won the 1937 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of electron diffraction. Davisson shared the Nobel Prize with George Paget Thomson, who independently discovered electron diffraction at about the same time as Davisson.-Early...
- 1923: William DuaneWilliam Duane (physicist)William Duane was an American physicist. A coworker of Marie Curie, he developed a method for generating quantities of radon in the laboratory.-Biography:-Studies:...
- 1918: Samuel J. Barnett
- 1913: Robert A. Millikan
External links
- Comstock Prize in Physics National Academy of Sciences web site