Allison effect
| Fred C. Allison | |
|---|---|
| Born |
July 4, 1882 Glade Spring, Virginia, United States |
| Died | August 2, 1974 (aged 92) Auburn, Alabama, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater |
Johns Hopkins University University of Virginia |
| Known for | Unfounded, erroneous claim to have discovered alabamium, and virginium |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Auburn University |
| Doctoral advisor | Carroll M. Sparrow |
Fred C. Allison (July 4, 1882 – August 2, 1974) was an American physicist. He developed a magneto-optic spectroscopy method that became known as the Allison magneto-optic method. He claimed to have discovered two new elements (later discredited) using this method. He taught at the Auburn University Physics Department for more than thirty years.
From the work of Henry Moseley in 1914, it was known that several elements had not yet been discovered. Their chemical properties could be deduced from the vacant places in the periodic table of Dmitri Mendeleev. Several scientists claimed the discovery of the missing elements. During Allison's work at the Alabama Polytechnic Institute (which became Auburn University), starting in 1930, he developed a method that he believed measured the time dependence of the Faraday Effect. Allison erroneously claimed that he had discovered the two missing elements with his magneto-optic spectroscopy. He claimed to have found element 87, now called francium, in pollucite and lepidolite. He also claimed to have found element 85, now called astatine in monazite sand, a mineral which is rich in rare earth elements and thorium. He named the two elements after the American states Virginia and Alabama, virginium and alabamine. Wendell Mitchell Latimer claimed to have discovered tritium in 1933 using the same method.
After several years and several attempts to verify the claims of Allison, the method of magneto-optic spectroscopy was found to be unsuitable for the detection of the new elements. The Allison magneto-optic effect, or simply the Allison effect, was discussed by Irving Langmuir in his now famous 1953 lecture on pathological science.
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