Robert Williams Wood

Biography

Abstract

Robert Wood was Emeritus Research professor at Johns Hopkins University (1951-1955). Other institutional affiliations included University of Wisconsin. His research interests included continuous absorption below head of spectral series; resonance-radiation and fluorescence; critical temperature for desposition of metal vapors as homogeneous films; transparency of alkali metals in ultra-violet; production of spontaneous incandescence of metals in cold atomic hydrogen; extension of Balmer series of hydrogen; infra-red and ultra-violet photography; destruction of polarization of resonance radiation by weak magnetic fields; physical and biological effects of high frequency sound waves; and diffraction gratings for astrophysical research.

Important Dates

May 2, 1868Birth, Concord (Mass.).

1891Obtained AB in Chemistry, Harvard University, Cambridge (Mass.).

1891 – 1892Studied Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore (Md.).

1892 – 1894Studied Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago (Ill.).

1894 – 1896Studied Chemistry and Physics, University of Berlin, Berlin (Germany).

1897 – 1901Instructor in Physics (1897-1898) and Assistant Professor of Physics (1898-1901), University of Wisconsin, Madison.

1901 – 1955Professor of Experimental Physics (1901-1938); Research Professor (1938-1951); and Emeritus Research Professor (1951-1955), Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore (Md.).

1912Member, National Academy of Sciences.

1912Adams Research Fellow, Columbia University.

1917 – 1919Major, United States Army.

1935President, American Physical Society.

1944 – 1946Consultant, Manhattan Project.

August 11, 1955Death.

Occupation

Physicist.

Places

Birth

Concord (Mass.)

Undergraduate Education

Cambridge (Mass.)

Graduate Education

Baltimore (Md.)

Chicago (Ill.)

Berlin (Germany)

Employment

Baltimore (Md.)

Subjects

Light.

Optics.

Relationships

People

Family

Wood, Gertrude Ames

Wife. Married in 1892.

Advisors & Collaborators

Barnes, Robert Bowling, 1906-

Advised by Wood at Johns Hopkins University.

Ellett, Alexander

Advised by Wood at Johns Hopkins University.

Kaplan, Joseph A., 1902-1991

Advised by Wood at Johns Hopkins University.

Loomis, F. W. (Francis Wheeler), 1889-1976

Collaborated on the analysis of spectra.

Pfund, A. H. (August Herman), 1879-1949

Advised by Wood at Johns Hopkins University, "Polarization and Selective Reflection in the Infra-Red Spectrum."

Plyler, Earle Keith, 1897-1976

Advised by Wood at Johns Hopkins University.

Rowland, Henry Augustus, 1848-1901

Research advisor at Johns Hopkins University.

Rubens, Heinrich

Post-doc advisor at University of Berlin.

Uhler, Horace S. (Horace Scudder),

Co-wrote "Atlas of absorption spectra."

Colleagues

Donahue, Thomas M.

Both employed at Johns Hopkins University.

Franck, James, 1882-1964

Both employed at Johns Hopkins University.

Herzfeld, Karl F. (Karl Ferdinand), 1892-

Both employed at Johns Hopkins University.

Mayer, Maria Goeppert, 1906-1972

Both employed at Johns Hopkins University.

Additional

Adel, Arthur, 1908-1994

Baker, James Gilbert

Baum, William A.

Brakel, Henry Louis, 1876-

Compton, Betty Charity McCloskey, 1916-

Crew, Henry, 1859-1953

Curie, Pierre, 1859-1906

Dunham, Theodore, 1897-1984

Dunning, John R. (John Ray), 1907-1975

Feather, N. (Norman)

Hall, John S. (John Scoville), 1908-1991

Inglis, David Rittenhouse, 1905-1995

Kemble, Edwin C. (Edwin Crawford), 1889-

Klopsteg, Paul E. (Paul Ernest), 1889-

Laporte, Otto, 1902-1971

Lewis, Gilbert Newton, 1875-1946

Planck, Max, 1858-1947

Rayleigh, John William Strutt, Baron, 1842-1919

Rozhdestvenskii, D. S (Dmitrii Sergeevich), 1876-1940

Ruark, Arthur Edward, 1899-

Shane, Charles Donald, 1895-1983

Shankland, Robert S., 1908-

Shapley, Harlow, 1885-1972

Urey, Harold Clayton, 1893-1981

Vinal, George Wood, 1882-1969

Webster, David Locke, 1888-1976

Wilson, Lucy, 1888-

Wolcott, Edson Ray, 1877-1966

Institutions

Major Positions

Johns Hopkins University. Department of Physics

Professor of Experimental Physics; Research Professor; and Emeritus Research Professor.

United States. Army

Major.

University of Wisconsin--Madison. Department of Physics

Instructor in Physics and Assistant Professor of Physics.

Professional Activities & Affiliations

American Physical Society

President.

Columbia University. Department of Physics

Adams Research Fellow.

Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin

Attended from 1894-1896.

Harvard University. Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology

Obtained AB (1891).

Johns Hopkins University. Department of Chemistry

Attended from 1891-1892.

Manhattan Project (U.S.)

Consultant.

National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)

Member.

University of Chicago. Department of Chemistry

Attended from 1892-1894.

Resources

Archival Resources

Author

Henry Crew papers, 1833-1975.

Library. University Archives.

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL 60201, USA

Robert W. Wood letters to A. H. Raynolds, 1925-1927.

Library. Manuscript Collection.

International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House.

900 East Avenue. Rochester, NY 14607, USA

Robert W. Wood papers, 1838-1942.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Robert Williams Wood papers, 1927-1942.

Special Collections, Milton S. Eisenhower Library

Johns Hopkins University

3400 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21218, USA

Subject

Arthur Adel response to History of Modern Astrophysics Survey, 1980.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Arthur E. Ruark biographical material, 1963.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Baron John William Strutt Rayleigh papers, 1864-1919. [microfilm].

Phillips Laboratory. Geophysics Directorate. Research Library.

United States Air Force

Hanscom Air Force Base, MA 01731, USA

Correspondence with Robert Williams Wood concerning the origin of the echelle spectrograph, 1945-1946.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Dmitrij Sergeevich Rozhdestvenskii papers, 1902-1940.

St. Petersburg Branch. Archive

Russian Academy of Sciences

Universitetskaia hab., 1, Korp. 2, St. Petersburg 199034

Earle Keith Plyler intellectual autobiography, 1962.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Edson Ray Wolcott autobiography, 1951.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Edwin C. Kemble papers [microform], 1919-1937.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

George W. Vinal autobiography, circa 1963

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Gilbert Newton Lewis papers, 1908-1945.

The Bancroft Library

University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, CA, 94720-6000, USA

Johns Hopkins University Department of Physics records, 1887-1988 (bulk 1949-1969).

Special Collections. Milton S. Eisenhower Library.

Johns Hopkins University

3400 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21218, USA

Karl Herzfeld papers, 1914-1977.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Betty Compton, 1968 April 11 and 15.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Charles Donald Shane, 1967 July 11 and 14.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with David Rittenhouse Inglis, 1977 May 9 and 10.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with George Wood Vinal, 1964 March 20.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Harlow Shapley, 1966 June 8 and August 25.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Harold Clayton Urey, 1964 March 24.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Henry Louis Brakel, 1965 November 10.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with James Baker, 1980 June 9.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with John S. Hall, 1979 February 21.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Lucy Wilson, 1978 October 4 and December 6.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Norman Feather, 1971 February 25 and 5 November.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Otto Laporte, 1964 January 29 and 31.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Paul E. Klopsteg, 1970 March 31.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Robert S. Shankland, 1974 August 20 and 21.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral History interview with William A. Baum, 1983 January 12.

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

Theodore Dunham papers, 1926-1977 (bulk 1926-1955).

Henry E. Huntington Library

1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108, USA

Published Resources

Author

Atlas of absorption spectra / by H.S. Uhler and R.W. Wood.

How to tell the birds from the flowers and other Woodcuts : A revised manual of flornithology for beginners / Verses and illustrations by Robert Williams Wood.

Lectures delivered at the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the foundation of Clark university, under the auspices of the Department of physics, by Vito Volterra, Ernest Rutherford, Robert Williams Wood, Carl Barus, Worcester, Mass., September 7-11, 1909.

Physical optics / by Robert W. Wood …

Researchers in physical optics : with special reference to the radiation of the electron / by R.W. Wood.

Subject

"Physics Meets Photography: The Diffraction Chromoscope and the Diffraction Process of Color Photography," Rittenhouse: Journal of the American Scientific Instrument Enterprise 8 (1993): 65-72

"Robert Williams Wood: 1868-1955", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences

"The N-Ray Affair," Scientific American 242 (1980): 168-175

"The Theatre of the Blind: Starring a Promethean Prankster, a Phoney Phenomenon, a Prism, a Pocket, and a Piece of Wood," Social Studies of Science 23 (1993): 67-106

Doctor Wood, modern wizard of the laboratory; the story of an American small boy who became the most daring and original experimental physicist of our day--but never grew up, by William Seabrook.