Milestones:List of Milestones by Region and Mark Oliphant: Difference between pages

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== Biography  ==


To See the locations of IEEE&nbsp;Milestones on a map, click on [http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Map http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Map]  
[[Image:225px-Sir Mark Oliphant.jpg|thumb|left|Mark Oliphant]]  


To see the list of all dedicated milestones click on [http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php?title=Milestones:List_of_IEEE_Milestones http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php?title=Milestones:List_of_IEEE_Milestones]
Sir Marcus 'Mark' Laurence Elwin Oliphant AC, KBE (October 8, 1901 – July 14, 2000) was an Australian physicist and humanitarian who played a fundamental role in the first experimental demonstration of nuclear fusion and the development of the atomic bomb.  


To see the list of dedicated milestones by date dedicated, click on [http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Milestones:List_of_Milestones_by_Dedication_Year http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Milestones:List_of_Milestones_by_Dedication_Year]
During retirement he was appointed state governor of South Australia. He assisted in the inauguration of the Australian Democrats and chaired the 1977 Melbourne meeting at which the party was launched.  


<br>
[[Image:1382-cavendish laboratory.jpg|thumb|right|Cavendish Laboratory]]


DATE
In 1925, he heard a speech given by New Zealand physicist Ernest Rutherford and decided then and there that he would work for him—an ambition he fulfilled by gaining a position at the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge in 1927 which was at the time carrying out the most advanced research into nuclear physics in the world. It was at the Cavendish, for example, that the atom was first split in 1932. Amongst other research, Oliphant worked on the artificial disintegration of the atomic nucleus and positive ions, and he designed complex [[Particle accelerators|particle accelerators]].


DEDICATED&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; SHORT NAME OF MILESTONE&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; SECTION
Oliphant's contribution to this work was his discovery of the nuclei of helium 3 (helions) and tritium (tritons). He was also the first to discover heavy hydrogen nuclei could be made to react with each other (tritons and helions being the products, along with protons and neutrons). This fusion reaction is the basis of a hydrogen bomb and fusion power reactors. Ten years later, American scientist Edward Teller would press to use Oliphant's discovery in order to build one. However, Oliphant did not foresee this: "we had no idea whatever that this would one day be applied to make [[Nuclear Bombs|hydrogen bombs]]. Our curiosity was just curiosity about the structure of the nucleus of the atom, and the discovery of these reactions was purely, as the Americans would put it, coincidental."


<br>
In 1937, Oliphant was appointed professor of physics at the University of Birmingham. While visiting prototype radar stations, he realized that a shorter wavelength was needed urgently. In 1939, he obtained a grant from the British Admiralty to develop radar with a wavelength less than 10 centimetres, compared to the best available at the time of 150 cm.


<br>
In 1939, he also visited Berkeley, California, where he met Ernest Lawrence, who gave him a complete set of specifications for his 60-inch cyclotron at Birmingham, but the war prevented this from being completed until 1950.


=== Region I ===
=== Role in airborne radar development ===


1982&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Electrification of NY, NH railroad&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Connecticut<br>1987&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Two-way Police Radio&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; North Jersey
Oliphant's group at Birmingham included John Randall and [[Henry A. H. Boot|Harry Boot]] who developed the resonant-cavity magnetron in 1940, achieving the wavelengths needed for an airborne radar. The magnetron's power was soon increased 100-fold, and Birmingham concentrated on magnetron development. The first operational magnetrons were delivered in August 1941. This invention was one of the key scientific breakthroughs during the war and played a major part in defeating the German U-boats, intercepting enemy bombers and in directing Allied bombers. See also Tizard Mission.


1987&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; FM Police Radio&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Connecticut
=== Role in atomic bomb development  ===


1988&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Demonstration of Practical Telegraphy&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; North Jersey
Also at Birmingham, in 1940, Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls had calculated that a uranium-235 atomic bomb was feasible. Oliphant took their findings at once to higher authority. A committee, code-named Maud, sent the report to the US "Uranium Committee" around March 1941 but the Americans took no action.


1990&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Adams Hydroelectric Plant&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Buffalo
Britain was at war and felt an atomic bomb was urgent; there was less urgency in the USA. Mark Oliphant was one of the people who pushed the American programme into action. Oliphant flew to the United States in late August 1941 in an unheated bomber, ostensibly to discuss the radar programme but was actually tasked to find out why the United States was ignoring the Maud Committee's findings. Oliphant said that "the minutes and reports had been sent to Lyman Briggs, who was the Director of the Uranium Committee, and we were puzzled to receive virtually no comment. I called on Briggs in Washington, only to find out that this inarticulate and unimpressive man had put the reports in his safe and had not shown them to members of his committee. I was amazed and distressed."


&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; MIT Radiation Lab&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Boston
Oliphant then met with the Uranium Committee. Samuel K. Allison was a new committee member, a talented experimentalist and a protege of Arthur Compton at the University of Chicago. Oliphant "came to a meeting," Allison recalls, "and said 'bomb' in no uncertain terms. He told us we must concentrate every effort on the bomb and said we had no right to work on power plants or anything but the bomb. The bomb would cost 25 million dollars, he said, and Britain did not have the money or the manpower, so it was up to us." Allison was surprised that Briggs had kept the committee in the dark.


1992&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Alexanderson Radio Alternator&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Schenectady<br>
Oliphant then visited his friends Ernest Lawrence, James Conant and [[Enrico Fermi|Enrico Fermi]] to explain the urgency. Lawrence then also contacted Conant and Arthur Compton. On July 1, 1941 Vannevar Bush, chairman of the National Defense Research Committee, created the larger and more powerful Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) which was empowered to engage in large engineering projects in addition to research. The Uranium Committee became the S-1 Project of the OSRD and in December 1941, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Manhattan Engineering District was built, and the project was dubbed the [[Manhattan Project|Manhattan Project]].


2009&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Invention of Transistor&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; North&nbsp;Jersey
In November 1943, Oliphant moved to work on the Manhattan Project as part of the British delegation. The work on the bomb made him uneasy and he preferred to concentrate on processes for refining uranium-235 at Berkeley with his friend Ernest Lawrence - a vital but less overtly military part of the project. He was awarded the 1943 Hughes Medal.


&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Franklin Experiments in&nbsp;Philadelphia&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Philadelphia
He returned to England in April 1945 and, after VE-Day, resumed his post as professor of physics at the University of Birmingham. It was here that he first heard of the use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. He was later to remark that he felt "sort of proud that the bomb had worked, and absolutely appalled at what it had done to human beings." He became a harsh critic of nuclear weapons and a member of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. ". . . I, right from the beginning, have been terribly worried by the existence of nuclear weapons and very much against their use." His wartime work would have earned him a Congressional Medal of Freedom with Gold Palm, but the Australian government vetoed the honor.


=== Region 2 ===
=== Later years in Australia ===


1985&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Westinghouse Atom Smasher&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Pittsburgh<br>
In 1950, Oliphant returned to Australia as first director of the Research School of Physical Sciences at the new Australian National University, where he initiated the design and construction of the world's largest (500MJ) homopolar generator. This machine was used to power the large-scale railgun which was used as a scientific instrument. He established the Australian Academy of Science in 1954 and was its first president until 1956. After retiring from the university in 1967, Oliphant was invited to become state governor of South Australia, a position he held from 1971 to 1976. During his period he caused great concern to premier Don Dunstan when he strongly supported the decision of the governor-general, Sir John Kerr in the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis. Oliphant was knighted in 1959 and was made a Companion in the Order of Australia (AC) in 1977.


1987&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ENIAC&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Philadelphia
Late in life he watched his wife, Rosa, suffer before her death in 1987 and became an advocate for voluntary euthanasia.


1989&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Manufacture of Transistors&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Lehigh Valley
On July 14, 2000, Oliphant died in Canberra, aged 98.<br>


1994&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; KDKA Commercial&nbsp;Radio&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Pittsburgh<br>
== Larson Collection Interview  ==


=== Region 3  ===
{{#widget:YouTube16x9|id=z0QaXvLsR9A</youtube>


1986&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; First Central Power Station in South Carolina&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Coastal South Carolina<br>
   


1992&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Richmond Union Passenger Railway&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Richmond<br>
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oliphant}}


<br>
[[Category:News]]
 
=== Region 4  ===
 
1977&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Vulcan Street hydroelectric plant&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Northeastern Wisconsin&nbsp;<br>1987&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;One-way Police Radio&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Southeastern Michigan <br>1990&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Atanasoff-Berry Computer&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Central&nbsp;Iowa
 
1999&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Wearable Cardiac Pacemaker&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Twin Cities<br>
 
=== Region 5  ===
 
1988&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ames Hydroelectric Station&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Pikes Peak<br>
 
1990&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Transcontinental Telegraph&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Denver
 
1991&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Shoshone Transmission Line&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Denver<br>1999&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Georgetown Steam/Hydro Plant&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Denver<br>
 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Merril Wheel Balancing&nbsp;System&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Denver
 
=== Region 6  ===
 
1984&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Stanford Linear Accelerator&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; San Francisco Bay Area Council<br>
 
1997&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Mill Creek Hydroelectric Station&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Foothill<br>2000&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Opana Radar&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Hawaii
 
=== Region 7  ===
 
1985&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Landing of Transatlantic Telegraph&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Newfoundland-Labrador&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Reception of Transatlantic Radio Signals&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Newfoundland-Labrador
 
1993&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Alouette-Isis Satellite&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ottawa<br>
 
=== Region 8  ===
 
1994&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Poulsen Arc Radio Transmitter&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Denmark
 
1999&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Volta's Battery&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Italy
 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Operational Use of Wirelss&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; South Africa
 
2000&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; County Kerry Wireless Station&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; UKRI
 
2009&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Maxwell's Equations&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; UKRI<br>
 
<br>
 
=== Region 9  ===
 
<br>
 
<br>
 
=== Region 10  ===
 
1995&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Yagi Antenna&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Tokyo
 
2009&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Development of Electronic TV 1924-41&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Nagoya
 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Development of Ferrite Materials&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Tokyo
 
2010&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Field Effect Electron Microscope&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Tokyo&nbsp;
 
2010&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;G3 Facsimile&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Tokyo
 
2011-09 Low Loss Optical Fiber, 1 May 2012 (R1 -- Photonics Society)
 
2011-02 B&amp;O Railroad electrification 21 June 2012 (R2 – Baltimore Section)
 
2010-10 LORAN, 27 June 2012 (R1 – Boston Section)
 
2010-11 Whirlwind Computer 27 June 2012 (R1 – Boston Section)
 
2011-04 SAGE system, 27 June 2012 (R1 – Boston Section)
 
2009-09 First Reliable HV Fuse, 3 August 2012 (R4 – Chicago Section)
 
2011-08 Floating Gate EEPROM, 21 August 2012 (R6, Santa Clara Valley Section)
 
<br>
 
<br>
 
B.9. DEDICATIONS HELD DURING THE PREVIOUS YEAR
 
2009-07 Eel River HVDC Converter (R7) 24 February 2011<br>2009-12 Mercury Spacecraft controls 24 February 2011 (R5)<br>2010-01 SPICE Circuit Simulation Program 20 February 2011 (R6)<br>2010-05 Discovery of Superconductivity 8 April 2011 (R8)<br>2008-18 Marconi’s First Wireless Experiments, 29 April 2011 (R8) <br>2010-06 Pearl Street Station, 10 May 2011 (R1)<br>2010-08 Lunar Module 20 July 2011 (R1)<br>2009-13 First Satellite Broadcast to the Public, 18 November 2011 (R10 – Tokyo Section)<br>2010-09 Real-Time Packet Switching 8 December 2011 (R1 – Sig Proc Soc.)<br>2010-02 Apollo Guidance Computer 13 December 2011 (R1 Boston Section)
 
<br>
 
<br><br>
 
MILESTONE DEDICATIONS BY YEAR AND REGION<br>YEAR DEDICATED SHORT NAME REGION<br><br>1984 Stanford Linear Accelerator 6<br>1985 Landing of transatlantic telegraph 7<br>Reception of transatlantic radio signals 7<br>Westinghouse atom smasher 2<br>1986 First Central station in South Carolina 3<br>1987 One-way police radio 4<br>Two-way police radio 1<br>FM police radio 1<br>ENIAC 2<br>1988 Morse telegraph 1<br>Ames Hydroelectric station 5<br>1989 Manufacture of transistors 2<br>1990 Transcontinental telegraph 5<br>Adams hydroelectric plant 1<br>Antanasoff-Berry computer 4<br>MIT radiation lab 1<br>1991 Shoshone transmission line 5<br>1992 Richmond Passenger railway 3<br>Alexanderson Radio alternator 1<br>1993 Alouette-Isis satellite 7<br>1994 Poulsen Arc radio transmitter 8<br>KDKA radio station 2<br>1995 Yagi antenna 10<br>1997 Mill Creek hydroelectric plant 6<br>1999 Volta’s battery 8<br>Georgetown steam/hydro plant 5<br>Operational use of wireless 8<br>Merril wheel balancing system 5<br>First wearable cardiac pacemaker 4<br>2000 County Kerry transatlantic telegraph 8<br>Opana radar 6<br>Mount Fuji radar 10<br>Shinkansen 10<br>2001 Chivilingo hydroelectric plant 9<br>Transmission of transatlantic radio 8<br>Byrd Antarctic shortwave 4<br>US Naval Computing lab 2<br>Color television 2<br>Arecibo radio telescope 9<br>Electrical technology for space launches 3<br>2002 Shannon electrification 8<br>Transatlantic television by satellite 1,8<br>Work on quartz wristwatch 8<br>2003 Marconi early wireless experiments 8<br>Franklin’s London work 8<br>Panama Canal electrical installations 9<br>Bletchley Park code breaking 8<br>2004 Boston electric fire alarm 1<br>Alternating Current electrification 1<br>Boston Rapid transit power system 1<br>Decew Falls hydroelectric plant 7<br>Fleming valve 8<br>Experimental Breeder Reactor 6<br>Commercial quartz wristwatch 10<br>Lempel-Ziv algorithm 8<br>2005 Popov’s radio work 8<br>Vucje Hydroelectric plant 8<br>RAMAC 6<br>Taum Sauk Pumped Storage plant 5<br>First 735 kV Act transmission system 7<br>CERN instrumentation 8<br>Nelson River HVDC 7<br>Pioneering work on electronic calculators 10<br>2006 Callan’s Pioneering contributions 8<br>First intelligible speech over wire 1<br>Edison site at Menlo Park 1<br>WEIZAC computer 8<br>TAT-1 telephone cable 7,8<br>Liquid Crystal Display 2<br>Development of VHS 10<br>2007 Early remote-control 8<br>Railroad ticketing examining system 10<br>2008 First distant speech transmission 7<br>Edison Lab and Factory at West Orange 1<br>Piniwa Hydroelectric 7<br>Fessenden broadcast 1<br>Largest DC generating plant in USA 1<br>Japanese word processor 10<br>2009 Yosami transmitting station 10<br>Pocket-sized electronic calculator 6<br>Planar process integrated circuit 6<br>Shilling early telegraph work 8<br>First external pacemaker 7<br>2010 Kurobe Hydropower Plant 10<br>Commercialization of Photovoltaic Cells 10<br>Star of Laufenburg Interconnection 8 <br>TIROS Satellite 1<br>Discovery of Radioconduction (Branly) 8<br>Invention of Public-key Cryptography 8<br>First TV Broadcast in Western Canada 7<br>Demonstration of Working Laser 6<br>Radio Astronomy Using VLBI 7<br>First 16-bit Monolithic DAC 5<br>TRIUMF Cyclotron 7
 
<br>
 
Regions Regions<br>1-7 8-10<br>--------- -----------<br>57 39

Revision as of 21:20, 6 January 2015

Biography

Mark Oliphant

Sir Marcus 'Mark' Laurence Elwin Oliphant AC, KBE (October 8, 1901 – July 14, 2000) was an Australian physicist and humanitarian who played a fundamental role in the first experimental demonstration of nuclear fusion and the development of the atomic bomb.

During retirement he was appointed state governor of South Australia. He assisted in the inauguration of the Australian Democrats and chaired the 1977 Melbourne meeting at which the party was launched.

Cavendish Laboratory

In 1925, he heard a speech given by New Zealand physicist Ernest Rutherford and decided then and there that he would work for him—an ambition he fulfilled by gaining a position at the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge in 1927 which was at the time carrying out the most advanced research into nuclear physics in the world. It was at the Cavendish, for example, that the atom was first split in 1932. Amongst other research, Oliphant worked on the artificial disintegration of the atomic nucleus and positive ions, and he designed complex particle accelerators.

Oliphant's contribution to this work was his discovery of the nuclei of helium 3 (helions) and tritium (tritons). He was also the first to discover heavy hydrogen nuclei could be made to react with each other (tritons and helions being the products, along with protons and neutrons). This fusion reaction is the basis of a hydrogen bomb and fusion power reactors. Ten years later, American scientist Edward Teller would press to use Oliphant's discovery in order to build one. However, Oliphant did not foresee this: "we had no idea whatever that this would one day be applied to make hydrogen bombs. Our curiosity was just curiosity about the structure of the nucleus of the atom, and the discovery of these reactions was purely, as the Americans would put it, coincidental."

In 1937, Oliphant was appointed professor of physics at the University of Birmingham. While visiting prototype radar stations, he realized that a shorter wavelength was needed urgently. In 1939, he obtained a grant from the British Admiralty to develop radar with a wavelength less than 10 centimetres, compared to the best available at the time of 150 cm.

In 1939, he also visited Berkeley, California, where he met Ernest Lawrence, who gave him a complete set of specifications for his 60-inch cyclotron at Birmingham, but the war prevented this from being completed until 1950.

Role in airborne radar development

Oliphant's group at Birmingham included John Randall and Harry Boot who developed the resonant-cavity magnetron in 1940, achieving the wavelengths needed for an airborne radar. The magnetron's power was soon increased 100-fold, and Birmingham concentrated on magnetron development. The first operational magnetrons were delivered in August 1941. This invention was one of the key scientific breakthroughs during the war and played a major part in defeating the German U-boats, intercepting enemy bombers and in directing Allied bombers. See also Tizard Mission.

Role in atomic bomb development

Also at Birmingham, in 1940, Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls had calculated that a uranium-235 atomic bomb was feasible. Oliphant took their findings at once to higher authority. A committee, code-named Maud, sent the report to the US "Uranium Committee" around March 1941 but the Americans took no action.

Britain was at war and felt an atomic bomb was urgent; there was less urgency in the USA. Mark Oliphant was one of the people who pushed the American programme into action. Oliphant flew to the United States in late August 1941 in an unheated bomber, ostensibly to discuss the radar programme but was actually tasked to find out why the United States was ignoring the Maud Committee's findings. Oliphant said that "the minutes and reports had been sent to Lyman Briggs, who was the Director of the Uranium Committee, and we were puzzled to receive virtually no comment. I called on Briggs in Washington, only to find out that this inarticulate and unimpressive man had put the reports in his safe and had not shown them to members of his committee. I was amazed and distressed."

Oliphant then met with the Uranium Committee. Samuel K. Allison was a new committee member, a talented experimentalist and a protege of Arthur Compton at the University of Chicago. Oliphant "came to a meeting," Allison recalls, "and said 'bomb' in no uncertain terms. He told us we must concentrate every effort on the bomb and said we had no right to work on power plants or anything but the bomb. The bomb would cost 25 million dollars, he said, and Britain did not have the money or the manpower, so it was up to us." Allison was surprised that Briggs had kept the committee in the dark.

Oliphant then visited his friends Ernest Lawrence, James Conant and Enrico Fermi to explain the urgency. Lawrence then also contacted Conant and Arthur Compton. On July 1, 1941 Vannevar Bush, chairman of the National Defense Research Committee, created the larger and more powerful Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) which was empowered to engage in large engineering projects in addition to research. The Uranium Committee became the S-1 Project of the OSRD and in December 1941, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Manhattan Engineering District was built, and the project was dubbed the Manhattan Project.

In November 1943, Oliphant moved to work on the Manhattan Project as part of the British delegation. The work on the bomb made him uneasy and he preferred to concentrate on processes for refining uranium-235 at Berkeley with his friend Ernest Lawrence - a vital but less overtly military part of the project. He was awarded the 1943 Hughes Medal.

He returned to England in April 1945 and, after VE-Day, resumed his post as professor of physics at the University of Birmingham. It was here that he first heard of the use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. He was later to remark that he felt "sort of proud that the bomb had worked, and absolutely appalled at what it had done to human beings." He became a harsh critic of nuclear weapons and a member of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. ". . . I, right from the beginning, have been terribly worried by the existence of nuclear weapons and very much against their use." His wartime work would have earned him a Congressional Medal of Freedom with Gold Palm, but the Australian government vetoed the honor.

Later years in Australia

In 1950, Oliphant returned to Australia as first director of the Research School of Physical Sciences at the new Australian National University, where he initiated the design and construction of the world's largest (500MJ) homopolar generator. This machine was used to power the large-scale railgun which was used as a scientific instrument. He established the Australian Academy of Science in 1954 and was its first president until 1956. After retiring from the university in 1967, Oliphant was invited to become state governor of South Australia, a position he held from 1971 to 1976. During his period he caused great concern to premier Don Dunstan when he strongly supported the decision of the governor-general, Sir John Kerr in the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis. Oliphant was knighted in 1959 and was made a Companion in the Order of Australia (AC) in 1977.

Late in life he watched his wife, Rosa, suffer before her death in 1987 and became an advocate for voluntary euthanasia.

On July 14, 2000, Oliphant died in Canberra, aged 98.

Larson Collection Interview

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