View source for Clinton Davisson

{{Short description|American physicist (1881–1958)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Clinton Davisson
| image             = Clinton Davisson.jpg
| caption           = Davisson in 1937
| birth_name        = Clinton Joseph Davisson
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1881|10|22}}
| birth_place       = [[Bloomington, Illinois]], U.S.
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|1958|02|01|1881|10|22}}
| death_place       = [[Charlottesville, Virginia]], U.S.
| alma_mater        = {{Plain list|
* [[University of Chicago]] ([[BSc]], 1908)
* [[Princeton University]] ([[PhD]], 1911)
}}
| known_for         = [[Davisson–Germer experiment]] (1927)
| spouse            = {{Marriage|Charlotte Richardson|1911}}
| children          = 4, including [[Richard Davisson|Richard]]
| awards            = {{Plain list|
* [[Comstock Prize in Physics]] (1928)<ref name=Comstock>{{cite web|title=Comstock Prize in Physics|url=http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_comstock|publisher=National Academy of Sciences|access-date=13 February 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101229195326/http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_comstock|archive-date=29 December 2010}}</ref>
* [[Elliott Cresson Medal]] (1931)
* [[Hughes Medal]] (1935)
* [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] (1937)
}}
| fields            = [[Physics]]
| work_institutions = {{Plain list|
* [[Carnegie Institute of Technology]] (1911–1917)
* [[Western Electric Company]] (1917–1946)
* [[University of Virginia]] (1946–1954)
}}
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Owen Richardson]]
}}

'''Clinton Joseph Davisson''' (October 22, 1881 – February 1, 1958) was an American [[physicist]] who shared the 1937 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] with [[George Paget Thomson]] "for their experimental discovery of the [[diffraction]] of [[electron]]s by [[crystal]]s".

== Early life and education ==
Davisson was born in [[Bloomington, Illinois]] on October 22, 1881.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Clinton Davisson: Facts |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1937/davisson/facts/ |access-date=13 February 2025 |website=The Nobel Prize}}</ref> He graduated from [[Bloomington High School (Bloomington, Illinois)|Bloomington High School]] in 1902, and entered the [[University of Chicago]] on scholarship. Upon the recommendation of [[Robert A. Millikan]], in 1905 Davisson was hired by [[Princeton University]] as Instructor of Physics. He completed the requirements for his B.S. degree from Chicago in 1908, mainly by working in the summers. While teaching at Princeton, he did doctoral thesis research with [[Owen Richardson]]. He received his Ph.D. in physics from Princeton in 1911; in the same year he married Richardson's sister, Charlotte.<ref name="Kelly">{{cite book |last=Kelly |first=Mervin J. |year=1962 |chapter=Davisson1881–1958 |chapter-url=http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/davisson-clinton.pdf |title=Biographical Memoirs, Vol. XXXVI |publisher=US National Academy of Sciences |pages=51–84 |access-date=2012-12-14 |oclc=20727455}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | author=Nobel Foundation | title=Clinton Joseph Davisson: The Nobel Prize in Physics 1937 | url=http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1937/davisson-bio.html | work=Les Prix Nobel | year=1937 | access-date=2007-09-17}}</ref>

== Scientific career ==
After earning his Ph.D., Davisson was appointed as an assistant professor at the [[Carnegie Institute of Technology]]. In 1917, he took a leave from the Carnegie Institute to do war-related research with the engineering department of the [[Western Electric Company]] (later [[Bell Telephone Laboratories]]). At the end of the war, Davisson accepted a permanent position at Western Electric after receiving assurances of his freedom there to do basic research. He had found that his teaching responsibilities at the Carnegie Institute largely precluded him from doing research.<ref name="Kelly" /> Davisson remained at Western Electric (and Bell Telephone) until his formal retirement in 1946. He then accepted a research professor appointment at the [[University of Virginia]] that continued until his second retirement in 1954.<ref name="Kelly" /> Davisson was elected to the [[American Philosophical Society]], the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]], and the United States [[National Academy of Sciences]] in 1929.<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Clinton+J.+Davisson&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2023-07-19 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-02-09 |title=Clinton Joseph Davisson |url=https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/davisson-clinton.pdf |access-date=2024-08-26 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Clinton Davisson |url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/20001031.html |access-date=2023-07-19 |website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref>

; Electron diffraction and the Davisson–Germer experiment :
[[File:Davisson and Germer.jpg|thumb|Davisson (left) with [[Lester Germer]] (right) 1927]]
[[Diffraction]] is a characteristic effect when a wave is incident upon an aperture or a [[diffraction grating|grating]], and is closely associated with the meaning of wave motion itself. In the 19th century, diffraction was well established for light and for ripples on the surfaces of fluids. In 1927, while working for [[Bell Labs]], Davisson and [[Lester Germer]] performed an experiment showing that electrons were [[diffraction|diffracted]] at the surface of a crystal of nickel. This celebrated [[Davisson–Germer experiment]] confirmed the [[Matter wave|de Broglie hypothesis]] that particles of matter have a wave-like nature, which is a central tenet of [[quantum mechanics]]. In particular, their observation of diffraction allowed the first measurement of a [[wavelength]] for [[electron]]s. The measured wavelength <math>\lambda</math> agreed well with de Broglie's equation <math>\lambda = h/p</math>, where <math> h </math> is the [[Planck constant]] and <math> p </math> is the electron's [[momentum]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Davisson | first=Clinton | chapter=The Discovery of Electron Waves | title=Nobel Lectures, Physics 1922–1941 | chapter-url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1937/davisson-lecture.html | location=Amsterdam | publisher=Elsevier Publishing Company | year=1965 | access-date=2007-09-17}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
While doing his graduate work at Princeton, Davisson met his wife and life companion Charlotte Sara Richardson, who was visiting her brother, Professor Richardson.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/davisson-clinton.pdf|title = Biographical Memoirs}}</ref> Richardson is the sister-in-law of [[Oswald Veblen]], a prominent mathematician.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/davisson-clinton.pdf|title = Memoirs}}</ref> Clinton and Charlotte Davisson (d.1984) had four children,<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Petersburg Times - Google News Archive Search |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BDNSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UHYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7209,2168191 |access-date=2023-11-03 |website=news.google.com}}</ref> Owen Davisson, James Davisson, the American physicist [[Richard Davisson]], and Elizabeth Davisson.

== Death and legacy ==
Davisson died on February 1, 1958 in [[Charlottesville, Virginia]], at the age of 76.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|title = O. W. (Owen Willans) Richardson: An Inventory of His Papers at the Harry Ransom Center|url = http://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadid=01057|website = norman.hrc.utexas.edu|access-date = 2016-01-23}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title = Bloomington native won Nobel Prize in physics|url = http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/bloomington-native-won-nobel-prize-in-physics/article_5ecb27dc-3dff-11e3-b0fc-0019bb2963f4.html|website = pantagraph.com|access-date = 2016-01-23|first = Bill Kemp {{!}} Historian/archivist, McLean County Museum of|last = History| date=27 October 2013 }}</ref>

An [[Davisson (crater)|impact crater]] on the far side of the Moon was named after Davisson in 1970 by the [[International Astronomical Union|IAU]].<ref>[http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/1428 Davisson], Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN)</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Biography}}
{{wikiquote}}
* {{Nobelprize}}

== References ==
{{Commons category|Clinton Davisson}}
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/bloomington-native-won-nobel-prize-in-physics/article_5ecb27dc-3dff-11e3-b0fc-0019bb2963f4.html Bloomington native won Nobel Prize in physics  - Pantagraph] (Bloomington, Illinois newspaper)

{{Nobel Prize in Physics Laureates 1926-1950}}
{{1937 Nobel Prize winners}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davisson, Clinton Joseph}}
[[Category:1881 births]]
[[Category:1958 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American physicists]]
[[Category:American experimental physicists]]
[[Category:American Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Physics]]
[[Category:Scientists at Bell Labs]]
[[Category:People from Bloomington, Illinois]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society]]
[[Category:Bloomington High School (Bloomington, Illinois) alumni]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]