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Dick Crane’s California Days

Abstract

Horace Richard Crane (1907–2007) was born and educated in California. His childhood was full of activities that helped him become an outstanding experimental physicist. As a graduate student at the California Institute of Technology (1930–1934), he had the good fortune to work with Charles C. Lauritsen (1892–1968) just as he introduced accelerator-based nuclear physics to Caltech. They shared the euphoric excitement of opening up a new field with simple, ingenious apparatus and experiments. This work prepared Crane for his career at the University of Michigan (1935–1973) where in the 1950s, after making the first measurement of the electron’s magnetic moment, he devised the g−2 technique and made the first measurement of the anomaly in the electron’s magnetic moment. A man of direct, almost laconic style, he made lasting contributions to the exposition of physics to the general public and to its teaching in high schools, community colleges, four-year colleges, and universities. I tell how he became a physicist and describe some of his early achievements.

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Notes

  1. I first heard the Gary Cooper sobriquet from John S. Rigden; he does not know who coined it.

  2. Robert A. Millikan (1868–1953) won the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1923 for measuring the elementary charge with his famous oil-drop experiment. From 1923 to 1945 he was Chairman of the Executive Council of Caltech—really its president, although he refused that title.

  3. Paul S. Epstein (1883–1966) was an eminent theoretical physicist of broad interests and capability who brought to Caltech the high intellectual tradition of European (especially German) physics. He taught at Caltech from 1921 until he retired in 1953.

  4. William Ralph Smythe (1893–1988) taught at Caltech from 1923 to 1964. His textbook, Static and Dynamic Electricity (New York, Toronto, London: McGraw-Hill, 1950), was widely known for its challenging problems.

  5. Fritz Zwicky (1898–1974) was a brilliant, irascible, and creative faculty member at Caltech from 1927 to 1968. He proposed that a neutron star could produce a supernova. As early as 1933 he noted that application of the virial theorem to galactic clusters implied the existence of large amounts of unobserved matter. Largely ignored at the time, his idea is widely accepted today as physicists and astronomers eagerly search to discover the nature of Dark Matter.

  6. Arnold O. Beckman (1900–2004) returned to Caltech in 1926 to resume his graduate education in chemistry that he had interrupted. He received his Ph.D. degree in 1928 and stayed on as a faculty member until 1940 when he resigned to devote full time to the instrument company he had founded in 1935 to manufacture the pH meter and other instruments that he invented.

  7. Walter C. Michels (1906–1975) obtained his Ph.D. degree from Caltech in 1930. “He was a leader, starting in the 1950s, in reversing the immediate postwar trend toward the glorification of the research activities of physicists at the expense of their obligations to teach and train the next generation.” See Rosalie C. Hoyt, “Walter C. Michels, 1906–1975,” American Journal of Physics 43 (1975), 383.

  8. J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967) headed the effort at Los Alamos that from 1943 to 1945 designed and assembled the first nuclear bombs. In the late 1920s Oppenheimer played a major role in introducing quantum mechanics from Europe to America. He held a joint appointment in which he taught part of the year at Berkeley and another part of the year at Caltech.

  9. Richard C. Tolman (1881–1948) was a member of the Caltech faculty from 1922 until his death in 1948. He was professor of physical chemistry and mathematical physics, and did seminal work on thermodynamics and relativity. He played a major leadership role in mobilizing American science for World War II and was an important advisor to political and military leaders on nuclear weapons.

  10. Jesse W. DuMond (1892–1976) was an insightful experimental physicist with extraordinary talent and capacity for the design and construction of precision instruments that vastly advanced the measurement of X rays and gamma rays. He was famous for his ability to take into account myriad details to achieve an instrument with optimum functionality. He was an active Caltech faculty member from 1929 until he retired in 1962.

  11. Seeley G. Mudd (1895–1965) was a physician and philanthropist who used the mining wealth of the Mudd family to support various worthy purposes.

  12. The name “deuteron” eventually became the accepted name in preference, for example, to “deuton”; see Roger H. Stuewer, "The Naming of the Deuteron," American Journal of Physics 54 (1986), 206–218.

  13. The first sample of deuterium came from G.N. Lewis (1875–1946) at Berkeley, but he refused to give any more after Rudolph Langer (1894–1968), who was associated with Caltech, wrote a scare article about deuterium poisoning and mentioned Lewis. Then Crane built a cascade of electrolytic tanks to concentrate D2O from ordinary water.

References

  1. H. Richard Crane, “How We Happened to Measure g–2: A Tale of Serendipity,” Physics in Perspective 2 (2000), 135-140.

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  2. Charles H. Holbrow, “Charles C. Lauritsen: A Reasonable Man in an Unreasonable World,” Phys. in Perspec. 5 (2003), 419-472.

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  3. Interview of Thomas Lauritsen by Barry Richman and Charles Weiner on February 16, 1967, Niels Bohr Library and Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD, USA, www.aip.org/history/ohilist/4734.html, p. 15 of 43.

  4. Interview of H. Richard Crane by Charles Weiner on March 28, 1973, Niels Bohr Library and Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD USA, www.aip.org/history/ohilist/4564_1.html, et seq.

  5. Arnold Sommerfeld, Atomic Structure and Spectral Lines, translated from the Third German Edition by Henry L. Brose, M.A. (London: Methuen & Co., 1923).

  6. James Arnold Crowther, Ions, Electrons, and Ionizing Radiations, Fourth Edition (New York: Longmans, Green & Co. and London: Edward Arnold & Co., 1924).

  7. E. Leonard Jossem, “Remembering Dick Crane,” The Physics Teacher 45 (September 2007), 330-331, gives a brief account of Crane’s contributions to physics teaching and related activities; he also provides a useful bibliography of Crane’s pedagogical writings.

  8. J.H. Jeans, The Mathematical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism, Fifth Edition (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1925).

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  9. Probably Horace Lamb, Higher Mechanics, Second Edition (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1929).

  10. Manne Siegbahn, The Spectroscopy of X-Rays. Translated with the Author’s Additions by George A. Lindsay (Oxford: Oxford University Press and London: Humphrey Milford, 1925).

  11. Sir Ernest Rutherford, James Chadwick, and C. D. Ellis, Radiations from Radioactive Substances (New York: The Macmillan Company and Cambridge: At the University Press, 1930).

  12. Charles H. Holbrow, “The giant cancer tube and the Kellogg Radiation Laboratory,” Physics Today 34 (July 1981), 42-49.

  13. Crane and Lauritsen, “High Potential Porcelain X-Ray Tube” (Appendix, ref. 1); idem, “Combined Tesla Coil” (Appendix, ref. 2).

  14. Interview of Crane by Weiner (ref. 4). You can hear Crane tell about his human fly activities at website <http://www.aip.org/history/ohilist/4564_1.html#excerpt>.

  15. Irène Curie et F. Joliot, “Un nouveau type de radioactivité,” Comptes Rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l’Académie des Sciences 198 (1934), 254-256; F. Joliot and I. Curie, “Artificial Production of a New Kind of Radio-Element,” Nature 133 (1934), 201-202; reprinted in Frédéric et Irène Joliot-Curie, Œuvres Scientifiques Complètes (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1961), pp. 515-516, 520-521; see also R.H. Stuewer, “The Discovery of Artificial Radioactivity,” in Monique Bordry et Pierre Radvanyi, ed., Œuvre et Engagement de Frédéric Joliot-Curie (Les Ulis cedex A, France: EDP Sciences, 2001), pp. 11-20.

  16. Lauritsen, Crane and Harper, “Artificial Production of Radioactive Substances” (Appendix, ref. 11).

  17. Horace Richard Crane, “Artificial Radioactivity,” Ph.D. Thesis, California Institute of Technology, May 19, 1934, website <http://thesis.library.caltech.edu/2415/1/Crane_hr_1934.pdf>.

  18. In his first years at the University of Michigan, Crane built an accelerator tube very similar to the one he had built at Caltech. He also did experiments on neutrinos; see Interview with H. Richard Crane by Charles E. Atchley and Roger H. Stuewer on June 29, 1990, at the University of Minnesota, Summer Meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers, Niels Bohr Library and Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD, USA, website <http://www.aip.org/history/ohilist/568.html>. Crane's career in Michigan is well described by Jens Zorn in a forthcoming volume of Biographical Memoirs, National Academy of Sciences (U.S.A.).

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Acknowledgments

I thank Roger H. Stuewer for his careful editing, and I thank the MIT Department of Physics and the George R. Harrison Spectroscopy Laboratory for their hospitality.

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Correspondence to Charles H. Holbrow.

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Charles H. Holbrow is Charles A. Dana Professor of Physics Emeritus, Colgate University, and Visiting Professor of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Appendix: H. Richard Crane’s Publications, 1933–1935

Appendix: H. Richard Crane’s Publications, 1933–1935

 

  1. 1.

    Richard Crane and Charles C. Lauritsen, “A High Potential Porcelain X-Ray Tube,” The Review of Scientific Instruments 4 (1933), 118–122.

  2. 2.

    Charles C. Lauritsen and Richard Crane, “A Combined Tesla Coil and Vacuum Tube,” Rev. Sci. Inst. 4 (1933), 497–500.

  3. 3.

    H.R. Crane, C.C. Lauritsen et A. Soltan, “Production artificielle de neutrons,” Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l’Académie des Sciences 197 (1933), 639–641.

  4. 4.

    H.R. Crane, C.C. Lauritsen et A. Soltan, “Nouvelle source artificielle de neutrons,” Comptes rendus 197 (1933), 913–915.

  5. 5.

    H.R. Crane, C.C. Lauritsen and A. Soltan, “Artificial Production of Neutrons,” Physical Review 44 (1933), 514.

  6. 6.

    H.R. Crane, C.C. Lauritsen and A. Soltan, “Production of Neutrons by High Speed Deutons,” Phys. Rev. 44 (1933), 692–693.

  7. 7.

    H.R. Crane and C.C. Lauritsen, “On the Production of Neutrons from Lithium,” Phys. Rev. 44 (1933), 783–784.

  8. 8.

    C.C. Lauritsen and H.R. Crane, “Gamma-Rays from Lithium Bombarded with Protons,” Phys. Rev. 45 (1934), 63–64.

  9. 9.

    H.R. Crane and C.C. Lauritsen, “Disintegration of Beryllium by Deutons,” Phys. Rev. 45 (1934), 226–227.

  10. 10.

    C.C. Lauritsen and H.R. Crane, “Gamma-Rays from Carbon Bombarded with Deutons,” Phys. Rev. 45 (1934), 345–346.

  11. 11.

    C.C. Lauritsen, H.R. Crane and W.W. Harper, “Artificial Production of Radioactive Substances,” Science 79 (1934), 234–235.

  12. 12.

    H.R. Crane and C.C. Lauritsen; “Radioactivity from Carbon and Boron Oxide Bombarded with Deutons and the Conversion of Positrons into Radiation,” Phys. Rev. 45 (1934), 430–432.

  13. 13.

    C.C. Lauritsen and H.R. Crane, “Disintegration of Boron by Deutons and by Protons,” Phys. Rev. 45 (1934), 493–495.

  14. 14.

    H.R. Crane and C.C. Lauritsen, “Further Experiments with Artificially Produced Radioactive Substances,” Phys. Rev. 45 (1934), 497–498.

  15. 15.

    H.R. Crane, C.C. Lauritsen and A. Soltan, “Artificial Production of Neutrons,” Phys. Rev. 45 (1934), 507–512.

  16. 16.

    C.C. Lauritsen and H.R. Crane, “Transmutation of Lithium by Deutons and Its Bearing on the Mass of the Neutron,” Phys. Rev. 45 (1934), 550–552.

  17. 17.

    H.R. Crane, L.A. Delsasso, W.A. Fowler and C.C. Lauritsen, “High Energy Gamma-Rays from Lithium and Fluorine Bombarded with Protons,” Phys. Rev. 46 (1934), 531–533.

  18. 18.

    C.C. Lauritsen and H.R. Crane, “Evidence of an Excited State in the Alpha-Particle,” Phys. Rev. 46 (1934), 537–538.

  19. 19.

    H.R. Crane, L.A. Delsasso, W.A. Fowler and C.C. Lauritsen, “Gamma-Rays from Boron Bombarded with Deutons,” Phys. Rev. 46 (1934), 1109–1110.

  20. 20.

    H.R. Crane and C.C. Lauritsen, “The Masses of Be8, Be9 and B11, as Determined from Transmutation Data,” Phys. Rev. 47 (1935), 420.

  21. 21.

    H.R. Crane, L.A. Delsasso, W.A. Fowler and C.C. Lauritsen, “Gamma-Rays from the Disintegration of Beryllium by Deuterons and Protons,” Phys. Rev. 47 (1935), 782–783.

  22. 22.

    H.R. Crane, L.A. Delsasso, W.A. Fowler and C.C. Lauritsen, “The Emission of Negative Electrons from Boron Bombarded by Deuterons,” Phys. Rev. 47 (1935), 887–888.

  23. 23.

    H.R. Crane, L.A. Delsasso, W.A. Fowler and C. C. Lauritsen, “The Emission of Negative Electrons from Lithium and Fluorine Bombarded with Deuterons,” Phys. Rev. 47 (1935), 971–972.

  24. 24.

    H.R. Crane, L.A. Delsasso, W.A. Fowler, and C.C. Lauritsen, “Gamma-Rays from Nitrogen Bombarded with Deuterons,” Phys. Rev. 48 (1935), 100.

  25. 25.

    H.R. Crane, L.A. Delasso, W.A. Fowler and C.C. Lauritsen, “Gamma-Rays from Boron Bombarded with Protons,” Phys. Rev. 48 (1935), 102–103.

  26. 26.

    H.R. Crane, L.A. Delsasso, W.A. Fowler and C.C. Lauritsen, “Cloud Chamber Studies of the Gamma-Radiation from Lithium Bombarded with Protons,” Phys. Rev. 48 (1935), 125–133.

 

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Holbrow, C.H. Dick Crane’s California Days. Phys. Perspect. 13, 36–57 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00016-010-0041-6

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Keywords

  • H. Richard Crane
  • Charles C. Lauritsen
  • Turlock, California
  • California Institute of Technology
  • University of Michigan
  • American Association of Physics Teachers
  • accelerator-produced neutrons
  • artificial radioactivity
  • deuton
  • deuteron
  • experimental nuclear physics
  • history of nuclear physics