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Pages 441-458

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From page 441... ... Woods active period of scientific productivity coincided with the rise of atomic physics, and he made important Reprinted from Biographical Memoirs, The Royal Society, London, England, 1956. Read the entire page →
From page 442... ... 442 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS contributions to the increasing knowledge of the structure of the atom, chiefly through his experimental research in physical optics. He was, however, far from one-sided and penetrated into many fields. Read the entire page →
From page 443... ... ROBERT WILLIAMS WOOD 443 taught there and went to Germany in IS94 for further study of chemistry. In Berlin he once more was attracted by what went on in physics, and uncler Ruben's influence changer! Read the entire page →
From page 444... ... Here came the start of his studies in physical optics which were to become the main substance of his lifework. The first attack on the problem is typical for Woocl. Read the entire page →
From page 445... ... ROBERT WILLIAMS WOOD 445 nest. His teaching duties were light. Read the entire page →
From page 446... ... 446 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS the greatest experimenters of our time. Nevertheless, he never worked with anything in the least complicated. Read the entire page →
From page 447... ... ROBERT WILLIAMS WOOD 447 mitting freely the ultraviolet. This filter is still caller! Read the entire page →
From page 448... ... He therefore set out to write one, and the first edition of Physical Optics appeared in 1905. It differed from any other book in this field by the large number of experimental details it included, all from Wood's own experience and therefore original, fresh, and full of interest. Read the entire page →
From page 449... ... ~ had occasion to discuss with him many parts of his book during the revisions for the third and fourth editions, and the attitude he took was perhaps typical of his relations with science during his whole life. It was only naturat that in a subject which had progressed as much as physical optics had done, largely because of his own endeavors, there were some phases with which he had not kept abreast but which he nevertheless wanted to include in the new edition. Read the entire page →
From page 450... ... Much of his experimental work is conveniently assembler! in his Physical Optics. Read the entire page →
From page 451... ... ROBERT WILLIAMS WOOD 45 "spectrum" of light, and the literal meaning of the word is, of course, "ghost." However, use of the English word "ghost" does not refer to the spectrum that is to be produced by the grating but flaws in the spectrum which cause spectrum lines to appear where none are supposed to be. Wood found that one class of such ghosts, the so-called Lyman ghosts, was produced by the shock to the ruling engine caused whenever the seam in the drive belt hit the driving wheel. Read the entire page →
From page 452... ... 452 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS everything he did was carefully reasoned out. He never engaged in experimenting at random just to see what would come out but always had a carefully thought out plan. Read the entire page →
From page 453... ... ROBERT WILLIAMS WOOD 453 he sometimes cticl by unconventional means and often with dramatic results. Perhaps the most famous of these cases was that of the "N-rays," discoverer! Read the entire page →
From page 454... ... 454 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS The following example has all the imprints of Wood's method, though ~ cannot vouch that it originated with him. During the Second WorIcl War there was a self-styled inventor who claimed to have discovered a powerful explosive which in his opinion would supersede all hitherto used explosives, while the military experts consiclered it worthless. Read the entire page →
From page 455... ... ROBERT WILLIAMS WOOD 455 swallowed it, and recorclec! in minute detail the visions and hallucinations he experienced; and he reporter! Read the entire page →
From page 456... ... an honorary fellow of the London Physical Society. He received in IS99 a medal of the Royal Society of Arts for his invention of the diffraction color process in photography and in 1938 the Rumford GoIct Medal of the Royal Society for his achievements in physical optics, a ctistinction which he valued perhaps most of all. Read the entire page →
From page 457... ... ROBERT WILLIAMS WOOD 457 Thus Britain, perhaps more than any other country, showed appreciation for Woocl's genius, although he dill not lack distinctions in his own country and abroad. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, the Academia dei Lincei in Rome, the Russian Academy of Science in Leningrad, the Royal Swedish Academy in Stockholm, and the Indian Association for Science in Calcutta, among many others. Read the entire page →
From page 458... ... 458 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS His biographer, Seabrook, called him "a small boy who never grew up," and there is probably a good clear of truth in that statement, for though he hac3 much sophistication, his fundamental approach to everything was that of a small boy fascinated by something new that he wants to take apart so he can see what makes it work. The secret of Wood's greatness is probably that he could recognize a problem that couIct be dealt with by experimental methods, that he could then recluce the experimental technique to something very simple, and that in carrying out the experiment he could distinguish the essential points from the confusing details. Read the entire page →

From page 441...

... Woods active period of scientific productivity coincided with the rise of atomic physics, and he made important Reprinted from Biographical Memoirs, The Royal Society, London, England, 1956.