Memorial Tributes Volume 4 (1991) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Philip McCord Morse
Philip McCord Morse
Pages 249-258
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 249... ...
In physics, it ranged from acoustics and quantum mechanics to nuclear physics and methods of theoretical physics. In operations research, which he pioneered, his career encompassed military operations research, vehicular traffic, queues, and public systems.
|
From page 250... ...
Eric Bell's Men of Mathematics had not yet been written when Morse made that statement; he later speculated that if the book had already appeared he might have become enmeshed in the mysteries of prime numbers of Diophantine analysis and his entire life might have been different. As for his nonscholastic interests, when the radio craze hit Cleveland in the early twenties, Morse operated his own radio supply and repair shop.
|
From page 251... ...
The late 1920s were exciting times thanks to the development of the new quantum mechanics; in 1930 Dirac prophesied accurately that quantum mechanics would explain all of chemistry and most of physics. Aside from his course work and research on molecular physics with Ernst Stueckelberg, with whom he published several papers, Morse developed a solution for a force that was repulsive when two particles are close together, attractive when they are further apart, and under which they vanish at greater distances.
|
From page 252... ...
As Morse recounts "It was easy to say yes." So Morse joined the MIT physics faculty in 1931 as assistant professor, rapidly rose to associate professor in 1934, and became a full professor in 1938. With his very broadly gauged interests, he participated in the development of the physics curriculum and accepted the position of graduate registration officer.
|
From page 253... ...
Morse, who was considered a distinguished scientist and who had been the director of a project at the Underwater Sound Laboratory at Harvard University for the previous two years, was chosen by the National Defense Research Council to head the operations research effort. Several months after the formation of the operations research group, the navy consolidated the antisubmarine operations under the Tenth Fleet, and the Antisubmarine Warfare Operations Research Group was transferred to Washington, D.C.
|
From page 254... ...
The group's civilian unit developed into the Institute for Defense Analyses in 1956; Morse served as a trustee. In another area of interest, Morse was convinced of the great importance of computation and the rapidly growing power of the digital computer.
|
From page 255... ...
He was involved in organizing the first International Operations Research Conference in 1957; the International Fecleration of Operations Research Societies originated at this conference. Interest in the operations research discipline overseas led to the 1959 North American Treaty Organization conference with Morse as chairman of the advisory panel.
|
From page 256... ...
He reflects that his successes would have been fewer had he not chosen, back in 1923, to become a physicist through training that forced him to look facts in the face, that maple him want to measure them and work out their implications, whether these facts applied to atoms or automobiles. The last comment of Morse's autobiography conveys much of his philosophy "For those who like exploration, immersion in scientific research is not dehumanizing; in fact, it is a lot of fun.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.