UN4-6900, Ext. 2701 for IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
MIT Institute Archives & Special Collections. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. News Office (AC0069) From the Office of PubHc Felations MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Tel.: UN4-6900, Ext. 2701 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Dr. Francis Bitter, one of the world's leading authorities on magnetism and a member of the faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for 33 years, died Wednesday morning, July 26, at Cape Cod Hospital, Hyannis, Mass., after a long illness. He was 65 years old on July 22. He lived at 23 Cottage Street, Cambridge, and at 352 Main Street, Centerville, on Cape Cod. Professor Bitter was born at Weehawken, N. J., the son of Karl Bitter, a distinguished sculptor. The family moved to New York City when he was a boy and he attended the Taft School before going to the University of Chicago. For his senior year he transferred to Columbia University, where he received the bachelor of science degree in 1924. After a year of study in Berlin, at a time when Albert Einstein, Max Planck and Max von Laue were opening new vistas in physics, Bitter returned to Colunbia to work for a Ph. D. degree, which he received in 1928. He then spent two years at California Institute of Technology as a National Research Fellow, doing research on the magnetic susceptibility of gases, under the direction of Dr. Robert A. Millikan, Nobel laureate. In 1930 Dr. Bitter joined the Westinghouse Research Laboratories in Pittsburgh to do applied research in ferromagnetism. He developed a technique which permitted the visual demonstration of magnetic domains for the first time. As a Guggenheim Fellow, he spent 1933-34 at Cambridge University, where he became interested in the powerful magnetic fields which Peter Kapitza was attaining at the Cavendish Laboratory. He returned to the United States to become an associate professor in the Department of Mining and Metallurgy, later the Department of Metallurgy, at M.I. T. Kapitza had produced a 300,000-gauss magnetic field, but only for one- hundredth of a second. Dr. Bitter set out to produce powerful magnetic fields that could be sustained, permitting their use in research on the effects of magnetism. To achieve such fields, enormous electrical currents had to be concentrated in small coils but this produced such tremendous heat that the coils would melt. -more- Use copy created from Institute Archives record copy. © Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT Institute Archives & Special Collections. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. News Office (AC0069) Dr. Bitter -- 2 Dr. Bitter solved the problem by devising an electromagnet, still known as the Bitter magnet, through which enough water could be pumped to carry away the heat. This magnet consisted of perforated copper plates bolted together, rather than a coil of wire. Water was pumped through the perforations. With this type of magnet, Dr. Bitter in 1939 achieved a field of 100, 000 gauss - - 200, 000 times as intense as the earth's field and the highest continuous field attained up to that time. The magnet could be operated for hours at a time and was used by Dr. Bitter and Dr. George R. Harrison to split spectral lines. In 1940 Dr. Bitter was called to Washington by the Naval Ordnance Laboratory to work on counter-measures for German magnetic mines, which were destroying British ships. He first went to England to get first-hand information about the problem and then, as a Navy commander in Washington, worked not only on means for degaussing or neutralizing the magnetism of ships, to protect them from magnetic mines, but also on the development of such mines, the magnetic detection of submarines and the design of target-seeking torpedoes. He also worked on naval and air intelligence analysis in what later came to be called operations research and with the Joint Target Group, which studied problems in the strategic bombardment of Japan. Dr. Bitter returned to M.I.T. in 1945 as a member of the Department of Physics at. and became a full professor in 1951. His magnet laboratory had been dismantled during the war and until it could be rebuilt he devoted his time to research in nuclear magnetism. Stimulated by the ideas of Professor Jerrold R. Zacharias in atomic and molecular beam physics, he investigated the optical effects of microwave resonance. A French student in his laboratory, Jean Brossel, reported on the research to Professor Alfred Kastler in Paris and then returned to work with him on studies related to optical pumping, which became the basis for development of the laser. When Dr. Kastler was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1966 for this research he gave credit to Dr. Bitter and Dr. Brossel for their contributions. In 1956 Dr. Bitter was appointed associate dean of science at M.I.T. but hev resigned four years later to devote his full time to the planning and design of the National Magnet Laboratory, made possible through a $9, 502, 000 contract with the Air Force. This laboratory, unique in its facilities, was completed in 1963. In 1964, a Bitter magnet in the laboratory achieved a record-breaking field of 250,000 gauss. Another -more- Use copy created from Institute Archives record copy. © Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT Institute Archives & Special Collections. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. News Office (AC0069) Dr. Bitter -- 3 or more. magnet now under design is expected to produce a field of 325,000 gauss engineers The laboratory has an extensive research program attracting scientists and from all over the world. Though a physicist, Dr. Bitter had joined the Department of Geology and earth's Geophysics in 1960 to pursue new interests -- terrestrial magnetism and the of A shdown magnetic envelope of plasma. From 1962 to 1965 he served as master as a congenial House, the graduate dormitory, and was known to hundreds of students and stimulating adviser. Professor Bitter had developed a new sophomore physics course and wrcte a textbook for it, "Currents, Fields and Particles, " which after revision in collaboration with Professor Heinrich Medicus of Renssellaer Polytechnic Institute, soon will be published again. He was active in the Physical Science Study Committee program, organized by Professor Zacharias to develop a new physics course for high school students, and contributed two films and two books, "Magnets: the Education of a "Nuclear Physicist, " and "Mathematical Aspects of Physics."- He was also the author of papers. Physics" and "Introduction to Ferromagnetism, " as well as many scientific and He was a member of the American Physical Society, the American Academy of Arts Sciences, the Association of American Physics Teachers, Sigma Xi, Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Gamma Delta and St. Botolph Club. Professor Bitter was twice married: first to Alice Coomara (nee Richardson) who died in 1958, and second to Katherine Welchman(nee Hodgson) who survives him. He is also survived by a sister, Mrs. Walter Abel, New York City, and a brother, John Bitter, Miami, Fla. Funeral services will be private and it is requested that flowers be omitted. -30- July 26, 1967 Use copy created from Institute Archives record copy. © Massachusetts Institute of Technology .