Frederick Seitz
| Frederick Seitz | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
July 4, 1911 San Francisco, California, US |
| Died | March 2, 2008 (aged 96) New York City, New York, US |
| Nationality | United States |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions |
University of Illinois Rockefeller University |
| Alma mater | Lick-Wilmerding High School, Stanford University, Princeton University |
| Doctoral advisor | Eugene Wigner |
| Known for | Wigner–Seitz unit cell |
| Notable awards |
National Medal of Science (1973) Vannevar Bush Award (1983) |
Frederick Seitz (July 4, 1911 – March 2, 2008) was an American physicist and a pioneer of solid state physics.
Seitz was president of Rockefeller University, and president of the United States National Academy of Sciences 1962–1969. Seitz was the recipient of the National Medal of Science, NASA's Distinguished Public Service Award, and other honors. He founded the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and several other material research laboratories across the United States. Seitz was also the founding chairman of the George C. Marshall Institute, a tobacco industry consultant and a prominent skeptic on the issue of global warming.
Born in San Francisco on July 4, 1911, Seitz graduated from Lick-Wilmerding High School in the middle of his senior year, and went on to study physics at Stanford University obtaining his bachelor's degree in three years, graduating in 1932. He married Elizabeth K. Marshall on May 18, 1935.
Seitz died March 2, 2008 in New York. He was survived by a son, three grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
Seitz moved to Princeton University to study metals under Eugene Wigner, gaining his PhD in 1934. He and Wigner pioneered one of the first quantum theories of crystals, and developed concepts in solid-state physics such as the Wigner–Seitz unit cell used in the study of crystalline material in solid-state physics.
After graduate studies, Seitz continued to work on solid state physics, publishing The Modern Theory of Solids in 1940, motivated by a desire to "write a cohesive account of the various aspects of solid-state physics in order to give the field the kind of unity it deserved". The Modern Theory of Solids helped unify and understand the relations between the fields of metallurgy, ceramics, and electronics. He was also a consultant on many World War II-related projects in metallurgy, radiation damage to solids and electronics amongst others. He, along with Hillard Huntington, made the first calculation of the energies of formation and migration of vacancies and interstitials in copper, inspiring many works on point defects in metals. The scope of his published work ranged widely, also covering "spectroscopy, luminescence, plastic deformation, irradiation effects, physics of metals, self-diffusion, point defects in metals and insulators, and science policy".
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