John Bardeen
Most Influential Scientist In History :)
Early Life/ Childhood
John Bardeen was born on May 23, 1908 in Madison, Wisconsin. He was the second son of Dr. Charles Russell Bardeen, dean of the University of Wisconsin medical school, and Althea Harmer Bardeen, a well-educated young woman who had studied art and design at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. Bardeen was a very smart child from birth -- his parents decided to move him from third grade up into junior high. When Bardeen was 12, his mother became seriously ill with cancer. Thinking he was helping his kids, Dr. Bardeen softened how serious her illness really was. John didn't realize she was dying, and was shocked when it happened. His father then married his secretary, Ruth Hames, wanting to give his young children the family he thought they needed. But Bardeen was still heartbroken and distracted, barely passing French that year. Nevertheless, he made it through high school and entered the University of Wisconsin in the fall of 1923 at the age of 15, where he majored in engineering.
How he became interested in science
John Bardeen stayed on at the University of Wisconsin to get his Master's degree in electrical engineering. He chose engineering because it had lots of the math he loved, but it also had good job prospects. He didn't want to be an academic, like his father. By the time he graduated, however, the Depression had struck and jobs were scarce. Bardeen was courted briefly by Bell Labs, but a hiring freeze closed that door. One of the few companies still hiring was Gulf Oil Company, and Bardeen took a job there as a geophysicist. He was there for three years, but he always kept an eye on advances in the world of physics. His heart wasn't in geology -- the time had come to go back to school.
Hardships faced during scientific career
On December 14, 2006, the American Physical Society presented a plaque to Bell Laboratories in honor of John Bardeen (1908-1991), William B. Shockley (1910-1989), and Walter H. Brattain (1902-1987) for their invention of the transistor, which has been called “the most important invention of the 20th Century.” The group faced some hardships while trying to achieve this goal. The team was supposed to work on new means of current amplification and in 1945, Shockley designed what he hoped would be the first semiconductor amplifier, an apparatus that consisted of “a small cylinder coated thinly with silicon, mounted close to a small, metal plate”. The device didn't work, and Shockley assigned Bardeen and Brattain to find out why. They used many different essential components of the device and tried many experiments until finally their invention was increasing the current at all frequencies.
John Bardeen Main Awards
1956 Nobel Prize Physics (Co-winners William Shockley, Walter Brattain) for the invention of the transistor
1972 Nobel Prize Physics (co-winners Leon Neil Cooper, John Robert Schrieffer) for theory of conventional superconductivity aka BCS theory
1971 IEEE Medal of Honor
1974 Induction National Inventors Hall of Fame
1990 LIFE Magazine's list of 100 Most Influential Americans of the Century
Why John Bardeen is the most influential scientist in history
John Bardeen was the most influential scientist in history because he was an American physicist, electrical engineer, and Nobel Prize winner. John Bardeen was the co-inventor of the transistor (1947), an influential invention that changed the course of history for computers and electronics. John Barden co-developed a fundamental theory of conventional superconductivity known as the BCS theory. John Bardeen worked very hard in his career. He also strived along with the two other members in the Bell Labs groups to get this experiment to be a success.
John Bardeen received many rewards in his lifetime. This is because his invention was known as “the most important invention of the 20th Century.” Without this invention we would not have computers, cell phones or all modern electronics. Not much progress would have been made without these electronic devices. And we have John Bardeen to thank for this. He revolutionized the fields of electrical engineering and solid state physics.
Contribution That Shaped History
Imagine, if you can, a world without computers, cell phones or all modern electronics. This would be a world without John Bardeen. In 1947, Bardeen and Bell Labs' colleague Walter Brattain invented the transistor which amplifies and switches electronic signals. The “solid state” transistor replaced vacuum tubes as the building block of modern radios and other small electronic devices.
In 1951, Bardeen left Bell Labs to enjoy the freedom of pursuing his own research at Illinois. Here he would become the first person to win two Nobel Prizes in Physics. Bardeen shared his first Nobel with William Shockley and Walter Brattain for the transistor. Bardeen’s second prize was shared with Leon Cooper and J. Robert Schrieffer for their explanation of the theory of superconductivity, known as the BCS Theory. They were the first to explain on a microscopic level how a metal has zero electrical resistance at very low temperatures.
During his 60-year scientific career, Bardeen made significant contributions to almost every aspect of condensed matter physics--from his early work on the electronic behavior of metals, the surface properties of semiconductors and the theory of diffusion of atoms in crystals to his most recent work on quasi-one-dimensional metals. In his eighty-third year, he continued to publish original scientific papers.
Resources
Enc., Editors O. "John Bardeen."Http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/53122/John-Bardeen. Http://www.britannica.com/bps/user-profile/4419/the-editors-of-encyclopaedia-britannica, 5 May 2014. Web. `12 Dec. 2014.
Illn., Unv. Of. "Department of Physics at the U of I." John Bardeen. University of Illinois, 2 July 2014. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.
Levine, Aliana G. "John Bardeen, William Shockley, Walter Brattain Invention of the Transistor - Bell Laboratories." American Physical Society. APS Physics, 7 Aug. 2008. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.
Scien., Famous. "John Bardeen." Famous Scientists. Famous Scientists, Feb.-Mar. 2008. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.
Genuis, Spark .. "News." "Spark of Genius: The Story of John Bardeen" BTN, 19 Aug. 2008. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.
Bells, Mary .. "John Bardeen." John Bardeen. Mary Bells, 15 Nov. 2014. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.