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PeopleInstitutionsResources
Archival as AuthorArchival as SubjectPublished as SubjectClinton Joseph Davisson
Dates
October 22, 1881 – February 1, 1958
Authorized Form of Name
Davisson, Clinton Joseph, 1881-1958
Biography
Abstract
Clinton Joseph Davisson was a Professor of Physics at the University of Virginia (1947-1958). Other institutional affiliations include Bell Laboratories and Western Electric Company. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1937 with George Paget Thomson.
Important Dates
October 22, 1881Birth, Bloomington (Ill.).
1908Obtained BS, University of Chicago, Chicago (Ill.).
1911Obtained PhD in Physics, Princeton University, Princeton (N.J.).
1911 – 1917Assistant Professor of Physics, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh (Pa.).
1917 – 1925Researcher, Engineering Department, Western Electric Company, New York (N.Y.).
1925 – 1946Member, Technical Staff, Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill (N.J.).
1929Member, National Academy of Sciences.
1937Awarded Nobel Prize in Physics with George Paget Thomson "for their experimental discovery of the diffraction of electrons by crystals".
1947 – 1958Professor of Physics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville (Va.).
February 1, 1958Death, Charlottesville (Va.).
Occupation
Electron optician.
Places
Birth
Undergraduate Education
Graduate Education
Employment
Death
Subjects
Relationships
People
Advisors & Collaborators
Germer, Lester Halbert, 1896-
Worked together on the Davisson-Germer experiment, which confirmed the de Broglie hypothesis.
Thomson, G. P. (George Paget), 1892-1975
Shared the 1937 Nobel Prize in Physics "for their experimental discovery of the diffraction of electrons by crystals."
Thomson, J. J. (Joseph John), 1856-1940
Advisor at University of Cambridge.
Colleagues
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Beams, Jesse W. (Jesse Wakefield), 1898-1977
Both employed at University of Virginia.
Both employed at University of Virginia.
Bode, Hendrik W. (Hendrik Wade), 1905-1982
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Brattain, Walter H. (Walter Houser), 1902-1987
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Buckley, Oliver Ellsworth, 1887-1959
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Fisk, James B. (James Brown), 1910-1981
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Herring, William Conyers, 1914-
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Hunsaker, Jerome C. (Jerome Clarke), 1886-1984
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Ives, Herbert Eugene, 1882-1953
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Jewett, Frank B. (Frank Baldwin), 1879-1949
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Both employed at Western Electric Company and Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Kemble, Edwin C. (Edwin Crawford), 1889-
Both employed at Carnegie Institute of Technology.
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Meggers, William F. (William Frederick), 1888-1966
Both employed at Carnegie Institute of Technology.
Pearson, Gerald L. (Gerald Leondus)
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Additional
Bethe, Hans A. (Hans Albrecht), 1906-2005
Darrow, Karl K. (Karl Kelchner), 1891-
Hoddeson, Lillian
Holden, Alan
Kelly, Katherine Milsted
Morse, Philip M. (Philip McCord), 1903-1985
Nix, Foster Cary, 1905-
Richardson, O. W. (Owen Willans), 1879-1959
Sears, Raymond W.
Sponer, Hertha, 1895-1968
White, Addison Hughson, 1909-
Wood, Elizabeth A. (Elizabeth Armstrong)
Wooldridge, Dean E.
Institutions
Major Positions
Member, Technical staff.
Carnegie Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Assistant Professor of Physics.
University of Virginia. Department of Physics
Professor of Physics.
Western Electric Company
Researcher, Engineering Department.
Professional Activities & Affiliations
National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)
Member.
Princeton University. Department of Physics
Obtained PhD in Physics.
University of Chicago. Department of Physics
Obtained BS.
Resources
Archival Resources
Author
Clinton J. Davisson correspondence, 1913-1957.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Clinton J. Davisson letters to Louis de Broglie, Hans Albrecht Bethe, and Philip McCord Morse, 1927-1936.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Clinton Joseph Davisson papers, 1916-1957 (bulk 1917-1946).
Manuscript Division
Library of Congress
James Madison Memorial Building, First Street and Independence Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20540, USA
Letter to Elizabeth Wood about experiments on quartz, 1955.
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 Dean E. Wooldridge, 1976 August 21.
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 Gerald Leondus Pearson, 1976 August 23 and 8 April 1980.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Hans Bethe, 1981 April 29.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Karl K. Darrow, 1964 April 2 and 10 June.
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 Raymond W. Sears, 1975 July 14.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Walter M. Elsasser, 1962 May 29.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with William Shockley, 1974 September 10.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history joint interview with James Franck and Hertha Sponer-Franck, 1962 July 9 to 14.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Subject
Elizabeth A. Wood letters, invitations and a photo, sent to Wood concerning Max von Laue, Paul Peter Ewald, C. J. Davisson, and Karl K. Darrow, 1951-1977.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Interview with Lester H. Germer [motion picture] / produced by Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Karl Darrow correspondence relating to history of physics, 1943-1968.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Lester Germer papers, 1930-1971.
AT& T Archives and History Center
AT& T Inc.
5 Reinman Road, Warren, NJ 07060, USA
Lillian Hoddeson addition to papers, 1913-2006.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
O. W. Richardson papers, 1897-1959 (bulk 1920-1940).
Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
University of Texas at Austin
P.O. Drawer 7219, Austin, TX 78713-7219, USA
Published Resources
Subject
"Clinton Joseph Davisson:1881-1958", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences.
C.J. Davisson, L.H. Germer, and the discovery of electron diffraction.