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JESSE WAKEFIELD BEAMS
December 25, 1898-July 25, 1977
BY WALTER GORDY
JESSE W. BEAMS ranks among the greatest experimental
physicists whom America has procluced, a group that
~nclucles such men as Joseph Henry, Robert W. Wood, and
Ernest 0. Lawrence. Although he carried out many inge-
nious experiments, he is best known for his development and
diverse applications of the centrifuge. His experiments with
the centrifuge began in the early thirties and continued until
his death. Their impact on science and technology has been
enormous.
EARLY LIFE IN KANSAS
Jesse Beams was born on a farm in Sumner County,
Kansas on Christmas Day IS98. His parents were frontier
people in the true American tradition of the nineteenth cen-
tury. His father, Jesse WakefielcI Beams, senior, while yet a
boy, went west from Kentucky, across the Mississippi River.
At the age of seventeen he was driving herds of longhorn
cattle from Texas to the prairies of the MidcIle West. Later,
he settled on a farm in Sumner County, Kansas. Jesse's
mother, Kathryn Wylie, migrated with her parents in a
covered wagon from what is now West Virginia to Kansas.
After a Tong and difficult journey, the family settlect south of
Wichita.
3
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4
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
esse was a son in his father's second family. His father's
first wife cried after there were four children in the family,
two boys and two girls. Sometime after her cleath, Jesse's
father met Kathryn Wylie, whom he married. They hacI two
chilclren, Jesse and a younger brother, Harold, who grew up
to be a clistinguishecT biologist, a professor at the University
of Iowa.
Those who seek a genetic or social basis for outstanding
achievements and academic excellence may wonder why the
two children of the seconct family of Jesse Beams, Sr., reared
on the same farm, grew up to be distinguished scientists ant!
professors whereas none of the children of the first family,
so far as T couIct learn, became known scholars or scientists;
apparently, they follower! the farm life of their parents. Al-
though Kathryn Wylie's family also lived on a farm, one of
her brothers became a physician.
Jesse's outstanding accomplishments could hardly be at-
tributect to early academic opportunity. His first seven years
at school were spent in a one-room schoolhouse, several miles
from his isolated farm home. He walked to school, or skated
when there was ice and snow. Skating on the river, he said,
was the easiest way to get to school on cold clays. Although the
teacher he had must have been excellent, the instruction he
receiver! in the first seven grades had to be meager. Anyone
familiar, as ~ am, with the one-room school knows that a
single teacher of several gracles has little time for teaching
any one student or even any one grade. After school there
was little time for stucly because of the heavy assignments of
farm "homework"—husking corn, pitching hay, and milking
cows. Despite his skimpy grade-school training, Jesse went on
to graduate from high school with distinction.
Among Jesse's duties on the farm was the turning of a
centrifuge cream separator. Can it be that his lifelong fascina-
tion with the centrifuge originated from this hand-cranked
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JESSE WAKEFIELD BEAMS
5
separator rather than from something he read in a book?
From early childhood he was exposed to spectacular displays
of natural phenomena. Many times he must have watched the
swirling dust of the whirlwinds that frequently dance over the
Kansas plains in summer. He certainly was deeply impressed
by the awesome displays of lightning streaking over the wide
Kansas skies followecT by rumbling thunder. Second in im-
portance to the centrifuge in Jesse's physical experiments
were those designed to gain information about electrical dis-
charges, including lightning itself.
While it is easy to connect Jesse Beams's remarkable
experiments in physics with his early experiences on the
Kansas farm, there were thousands of children brought up
on farms of the western plains who uncloubtecIly participated
in the same farm operations, who saw over and over again the
manifestations of the same natural phenomena without being
so motivated to explore them. There must have been some-
thing different in the makeup of the boy Jesse that caused
him to see more than the others dicI, to crave more than they
to understand what he saw.
Jesse Beams obtained his undergraduate training at Fair-
mount College, in Wichita, where he worked at various jobs
to pay his expenses. He achieved high honors and was pres-
ident of his senior class. In consideration of his fascination
with physical phenomena, it is not surprising that he chose
physics as his major subject. In 1959 his alma mater, which
had then become the University of Wichita, conferred upon
Jesse the distinguished Alumnus Award.
GRADUATE EDUCATION IN PHYSICS, 1921-1925
After graduation from Fairmount College in 1921, Jesse
attencled the University of Wisconsin for one year anct ob-
tainec3 the M.A. degree in 1922 with a major in physics. In the
fall of 1922 he interrupted his graduate education to accept
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
6
an instructorship in physics offered him by Fred Allison,
chairman of the Physics Department of Alabama Polytechnic
Institute, now Auburn University. Although he remained at
Auburn only one year, he greatly impressed Fred Allison
with his exceptional ability as an experimentalist. Much credit
must be given to Allison for the future course of Beams's
career. At this critical perioc! he urger! Jesse to complete his
graduate education at the University of Virginia, where he
had obtained his own Ph.D. in experimental physics. No
doubt Allison was greatly responsible for Jesse's being of-
ferecl a teaching fellowship at the University of Virginia for
1923 and 1924 and for his decision to accept the offer. It is
not surprising that Jesse chose as his thesis clirector Professor
Carroll M. Sparrow, who had directed the thesis research of
Fred Allison.
The thesis project that Professor Sparrow assigned to
Jesse may have been as exciting to him as lightning over the
Kansas farm. Sparrow proposed that he measure the time
interval between the arrival of the quantum and the ejection
of the electron in the photoelectric effect. Although Jesse slick
not achieve this objective for his Ph.D. thesis, his attempts to
do so dill leacl to the development of experimental tech-
niques and instruments that he and others used later for
many important experiments. With light from a high-
intensity spark source that was reflected from a mirror rotat-
ing at high speed, he produced extremely short flashes of
light for which the onset ant! duration were measured with
an ingenious light-switching mechanism he developed. The
light switch was a Kerr cell that hacl electrical delay lines
differing in length between the activating voltage, which
opener! the switch, and the spark gap, which shorted out the
voltage anct thus closed the switch. This system proved capa-
ble of measuring time intervals clown to a hundrect-millionth
of a second. By employing liquids of very low viscosity for the
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JESSE WAKEFIELD BEAMS
7
isotropic medium in the Kerr cell, he found that the switch-
ing time within the cell itself could be macle negligible. He
used these devices to measure, among other things, the rela-
tive interval of time between the excitation and the emission
of certain fluorescent spectra and the relative times of the
appearance of different lines of a spectrum after excitation.
THE YALE YEARS, 1926-1928
.
Upon receiving the Ph.D. at Virginia in 1925, Beams was
awarded a National Research Fellowship, which he hell! for
two years, the first year at Virginia arch the second at Yale. He
hac! the good fortune at Yale to meet anct work with Ernest
0. Lawrence, a young experimental physicist of considerable
imagination and skill, who, like himself, had been reared on
an isolated midwestern farm. Their elementary education, or
lack of it, was quite similar. Both attended small midwestern
colleges, obtained the M.A. degree from a midwestern uni-
versity, and receiver! the Ph.D. degree in 1925 from an
eastern university (Ernest, from Yate). But these two young
physicists hacT something in common that was far more im-
portant than their parallel experiences in farm life and eclu-
cation. Both were Erect with insatiable curiosity about the
physical worm, and both possessed exceptional talent for ex-
ploring it. They were clestinec3 to become leacTing experi-
mental physicists of the twentieth century.
At Yale, Beams and Lawrence collaborates! on several
stuclies, primarily on experiments concerned with measure-
ments of short time intervals, which probably evolved from
Jesse's Ph.D. research. After further refinement of the tech-
niques that he clevelopecl at Virginia, Beams, with Lawrence,
returned to the problem assigned to him by Professor Spar-
row for his Ph.D. thesis: measurement of the time interval
between the light quantum and the ejection of the electron in
the photoelectric effect. By this time, physicists, including
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8
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
Beams and Lawrence, had become more aware of their limi-
tations with respect to gaining experimental information
about the interactions of individual quanta with single elec-
trons. They consequently adopted the more realistic goal of
measurement of the time between impending flashes of light
and the onset of photoelectric emission. Although this in-
terval of time proved too short for them to measure, they
were able to set definitive upper limits for the intervals. They
concluded, for example, that photoelectric emission begins in
less than 3 x 10-9 seconds after the beginning of illumination
of a potassium hydride surface.
Probably the most widely known collaborative effort that
Beams and Lawrence made was their attempt to chop light
quanta into segments by means of an air-driven, high-speed,
rotating mirror. In a related experiment, they tried to mea-
sure the length of a light Bantam
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ These experiments,
though doomed to fail, were bold, suggestive ones at this
stage in the development of quantum theory. Evidence that
Beams and Lawrence recognized these experiments as far
out on the border line of the knowable is revealed in their
statement: "There is no definite information on the length of
ume elapsing cturlng the process of absorption of a quantum
of energy photo-electrically by an electron, and [further-
more] the so-called length of a light quantum if such a
concept has meaning- is equally unknown experimentally." ~
, 1 ~ 1
_ 1 · 1 · .
RETURN TO VIRGINIA
After the expiration of his National Research Fellowship
and a year spent as an instructor at Yale, Jesse Beams re-
turned to the UniversitY of Virginia in the fall of 1928 as an
assocla~e processor or physics. 1 nls appointment proved to be
:~ rid ~_1 ~ /.1 · · .
J. W. Beams and E. O. Lawrence, "On the Nature of Light," Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 13(1927):207.
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J ESSE WAKEFI ELD B EAMS
9
fortunate for the university as well as for Jesse Beams. At that
time, L. G. Hoxton, chairman of the Physics Department, was
concerned about the state of the program of graduate studies
and research in physics and was anxious to build them up. As
future events proved, he coup not have clone better than to
attract young Beams back to his alma mater, even at a two-
rank promotion over his Yale instructorship. In his history of
the Physics Department of the University of Virginia, F. L.
Brown, professor of physics at the University of Virginia
from 1922 to 1961, began the chapter concerning the period
from 1928 to 1936 with this statement: "With the return of
Dr. I. W. Beams to the University of Virginia as associate
professor a new period of growth and clevelopment can truly
be said to have begun."2 Increasing numbers of physics stu-
clents of high quality chose Virginia as their graduate school
and Beams as the director of their thesis research. These
students came first from the southern states, then later from
throughout the nation as Beams's reputation as a clever
experimentalist spread. Two students who came early to
work with him were Edward P. Ney of the University of
Minnesota and I. C. Street of Harvard, both now members of
the National Academy of Sciences.
There were no government grants when Jesse returned to
Virginia in 1928 and apparently no state funds allocatect for
research in physics. At that time graduate students supported
themselves by teaching the unclergraduate laboratories. For-
tunately, minimal funds were requires! for research equip-
ment and supplies. A year later the financial outlook was
notably improved; the Du Font Company established several
fellowships at the University, some of which were available
for physics. About the same time, a fund for research in the
physical sciences was established by the General Eclucation
2F. L. Brown, A Brief History of the Physics Department of the University of Virginia,
1922-1961 (Charlottesville: University of Virginia, 1967), ch. 5, p. 1.
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10
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
Board, apparently with an agreement that the State of Vir-
ginia would contribute enough to maintain the fund at a level
of $45,000 a year, of which the physics (department was to
receive a maximum of $1 1,670.3 Although paltry indeed in
comparison with present levels of support for physics re-
search, these funds in support of the ingenious experiments
of Jesse Beams had an enormous impact on the development
of science in this country. What influence Jesse's return had
on these encouraging clevelopments in the physics program
at Virginia I clo not know, but ~ suspect it was considerable.
Evidence that the administration recognized Beams's
worth to the University was his promotion to a full professor-
ship in 1930, only five years after he receive(1 his doctorate
there. Lest the reader conclude that the administrators of the
University of Virginia in the predepression years differed
from university administrators today in their rapid, vol-
untary recognition of the worth of a young staff member, ~
shall briefly indicate how Jesse's promotion to professorship
came about.
According to his wife, Maxine, while Jesse was an associate
professor at Virginia he received a "wonclerful offer" from
another university. Though she did not mention the name of
the university, T concluclect that it was somewhere in the Mid-
west, near his native Kansas. The offer was so attractive that
he went for an extended visit to consider it. While away he
became inclined to accept the offer.
Upon his return, he went to the president of the Univer-
sity of Virginia to resign his position. The president re-
sponded, "Young man, you are just causing me much trou-
ble." Then he quickly offered to raise lessees salary and to
promote him to full professorship.
3Ibid .
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JESSE WAKEFIELD BEAMS
11
Having concrete evidence that his talents were appre-
ciatecT by the highest levels of the university administration,
Jesse never again came so close to leaving the University of
Virginia, despite the many wonderful offers he received
through the years. Whenever he receiver! an enticing offer
with a considerably higher salary than he was receiving, Jesse
wouIcI ask Maxine what he should C3O. Each time she gave him
the same answer, "Jesse, you should do what you want to do,
what you think is best." Each time the result was the
same he refused the offer and after the decision was made,
again to quote Maxine, "He was so happy."
DEVELOPMENT OF THE ULTRACENTRIFUGE
After 1930 Beams's principal research programs were
concerned with axially rotating systems from the very, very
fast to the very, very slow. This does not mean that his pro-
grams lacked breadth and diversity far from it. Under his
continuous cultivation the centrifuge became a family of in-
struments capable of solving a variety of basic problems in
chemistry and biology as well as in physics; it had many im-
portant technological or inclustrial applications, from testing
the strength of materials to the separation of uranium iso-
topes for nuclear energy. He converted the centrifuge, capa-
ble of rotating only a few thousand times a minute, to the
ultracentrifuge, capable of rotating a hundred! million times
a minute (A I.5 million rotations per second), with peripheral
speeds greater than 2500 miles an hour. At the highest speed,
the peripheries of some of the small, spherical rotors experi-
ence a force of acceleration a billion times that of the earth's
gravitation. The speecI is limitecI only by the strength-to-
density ratio of the material composing the rotor. The rotor
is magnetically suspencled in a highly evacuated container, in
which the resistance to rotation is so small that the rotor, once
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12
B I OGRAPH I CAL MEMOI RS
set in motion and allowed to coast, would continue to rotate
for many years without a driving force.
To appreciate the difficulties Beams and his group had to
overcome to produce the ultracentrifuges that rotate up to
I.5 million times a second, let us review briefly the history of
the (development of the centrifuge to the time he began work-
ing with it. The simplest centrifuge is one mounted on a shaft
and rotates! by some external system attached to the shaft,
such as the motor-ciriven wheels of an auto or the rotating
blacles of an electric fan. Alternately, a moving fluid may be
used to cirive the shaft-mountecT rotor, as was done for cen-
turies in waterwheels and wincimilIs. Serious difficulties are
encountered when one attempts to spin the shaft-mounted
rotors at speeds up to a few huncired rotations a second.
These ctifficulties come from inability to make the inertial
axis of the rotor coincide exactly with the axis of the shaft
about which it is forced to turn. Anyone driving a car at high
speeds knows the problems caused by wheel imbalance, but
the wheels of a car driven at the national speed limit make
only a clozen turns a seconct.
In ~ SS3 a Swedish engineer, Car! G. P. cle Lava, overcame
some of the clifficulties by mounting a steam-ciriven turbine
rotor on a tong, flexible shaft that could shift under the force
of an imbalance to the inertial axis of the turbine wheel. With
this innovation, do Laval constructed a small steam turbine
capable of turning at seven hundred rotations a second. Be-
tween 1920 and 1925, Theodor Sveciberg, at the University
of Uppsala, with meticulous design and exceptional work-
manship, constructed small centrifuges mounted on non-
flexible shafts, which achieved rotational speeds of the order
of a thousand rotations a second. When the rotor was
mounted uncler hydrogen gas at subatmospheric pressures to
recluce frictional heating, Svedberg succeeded in separating
out and weighing large biological molecules through the
OCR for page 39
JESSE WAKEFIELD BEAMS
1928
39
With E. O. Lawrence. On relaxation of electric fields in Kerr cells
and apparent lag of the Kerr effect. }. Franklin Inst., 206:
169-79.
The time lag of the spark gap. I. Franklin Inst., 206:809-15.
The mechanical production of short flashes of light. Nature,
121:863.
With E. O. Lawrence. The element of time in the photoelectric
effect. Phys. Rev., 32:478-85.
1929
With L. G. Hoxton and F. Allison. An interferometer using plane-
polarized light. J. Opt. Soc. Am., 19:90-92.
With I. C. Street. The time lags of spark gaps in air at various
pressures. Phys. Rev., 33:280.
1930
Spectral phenomena in spark discharges. Phys. Rev., 35:24-33.
The propagation of luminosity in discharge tubes. Phys. Rev.,
36:997-1001.
An apparatus for obtaining high speeds of rotation. Rev. Sci. In-
strum., 1:667-71.
A review of the use of Kerr cells for the measurement of time
intervals and the production of flashes of light. Rev. Sci. In-
strum., 1:780-93.
1931
Deviations from Kerr's law at high field strengths in polar liquids.
Phys. Rev., 37:781-82.
With E. C. Stevenson. The electro-optical Kerr effect in gases. Phys.
Rev., 38:133-40.
With J. C. Street. The fall of potential in the initial stages of elec-
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1932
With l. W. Flowers. The initiation of electrical discharges in effec-
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OCR for page 40
40
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
Some evidence indicating a removal of positive ions from cold sur-
faces by electric fields. Phys. Rev., 41:687-88.
Electric and magnetic double refraction. Rev. Mod. Phys.,
4:133-72.
1933
With L. B. Snoddy. Production of high-velocity ions and electrons.
Phys. Rev., 44:784-85.
Field electron emission from liquid mercury. Phys. Rev., 44:803-7.
With A. T. Weed and E. G. Pickels. The ultracentrifuge. Science,
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1934
With E. G. Pickels and A. }. Weed. Ultracentrifuge. I. Chem. Phys.,
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With H. Trotter, fir. Acceleration of electrons to high energies.
Phys. Rev., 45: 849-50.
Measuring a millionth of a second. Sci. Mon., 38:471-73.
1935
With E. G. Pickels. The production of high rotational speeds. Rev.
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1936
Experiments on the production of high-velocity ions by impulse
methods. Proc. Am. Philos. Soc., 76:771-72.
With E. I. Workman and L. B. Snoddy. Photographic study of
lightning. Physics, 7:375-79.
With L. B. Snoddy and I. R. Dietrich. Propagation of potential in
discharge tubes. Phys. Rev., 50:469-71.
With F. B. Haynes. The separation of isotopes by centrifuging.
Phys. Rev., 50:491-92.
With W. T. Ham, Jr., L. B. Snoddy, and H. Trotter, Jr. Transmis-
sion of high-voltage impulses at controllable speed. Nature,
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1937
With L. B. Snoddy. The electrically driven ultracentrifuge. Science,
85: 185-86.
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JESSE WAKEFIELD BEAMS
4
With L. B. Snoddy. A simple method of measuring rotational
speeds. Science, 85:273-74.
With F. W. Linke and C. Skarstrom. A tubular vacuum type centri-
fuge. Science, 86:293-94.
High rotational speeds. J. Appl. Phys., 8:795-806.
With L. B. Snoddy. The separation of mixtures by centrifuging. J.
Chem. Phys., 5:993-94.
With L. B. Snoddy, H. Trotter, Jr., and W. T. Ham. Impulse cir-
cuits for obtaining a time separation between the appearance of
potential at different points in a system. I. Franklin Inst.,
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With F. T. Holmes. Frictional torque of an axial magnetic suspen-
sion. Nature, 140:3~31.
With A. Victor Masket. Concentration of chlorine isotopes by cen-
trifuging. Phys. Rev., 51:384.
With I. R. Dietrich. Propagation of potential in discharge tubes.
Phys. Rev., 52:739~6.
With F. W. Linke. An inverted air-driven ultracentrifuge. Rev. Sci.
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1938
With }. R. Dietrich and L. B. Snoddy. Impulse breakdown
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. .
In C .1S-
High speed centrifuging. Rev. Mod. Phys., 10:245-63.
With F. W. Linke and P. Sommer. A vacuum type air-driven centri-
fuge for biophysical research. Rev. Sci. Instrum., 9:248-52.
A tubular vacuum type centrifuge. Rev. Sci. Instrum., 9:413-16.
Centrifuging of liquids. Science, 88:243~4.
1939
With L. B. Snoddy. Electrical discharge between a stationary and a
rotating electrode. Phys. Rev., 55:504.
The separation of gases by centrifuging. Phys. Rev., 55:591.
With L. B. Snoddy. Spark discharge on surfaces. Phys. Rev.,
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With L. B. Snoddy. Progressive breakdown in a conducting liquid.
Phys. Rev., 55:879.
With C. Skarstrom. The concentration of isotopes by the evapora-
tive centrifuge method. Phys. Rev., 56:266-72.
OCR for page 42
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
With S. A. Black. Electrically driven, magnetically supported,
vacuum type ultracentrifuge. Rev. Sci. Instrum., 10:5~63.
A high resolving power ultracentrifuge. Science, 89:543-44.
1940
With C. Skarstrom. A laboratory study of spark discharge between
conducting clouds. Phys. Rev., 57:63.
With L. B. Snoddy and Hugh F. Henry. Electrical discharge on
liquid surface. Phys. Rev., 57:350.
With F. C. Armistead. Concentration of chlorine isotopes by centri-
fuging at dry-ice temperature. Phys. Rev., 57:359.
With C. Skarstrom. The electrically driven, magnetically sup-
ported, vacuum type ultracentrifuge. Rev. Sci. Instrum., 11:
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Ultracentrifuging. In: Science in Progress, Ed Ser., vol.9, p.232. New
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1941
With A. L. Stauffacher and L. B. Snoddy. A new analytical ultracen-
trifuge. Phys. Rev., 59:468.
High-speed centrifuging. Rep. Prog. Phys., 8:31-39.
1942
The production and maintenance of high centrifugal fields for use
in biology and medicine. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 43: 177-93.
1946
With J. W. Moore and J. L. Young. The production of high centrif-
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With I. L. Young III. The production of high centrifugal fields.
Phys. Rev., 69:537.
1947
With A. R. Kuhlthau, A. C. Lapsley, I. H. McQueen, L. B. Snoddy,
and W. D. Whitehead. Spark light source of short duration.
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High centrifugal fields. J. Wash. Acad. Sci., 37:221-41.
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The radial density variation of gases and vapors in a centrifugal
field. Phys. Rev., 72:433-34.
OCR for page 43
JESSE WA KEFI ELD B EA MS
43
Rotors driven by light pressure. Phys. Rev., 72:987-88.
With F. W. Linke and P. Sommer. Speed control for the air-driven
centrifuge. Rev. Sci. Instrum., 18:57-60.
1948
With A. C. Lapsley and L. B. Snoddy. The use of a cavity oscillator
as a Kerr cell electro-optical shutter. J. Appl. Phys., 19: 111- 12.
With }. H. McQueen and L. B. Snoddy. Light scattering in super-
sonic streams. Phys. Rev., 73: 260; 74: 1551-52.
Centrifugal fields. Sci. Mon., 66:25~58.
1949
With L. B. Snoddy. Pulsed electron beam for high-speed photog-
raphy. Phys. Rev. 75: 1324.
1950
Magnetic suspension balance. Phys. Rev., 78:471-72.
Magnetic suspension for small rotors. Rev. Sci. Instrum., 21:
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1951
With H. Morton. Transmission line Kerr cell. I. Appl. Phys.,
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With l. D. Ross and I. F. Dillon. Magnetically suspended, vacuum
type ultracentrifuge. Rev. Sci. Instrum., 22:77-80.
1952
With E. C. Smith and I. M. Watkins. High contrast speed rotating
mirror. I. Soc. Motion Pict. Telev. Eng., 58: 159-68.
With W. E. Walker and H. Morton. Mechanical properties of thin
films of silver. Phys. Rev., 87:524-25.
Molecular weight determination by the equilibrium ultracentri
fuge. Science, 116:516.
1953
Single crystal metal rotors. Phys. Rev., 92:502.
With C. I. Davisson. A new variation of the rotation by magnetiza-
tion method of measuring gyromagnetic ratios. Rev. Mod.
Phys., 25:246-52.
OCR for page 44
44
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
With H. M. Dixon. An ultracentrifuge double cell. Rev. Sci. In-
strum., 24:228-29.
1954
Technique of spinning high-speed rotors at low temperature. In:
Proceedings, Third International Conference on Low Temperature
Physics and Chemistry, p. 64 ff. Houston, Tex.: Rice Institute.
Shadow and schlieren methods. In: Physical Measurements in Gas
Dynamics and Combustion, ed. R. W. Ladenburg, vol.9, pp.2~46.
Princeton, N.T.: Princeton University Press.
Magnetic suspension ultracentrifuge circuits. Electronics, 27~31:
152-55.
With }. H. Hildebrand, B. I. Alder, and H. M. Dixon. The effects
of hydrostatic pressure and centrifugal fields upon critical
liquid-liquid interfaces. I. Phys. Chem., 58:577-79.
With N. Snidow, A. Robeson, and H. M. Dixon. Interferometer for
the measurement of sedimentation in a centrifuge. Rev. Sci.
Instrum., 25:295-96.
Production and use of high centrifugal fields. Science, 120:619-25.
1955
With H. M. Dixon, A. Robeson, and N. Snidow. The magnetically
suspended equilibrium ultracentrifuge. J. Phys. Chem., 59:
915-22.
Effect of centrifugal field upon the rate of transfer through a
helium II film. Phys. Rev., 98: 1138.
With I. B. Breazeale and W. L. Bart. Mechanical strength of thin
films of metals. Phys. Rev., 100: 1657-61.
With C. W. Hulburt, W. E. Lotz, ir., and R. M. Montague, {r
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1956
The tensile strength of liquid helium II. Phys. Rev., 104:88~82.
1957
The magnetically supported equilibrium ultracentrifuge. Proc.
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OCR for page 45
JESSE WAKEFIELD BEAMS
1958
45
Tensile strength of liquids at low temperature. In: Proceedings Fifth
International Conference of Low Temperature Physics and Chemistry,
pp. 84-85. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
With L. B. Snoddy and A. R. Kuhlthau. Tests of the theory of
isotope separation by centrifuging. In: Proceedings Second U.N.
International Conference on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, vol. 4:
pp. 428-34. Geneva: United Nations.
1959
Tensile strengths of liquid argon, helium, nitrogen, and oxygen.
Phys. Fluids, 2: 1-4.
High-speed rotation. Phys. Today, 12~7~:2~27.
Molecular pumping. Science, 130: 140~7.
Mechanical properties of thin films of gold and silver. In: Proceed-
ings International Conference on Structure and Properties of Thin
Films, ed. C. A. Neugebauer, J. B. Newkirk, and D. A. Vermilya,
pp. 183-92. New York: John Wiley.
1961
With P. E. Hexner and L. E. Radford. Achievement of sedimenta-
tion equilibrium. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 47: 1848-52.
With R. D. Boyle and P. E. Hexner. Magnetically suspended
equilibrium ultracentrifuge. Rev. Sci. Instrum., 32:645-50.
Ultrahigh-speed rotation. Sci. Am., 204: 135-47.
Bakable molecular pumps. In: Transactions of Seventh National Sym-
posium on Vacuum Technology, pp. 1-5. New York: Pergamon
Press.
1962
With P. E. Hexner, D. W. Kupke, H. G. Kim, F. N. Weber, Jr., and
R. F. Bunting. Molecular weight of virus by equilibrium ultra-
centrifugation. {. Am. Chem. Soc., 84:2457-58.
With P. E. Hexner and R. D. Boyle. Molecular weight determina-
tion with a magnetically supported ultracentrifuge. J. Phys.
Chem., 66: 1948-51.
With R. D. Boyle and P. E. Hexner. Equilibrium ultracentrifuge for
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OCR for page 46
46
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
With D. M. Spitzer, ir., and I. P. Wade, Jr. Spinning rotor pressure
gauge. Rev. Sci. Instrum., 33:151-55.
With A. M. Clarke. Magnetic suspension balance method for deter-
mining densities and partial specific volumes. Rev. Sci. Instrum.
33:75~53.
With A. M. Clarke and D. W. Kupke. Determination of densities
and partial specific volumes by magnetic balance methods. Sci-
ence, 138:984.
With C. E. Williams. A magnetically suspended molecular pump.
In: Transactions of the Eighth National Vacuum Symposium Combined
with the Second International Congress on Vacuum Science and Tech-
nology, ed. Luther E. Preuss, vol. 1, pp. 295-99. New York:
Pergamon Press.
1963
With A. M. Clarke and D. W. Kupke. Partial specific volumes of
proteins by a magnetic balance technique. J. Phys. Chem.,
67: 92~30.
With T. K. Robinson. Radio telemetering from magnetically sus-
pended rotors. Rev. Sci. Instrum., 34:63-64.
Some interferometer techniques for observing sedimentation. Rev.
Sci. Instrum., 34: 13~42.
Double magnetic suspension. Rev. Sci. Instrum., 34: 1071-74.
With F. N. Weber, Jr., and D. W. Kupke. Molecular weight: mea-
surement with gravity cells. Science, 139:837-38.
High centrifugal fields. Phys. Teacher, 1 (31: 1 03-7, 1 1 9.
1964
Magnetic bearings. In: Transactions of the Automotive Engineering
Congress, pp. 1-5. New York: Society of Automotive Engineers.
Gas centrifugal separation. In: Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology,
ed. Anthony Standen, vol. 4, pp. 755-56. New York:
Interscience.
With D. V. Ulrich and D. W. Kupke. An improved magnetic densi-
tometer: the partial specific volume of ribonuclease. Proc. Natl.
Acad. Sci. USA, 52:34~56.
With W. L. Piotrowski. Centrifugal method of cutting crystals. Rev.
Sci. Instrum., 35: 1726-27.
OCR for page 47
JESSE WAKEFIELD BEAMS
1965
Multiple rotormagnetic suspension system. Rev. Sci. Instrum.,
36:95.
Magnetic support for nonferromagnetic bodies. Rev. Sci. Instrum.,
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1966
47
Centrifuge. In: Encyclopedia of Physics, ed. R. M. Besancon,
pp. 93-96. New York: Reinhold.
With W. L. Piotrowski and D. C. Larson. Plastic deformation of
spinning iron whiskers. J. Appl. Phys. 37:3153-56.
Speed control of magnetically suspended ultracentrifuge. Rev. Sci.
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Ultraszybki ruch obrotowy. In: Biblioteka Problemow W Laboratoriach
Fizybow, ed. S. Ignatowicz et al., pp. 32~43. Warsaw, Poland:
Panstwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe.
1968
Potentials on rotor surfaces. Phys. Rev. Lett., 21:1093-96.
1969
With R. D. Rose, H. M. Parker, R. A. Lowry, and A. R. Kublthau.
Determination of the gravitational constant G. Phys. Rev. Lett.,
23 :655-58.
With P. F. Fahey and D. W. Kupke. Effect of pressure on the
apparent specific volume of proteins. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.
USA, 63:548-55.
Magnetic suspension densimeter. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 40: 167-68.
1970
With S. H. French. Contact-potential changes produced on metal
surfaces by tensile stresses. Phys. Rev., B1:3300-3303.
Constancy of inertial mass in a centrifugal field. Phys. Rev. Lett.,
24:840-43.
1971
With W. R. Towler, H. M. Parker, R. A. Lowry, and A. R. Kuhlthau.
Measurement of the Newton gravitational constant. In: Precision
OCR for page 48
48
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
Measurement and Fundamental Constants (National Bureau of
Standards Special Publication no. 343), ed. D. N. Langenberg
and B. N. Taylor, pp.485-492. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Govern-
ment Printing Office.
Finding a better value for G. Phys. Today, 24~51:34-40.
Improved method of spinning rotors to high speeds at low temper-
ature. Rev. Sci. Instrum., 42:637-39.
With M. G. Hodgins. Magnetic densimeter-viscometer. Rev. Sci.
Instrum., 42: 1455-57.
1972
With R. A. Lowry, W. R. Towler, H. M. Parker, and A. R. Kulthau.
The gravitational constant G. In: Atomic Masses and Fundamental
Constants, ed. }. H. Saunders and A. H. Wapstra, vol. 4,
pp. 521-28. London: Plenum Press.
With D. W. Kupke and M. G. Hodgins. Simultaneous determina-
tion of viscosity and density of protein solutions by magnetic
suspension. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 69:2258-62.
With D. W. Kupke. Magnetic densimetry: Partial specific volume
and other applications. In: Methods in Enzymology, ed. C. H. W.
Hirs and S. N. Timasheff, vol. 26, pp. 74-107. New York: Aca-
demic Press.
1973
With M. G. Hodgins and D. W. Kupke. A magnetic suspension
osometer. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 70:3785-87.
1974
With }. H. McGee, D. W. Kupke, and W. Godschalk. Equilibrium
sedimentation of turnip yellow mosaic virus. Proc. Natl. Acad.
Sci. USA, 71:386~68.
With I. H. McGee and D. W. Kupke. Constant speed drive for
magnetically supported equilibrium ultracentrifuge. Rev. Sci.
Instrum. 45: 1607-8.
Centrifuge. In: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th ea., vol. 3, pp. 1143-
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With Kenneth L. Nordvedt and lames E. Failer. Gravitation. In:
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th ea., vol. 8, pp. 28~94. Chicago:
Encyclopacdia Britannica.
OCR for page 49
JESSE WAKEFI ELD B EAMS
1975
49
With M. G. Hodgins, O. C. Hodgins, and D. W. Kupke. Quasielastic
behavior of solutions of viral capsid and RNA at very low shearing
stresses. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 72:3501-4.
Early History of the Gas Centrifuge Work in the U.S.~. (Special report:
University of Virginia and Union Carbide Corporation Nuclear
Division in Oak Ridge). Charlottesville: University of Virginia.
1976
With W. R. Towler. Magnetic suspension for lecture and classroom
demonstrations. Am. I. Phys. 44:478-80.
With G. G. Luther, W. R. Towler, R. D. Deslattes, and R. Lowry.
Initial results from a new measurement of the Newtonian gravi-
tational constant. In: Atomic Masses and Fundamental Constants.
ed. }. H. Saunders and A. H. Wapstra, vol. 5, pp. 629-35.
London: Plenum Press.
1977
With W. D. Kupke. Simultaneous measurements of viscosity and
density in solutions undergoing change. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.
USA, 74:4430_33.
1978
With R. C. Ritter, G. T. Gillies, and R. T. Rood. Dynamic measure-
ment of matter creation. Nature, 271:228-29.
With Rogers C. Ritter. A laboratory measurement of the constancy
of G. In: On the Measurement of Cosmological Variations of the Grav-
itational Constant, pp. 29-70. Gainesville: University Press of
Florida.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
biographical memoirs
