Arthur R. von Hippel
From Freepedia
Arthur Robert von Hippel (November 19, 1898 – December 31, 2003) was a German-American materials researcher and physicist and a pioneer in the study of dielectrics, ferromagnetic and ferroelectric materials, as well as semiconductors. He was also one of the codevelopers of radar during the Second World War.
Von Hippel was born in Rostock, Germany, in November 19th, 1898. He graduated in physics at the University of Göttingen, where he was taught by many eminent figures of mathematics and physics of the time, such as David Hilbert, Richard Courant, Peter Debye, Robert Pohl, Max Born, Gustav Hertz, and Nobel prize winner James Franck (who was his thesis supervisor. Von Hippel got his Ph.D. in physics in 1924. In 1927, he married Frank's daughter, Dagmar.
In 1933, with the ascension of Nazis to power in Germany, von Hippel decided to move to another country, mainly because his wife was Jewish, but due also to his political stance against the new regime. Fortunately he was able to secure in 1934 a position with the University at Istanbul, Turkey. He later spent a year in Denmark, working at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen. In 1936, attending to an invitation by Karl Compton, von Hippel moved again, this time to the USA, and became an assistant professor at MIT in Massachusetts. In 1940, he founded the Laboratory for Insulation Research, which soon became one of the most important research and education centers in this area in the world.
Together with MIT's Radiation Lab, von Hippel and his collaborators helped to develop radar technology during the war. He was awarded in 1948 the President's Certificate of Merit from former US president Harry Truman. He became famous also for his discovery of ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of barium titanate (BaTiO2).
He was the author of the pioneering book Molecular Science and Molecular Engineering (1959). The term molecular engineering was coined by him in the 1950s, and he suggested the feasibility of constructing nanomolecular devices. The premier award of the Materials Research Society is named in his honor.
Prof. Arthur von Hippel is the father of MIT economist Eric von Hippel.
He died with 105 years of age, in 2003.
