Jump to content

User:Vreynoso/sandbox

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Awards

Davisson was awarded with the Comstock Prize in Physics in 1928 by the National Academy of Sciences. This award is granted to recognize a North American resident for his or her discovery in the field of electricity, magnetism, or radiant energy. The award consists of a cash prize to both the recipient and to an institution of the recipient’s choice.[1] This was one of the first awards Davisson received for his study of electrons, which awarded his experimental work that electrons behave as multiple waves would behave. This discovery of the electrons nature helped to verify its dual properties in quantum mechanics.

A few years later, Davisson was awarded with the Elliot Cresson Medal in 1931 by the Franklin Institute. During this time Davisson was working in the Bell Telephone Laboratories where he continued his studies of electrons, along with Lester H. Germer. At the time he focused on the emissions of electrons from metal, while in the presence of heat.  Davisson was awarded by the Franklin Institute for his work on the scattering and diffraction of electrons through crystals. His experiment consisted of shooting a beam of electrons to a metallic crystal, which produced a diffraction pattern when the beam of electrons reflected off the crystal. This diffraction pattern was similar to that of electromagnetic waves, including X-rays.[2] The field of quantum mechanics benefited through this discovery as the dual properties of electrons and other subatomic particles were further verified.

Davisson won the Hughes Medal award by the Royal Society in 1935. This award is given biennially to a researcher studying in the field of energy. Davisson won this award for his discovery of the physical existence of the electron wave. He discovered this by studying the reflection of electrons from crystal planes of nickel and other metals. This award was given to him for his previous work that began in 1927, while studying the diffraction of electrons and helping to prove Louis de Broglie's theory.[3]

In 1937, Davisson won the Nobel Prize in Physics along with George Paget Thomson, though they worked independently from each other. He was awarded the Nobel Prize while working in Bell Telephone Laboratories in New York, NY.  At this time he was studying in the field of crystallography and electromagnetism.  He was granted this award for his work on the discovery of electron diffraction by crystals[4].  Before his contribution, quantum mechanics was based off the idea that energy was in fixed amounts.  Davisson helped to show that electrons could also be described as waves when he passed an electron beam through a nickel crystal and it resulted in diffraction patterns.

  1. ^ "Comstock Prize in Physics". Institute for Advanced Study.
  2. ^ "CLINTON J. DAVISSON". The Franklin Institute. 1931.
  3. ^ "Hughes Medal". The Royal Society.
  4. ^ The Nobel Prize in Physics 1937. "The Official Website of the Nobel Prize". The Official Website of the Nobel Prize.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)