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J O H N W. COLT M A N
1915–2010
Elected in 1976
“For pioneering advancements in X-ray and low-light level imaging devices,
undersea equipment, and electron tubes.”
BY MAURY FEY
SUBMITTED BY THE HOME SECRETARY
JOHN W. COLTMAN, physicist and retired research executive
of Westinghouse Electric Corporation, died February 10,
2010.
John W. Coltman was born in Cleveland on July 15, 1915.
His father was an analytical chemist with the National Carbon
Company (which became part of Union Carbide). He obtained
his B.S. degree in physics from Case School of Applied Science
(now Case Western Reserve University) in 1937 and an M.S.
in physics and a Ph.D. in nuclear physics from the University
of Illinois in 1941. That same year he was married to Charlotte
Coltman of Urbana, Illinois, and they moved to Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, where he joined Westinghouse Research
Laboratories.
During World War II, Dr. Coltman did research in
microwave tubes for use in radar and jamming enemy radar.
Later, he took charge of a group of scientists whose aim
was to solve the problem of the extremely dim images then
obtainable in medical fluoroscopy. The resulting development
of the X-ray image amplifier provided a brightening of 500
times and revolutionized modern clinical fluoroscopy. It
made possible the techniques of cine-fluorography, television
fluoroscopy, digital angiography, and video X-ray recording. It
is used in many surgical procedures and today is still standard
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54 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
equipment in every hospital radiology department. Work on
this device also resulted in the scintillation counter, of which
Dr. Coltman was coinventor.
In 1949, Dr. Coltman was named manager of the electronics
and nuclear physics department. He became responsible for
research programs in acoustics, information theory, infrared,
underwater sound, nuclear physics, optical pickup tubes,
semiconductor devices, and television. In 1960 he was named
associate director of the research laboratory, responsible for
a group of several departments. In 1969, Dr. Coltman was
appointed research director for the Public Systems Company
and later director of R&D planning for Westinghouse’s
Research and Development Center, the position from which
he retired in 1980. He held 22 patents and wrote 66 technical
articles and chapters in three books.
Ever since his school days, Dr. Coltman played the flute. He
was associate director of the Wilkinsburg Symphony Orchestra
and played in the Pittsburgh Woodwind Quintet. His interest
in flute led him to research on its acoustics, carried out in his
home laboratory. He published some 40 articles on musical
acoustics and was a recognized authority on the acoustics of the
flute. Among his other pursuits were sailing, woodworking,
and amateur radio, for which he was first licensed in 1932.
Many honors came to Dr. Coltman. He was elected a fellow
of both the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and
the American Physical Society. He served on many committees
of the U.S. government and was a member of the National
Research Council’s Commission on Human Resources. In 1960,
Dr. Coltman received the Longstreth Medal of the Franklin
Institute for his development of the X-ray image amplifier and
was also named Pittsburgh’s Man of the Year in Science by
the Junior Chamber of Commerce. In 1968 he was awarded
the Westinghouse Order of Merit, not only for the X-ray
amplifier and scintillation counter but also for his pioneering
contributions to the infant science of radar in the 1940s and
his later work on undersea equipment and electron tubes,
including television. In 1970 he was awarded the Roentgen
Medal by the Roentgen Museum in Germany, and in 1976
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J O H N W. COLT M A N 55
he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. In
1982 he received the Gold Medal of the Radiological Society of
North America in recognition of the development of the X-ray
image amplifier.
Dr. Coltman is survived by his wife Charlotte of Strongsville,
Ohio; their daughters, Sally Condit, also of Strongsville, and
Nancy Horner of Severn, Maryland; four grandchildren; and
four great-grandchildren.
