Polykarp Kusch

Polykarp Kusch (Template:IPA; January 26, 1911 – March 20, 1993) was a German-American physicist who shared the 1955 Nobel Prize in Physics with Willis Eugene Lamb for his accurate determination that the electron magnetic moment was greater than its theoretical value, thus leading to reconsideration of and innovations in quantum electrodynamics.

Early life and education

Kusch was born in Blankenburg, Germany to John Mathias Kusch, a Lutheran missionary, and his wife, Henrietta van der Haas. In 1912, Kusch and his family had emigrated to the United States, where by 1922 he became a naturalized citizen. After graduating from grade school in the Midwest, Kusch attended Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, Ohio (now known as Case Western Reserve University), where he majored in physics. After graduating from the Case Western Reserve University with bachelor of science degree in 1931, Kusch joined University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, from where he received his master's degree in 1933. He continued his education at the same alma mater, studying for his Ph.D. under mentorship from F. Wheeler Loomis and after defending his thesis titled "The Molecular Spectrum of Caesium and Rubidium", graduated from it in 1936. In 1935, prior to moving to the University of Minnesota, Kusch married his girlfriend, Edith Starr McRoberts. Together, they had three daughters.<ref name=nasonline>Template:Cite web</ref>He was a Lutheran.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Career

Kusch then moved to New York City, where from 1937 and until his departure for the newly founded University of Texas at Dallas, he spent much of his career as a professor at Columbia University, and served as the university's provost for several years. He worked on molecular beam resonance studies under I. I. Rabi, then discovered the electron anomalous magnetic moment. Many measurements of magnetic moments and hyperfine structure followed. He expanded into chemical physics and continued to publish research on molecular beams. During his tenure at Columbia, he was the doctoral supervisor for Gordon Gould, the inventor of the laser.<ref name=nasonline/>

Kusch was a fellow of the American Physical Society since 1940<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1959.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1956.<ref name=nasonline/> In 1967, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Kusch's wife Edith died in 1959, and in the following year he married Betty Pezzoni. They had two daughters. Kusch House, a residential dormitory for undergraduate students at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio on the South Campus, is named after Kusch. It is located on Carlton Road in Cleveland Heights. The University of Texas at Dallas has a Polykarp Kusch Auditorium with a plaque.

Kusch died on March 20, 1993, aged 82. His widow Betty died in 2003, aged 77.<ref name="nasonline" />

Publications

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See also

• List of Case Western Reserve University people

External links

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• Template:Nobelprize including his Nobel Lecture, December 12, 1955 The Magnetic Moment of the Electron
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Related archival collections

• Haskell A. Reich collection of student notes, circa 1945-1954, Niels Bohr Library & Archives (includes lecture notes from Polykarp Kusch's courses at Columbia University)