Physics History Network
Over 1000 biographies of physicists and histories of institutions with information pertaining to their lives, careers, and research.
Tip: Search within this page by using Ctrl + F or ⌘ + F
Search Our Catalogs
Archives BooksCollections
Emilio Segré Visual Archives Digital Collections Oral Histories Archival Finding Aids Physics History Network Member Society Portals Ethical Cataloging StatementPreservation and Support
Donating Materials Suggest a Book Purchase Saving Archival Collections Grants to Archives Documentation Projects History NewslettersCenter for History of Physics
Scholarship & OutreachMain Navigation
HomeAboutTopic GuidesFeedbackTable of Contents
Biography
AbstractImportant DatesOccupationPlacesSubjectsRelationships
PeopleInstitutionsResources
Archival as AuthorArchival as SubjectPublished as AuthorPublished as SubjectJohn Bardeen
Dates
May 23, 1908 – January 30, 1991
Authorized Form of Name
Bardeen, John
Additional Forms of Names
Bardeen, John, 1908-1991
Biography
Abstract
John Bardeen was an American physicist and electrical engineer. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics twice (1956 and 1972). Two of Bardeen's greatest accomplishments were the invention of the transistor and his research on superconductivity.
Important Dates
May 23, 1908Birth, Madison (Wis.).
1928Obtained BS in Electrical Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Madison (Wis.).
1929Obtained MS in Electrical Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Madison (Wis.).
1930 – 1933Geophysicist, Gulf Research and Development Corporation.
1935 – 1938Junior Fellow, Society of Fellows, Harvard University.
1936Obtained PhD in Mathematical Physics, Princeton University, Princeton (N.J.).
1938 – 1941Assistant Professor of Physics, University of Minnesota.
1941 – 1945Physicist, Naval Ordnance Laboratory, United States Navy.
1945 – 1951Research Physicist, Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill (N.J.).
1951 – 1991Professor of Electrical Engineering and Physics (1951-1975) and Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering and Physics (1975-1991), University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Champaign (Ill.).
1954Awarded Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize, American Physical Society.
1954Member, National Academy of Sciences.
1956Awarded Nobel Prize in Physics with William Shockley and Walter Brattain "for their researches on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect".
1959 – 1962Member, President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC).
1962Awarded Fritz London Award, International Union of Pure and Applied Physics.
1965Awarded National Medal of Science.
1968President, American Physical Society.
1972Awarded Nobel Prize in Physics with Leon Cooper and John Schrieffer "for their jointly developed theory of superconductivity, usually called the BCS-theory".
1982 – 1983Member, White House Science Council.
January 30, 1991Death, Boston (Mass.).
Occupation
Solid state physicist.
Places
Birth
Undergraduate Education
Graduate Education
Employment
Death
Subjects
Relationships
People
Family
Son.
Bardeen, Jane
Wife.
Son.
Advisors & Collaborators
Brattain, Walter H. (Walter Houser), 1902-1987
Shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics with William Shockley for their research on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect and both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Cooper, Leon N. (Leon Neil), 1930-
Shared the 1972 Nobel Prize in Physics with John Schrieffer for co-developing the BCS theory of superconductivity. Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Herring, William Conyers, 1914-
Collaborated on the modern band theory of solids. Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Schrieffer, J. R. (John Robert), 1931-
Advised by Bardeen at University of Illinois, Urbana-Chamaign, Theory of Supreconductivity. Shared the 1972 Nobel Prize in Physics with Leon Cooper for co-developing the BCS theory of superconductivity. Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics with Walter Brattain for their research on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect and both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Van Vleck, J. H. (John Hasbrouck), 1899-1980
Co-wrote an article and both employed at Harvard University.
Wigner, Eugene Paul, 1902-1995
Ph.D. advisor at Princeton University, "Quantum Theory of the Work Function."
Colleagues
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Anderson, A. C. (Ansel Cochran), 1933-
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Anderson, P. W. (Philip W.), 1923-
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Bainbridge, Kenneth T. (Kenneth Tompkins), 1904-1996
Both employed at Harvard University.
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Bode, Hendrik W. (Hendrik Wade), 1905-1982
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Bridgman, P. W. (Percy Williams), 1882-1961
Both employed at Harvard University.
Buckley, Oliver Ellsworth, 1887-1959
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Conant, James Bryant, 1893-1978
Both employed at Harvard University.
Conwell, Esther M. (Esther Marley), 1922-2014
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Davisson, Clinton Joseph, 1881-1958
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Drickamer, H. G. (Harry George), 1918-2002
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Both employed at Harvard University.
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Fisk, James B. (James Brown), 1910-1981
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Furry, W. H. (Wendell Hinkle), 1907-
Both employed at Harvard University.
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Both worked on President's Science Advisory Committee.
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Both employed at Harvard University.
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Helmholz, August Carl, 1915-2003
Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.
Both employed at the University of Minnesota.
Ives, Herbert Eugene, 1882-1953
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Jackson, John David, 1925-2016
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Kerst, Donald William, 1911-1993
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Kistiakowsky, George B. (George Bogdan), 1900-1982
Both worked on President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC).
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Kraichnan, Robert H., 1928-2008
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Loomis, F. W. (Francis Wheeler), 1889-1976
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Low, Francis E. (Francis Eugene), 1921-2007
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Both employed at Harvard University.
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Advised by Bardeen at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Nier, Alfred O. (Alfred Otto), 1911-1994
Both employed at the University of Minnesota and Harvard University.
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Overhauser, Albert Warner, 1925-
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Pearson, Gerald L. (Gerald Leondus)
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Piore, Emanuel Ruben, 1908-2000
Both worked on President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC).
Both worked on President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC).
Both worked on President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC).
Robertson, H. P. (Howard Percy), 1903-1961
Both worked on President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC).
Schawlow, Arthur L., 1921-1999
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Tate, John T. (John Torrence), 1889-1950
Both employed at the University of Minnesota.
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Both employed at Harvard University.
Weinberg, Alvin Martin, 1915-2006
Both worked on President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC).
Both employed at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Wiesner, Jerome B. (Jerome Bert), 1915-1994
Both worked on President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC).
Williams, John H. (John Harry), 1908-
Both employed at the University of Minnesota.
Zacharias, Jerrold Reinach, 1905-1986
Both worked on President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC).
Zinn, Walter H. (Walter Henry), 1906-2000
Both worked on President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC).
Additional
Bray, Ralph, 1921-
Clarke, Edward N.
Gibney, Robert Bernard, 1911-
Hoddeson, Lillian
Holden, Alan
Holonyak, Nick, 1928-
Kelly, Katherine Milsted
Kursunoglu, Behram, 1922-
Landau, L. D. (Lev Davidovich), 1908-1968
Leveranz, Humboldt Walter
Morgan, Stanley Owen, 1900-
Nix, Foster Cary, 1905-
Pippard, A. B.
Slater, John C. (John Clarke), 1900-1976
White, Addison Hughson, 1909-
Institutions
Major Positions
Research Physicist.
Gulf Research & Development Co.
Geophysicist.
Harvard University. Society of Fellows
Junior Fellow.
United States. Naval Ordnance Laboratory (Indian Head, Md.)
Physicist.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Department of Electrical Engineering
Professor of Electrical Engineering.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Department of Physics
Professor of Physics.
University of Minnesota. Department of Physics and Astronomy
Assistant Professor of Physics.
Professional Activities & Affiliations
President and awarded 1954 Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize.
International Union of Pure and Applied Physics
Received 1962 Fritz London Award.
National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)
Princeton University. Department of Physics
Obtained PhD in Mathematical Physics (1936).
United States. President's Science Advisory Committee
Member.
University of Wisconsin--Madison. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Obtained BS in Electrical Engineering (1928) and MS in Electrical Engineering (1929).
White House Science Council
Member.
Resources
Archival Resources
Author
Bell Telephone Laboratories the physics of transistors and semiconductors, 1953.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
John Bardeen papers, 1910-1991.
University Archives
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
1408 West Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
Joint ceremonial session of the American Physical Society and the American Association of Physics Teachers [sound recording], 1969 February 4.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Nobel laureates on scientific research project : oral history, 1964.
Oral History Research Office
Columbia University
Box 20, Room 801 Butler Library, New York, NY 10027, USA
Oral history interview with John Bardeen, 1980 February 13.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with John Bardeen, 1984 May 29.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with John Bardeen, 1984 May 29.
Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library
Princeton University
65 Olden Street, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
Oral history interviews with John Bardeen, 1977 May 12, 16 and December 1, 22 and 1978 April 14.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Reminiscences of John Bardeen : oral history, 1963.
Oral History Research Office
Columbia University
Box 20, Room 801 Butler Library, New York, NY 10027, USA
Superconductivity and other macroscopic quantum systems [videorecording] / 1990 April 27.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
The beginnings of solid state physics [sound recording] : a symposium / organized by Sir Nevill Mott, held 30 April - 2 May 1979.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
The invention of the transistor [sound recording] edited by Richard A. Rikoski.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Association for the Advancement of Science
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Subject
A review of scientific career, 1967.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
AT&T Archives and History Center records, 1869- present.
AT&T Archives and History Center
AT&T
4949 Von Scheele, San Antonio, Texas, 78229, USA
F. W. Loomis papers, 1920-1976.
University Archives
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
1408 West Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
Frontiers in Condensed Matter Physics symposium [sound recording], 1976.
University Archives
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
1408 West Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
H. Kamerlingh Onnes Symposium on the origins of applied superconductivity [videorecording] /recorded by the Naval Research Laboratory ; 1986 Oct 1.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
History of physics audio-visual collection, circa 1918-1996, 1960-1988 (bulk).
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Industrial physics history [audiorecording]: session V3 of the APS annual meeting, March 2008.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Interview with the transistor's inventors [motion picture] / produced by Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
John Bardeen Memorial Symposium [videorecording] / 1992 March 16.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Joint general interest session of the American Physical Society and the Society of Physics Students [sound recording] : Twenty-five years of transistors; 1973 January 29.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Lillian Hoddeson addition to papers, 1913-2006.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Lillian Hoddeson papers, 1904-2001
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
New horizons in physics: a celebration on the occasion of John Bardeen's 80th birthday [sound recording], 1988.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Nobel prize in physics [motion picture] / filmed by Swedish Broadcasting Corporation.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview Addison Hughson White, 1976 September 30.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Alan Holden, 1974 July 30 and 1976 June 21.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Alfred Brian Pippard, 1982 September 14.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Charles P. Slichter, 1977 April 29.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Charles Slichter, 2005 March 26.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with David Bohm, 1981 May 8.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with David Pines, 1981 April 13 and 16.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Edward N. Clarke, 2010 September 27.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Eugene Feenberg, 1973 April 13 and 14.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Eugene Paul Wigner, 1966 November 30.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Eugene Paul Wigner, 1981 January 24.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Eugene Paul Wigner, 1984 April 12.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Foster Cary Nix, 1975 June 27.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Frederick Seitz, 1981 January 26, 27, March 24 and 1982 March 16.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Humboldt Walter Leverenz, 1979 July 10.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with James Brown Fisk, 1976 June 24.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with John Clarke Slater, 1970 February 23 and August 7.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with John Robert Schrieffer, 1974 September 26 and 1976 January 19.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Katharine Milsted Kelly, 1976 July 2.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Nick Holonyak Jr., 1993 June 22.
IEEE History Center
Rutgers University
39 Union Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA
Oral history interview with Nick Holonyak Jr., 1993 June 22.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Nick Holonyak, 2005 March 23.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with P. W. Anderson, 1988 May 10.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Ralph Bray, 1982 May 14.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Robert Gibney, 11 January 1978.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Stanley Owen Morgan, 1975 July 3.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with William Conyers Herring, 1974 July 23, 29, and 31 October.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with William Conyers Herring, 2000 August 5.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
President's Science Advisory Committee records, 1957-1961.
Dwight D. Eisenhower Library
Abilene, KS 67410, USA
The Princeton years and beyond, 1930-1940: Invited paper for the March 1992 meeting of the American Physical Society, 1992.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
The saga of an expedition to Stockholm, Sweden, December 1956, 1956.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Transistorized! [videorecording] / co-production of ScienCentral and Twin Cities Public Television; producer, Gino Del Guercio; executive producer and narrator, Ira Flatow, 1998.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Transistorized! background video [videorecording], 1986-1997.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Transistorized! voice clips [sound recording], 1964-1977.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Bardeen Quadrangle dedication ceremony [videorecording], 2004 October 14.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Department of Physics centennial history file, 1990-1991.
University Archives
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
1408 West Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
Walter Brattain autobiography, 1959.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Published Resources
Author
A collection of Professor John Bardeen's publications on semiconductors and superconductivity
Nobel lectures: physics 1971-1980 : editor, Stig Lundqvist.