View source for Theodore Lyman IV

{{short description|American physicist (1874–1954)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Theodore Lyman
| image             = File:Лайман.png
| alt               = 
| caption           = Lyman in 1926
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1874|11|23}}
| birth_place       = [[Boston, Massachusetts]]
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1954|10|11|1874|11|23}}
| death_place       = [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]
| fields            = [[Spectroscopy]]
| alma_mater        = [[Harvard University]]
| awards            = [[Elliott Cresson Medal]] (1931)
}}
'''Theodore Lyman IV''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|aɪ|m|ən}}; November 23, 1874 – October 11, 1954) was an [[America|American]] [[physicist]] and [[spectroscopist]], born in [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]]. He graduated from [[Harvard University|Harvard]] in 1897, from which he also received his [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] in 1900.

==Career==
Lyman became an assistant professor in [[physics]] at Harvard, where he remained, becoming full [[professor]] in 1917, and where he was also director of the Jefferson Physical Laboratory (1908–17). He made important studies in phenomena connected with [[diffraction grating]]s, on the [[wavelength]]s of vacuum [[ultraviolet|ultraviolet light]] discovered by [[Victor Schumann]] and also on the properties of light of extremely short [[wavelength]], on all of which he contributed valuable papers to the literature of [[physics]] in the proceedings of scientific societies.

==Military service==
During [[World War I]] he served in [[France]] with the [[American Expeditionary Force]], holding the rank of major of engineers. 

==Legacy/honors==

* He was the [[eponym]] of the [[Lyman series]] of [[spectral lines]]. 
* The crater  [[Lyman (crater)|Lyman]] on the far side of the [[Moon]] is named after him. 
* He was elected to the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1901.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-02-09 |title=Theodore Lyman |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/theodore-lyman-0 |access-date=2023-10-03 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |language=en}}</ref>
* He was elected to the United States [[National Academy of Sciences]] in 1917.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Theodor T. Lyman |url=https://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/20001635.html |access-date=2023-10-03 |website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref>
* He was elected to the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1918.<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Theodore+Lyman&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2023-10-03 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>
* He was awarded the [[Franklin Institute]]'s [[Elliott Cresson Medal]] and the [[Frederic Ives Medal]] in 1931.
* The Optical Society elected him an Honorary Member in 1941.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Theodore Lyman {{!}} Optica |url=https://www.optica.org/History/Biographies/bios/Theodore-Lyman |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=www.optica.org}}</ref>
* The [[Lyman Laboratory of Physics]] at Harvard University is named after him.

==Affiliations==
He became a hereditary member of the [[Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States]] in succession to his father, Lieutenant Colonel [[Theodore Lyman (Massachusetts)|Theodore Lyman III]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* {{NIE}}
*[https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/jsp/FeatureNameDetail.jsp?feature=63703 USGS Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature Feature Information]
*1931 [https://www.optica.org/get_involved/awards_and_honors/awards/award_descriptions/ivesquinn/ Frederic Ives Medal]

==External links==
*[http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/lyman-theodore-t-1.pdf National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir]

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{{s-aca}}
{{succession box
| before=[[Wallace Clement Sabine]]
| title=[[Hollis Chair of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy]]
| years=1921–1926
| after=[[Percy Williams Bridgman]]
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Presidents of the American Physical Society}}
{{Presidents of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences}}
{{Hollisian Professors of Mathematics}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyman, Theodore}}
[[Category:1874 births]]
[[Category:1954 deaths]]
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]
[[Category:Harvard University faculty]]
[[Category:United States Army officers]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Scientists from Boston]]
[[Category:Physicists from Massachusetts]]
[[Category:American optical physicists]]
[[Category:American spectroscopists]]
[[Category:Hollis Chair of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Presidents of the American Physical Society]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]