John R. Dunning

Infobox Scientist
name = John R. Dunning
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birth_date = September 24, 1907
birth_place = Shelby, Nebraska
death_date = August 25, 1975
death_place = Key Biscayne, Florida
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nationality = American
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field = physics
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known_for = atomic bomb
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John Ray Dunning (September 24, 1907 in Shelby, Nebraska - August 25, 1975 in Key Biscayne, Florida) was an American physicist who played key roles in the development of the atomic bomb. He specialized in neutron physics and did pioneering work in gaseous diffusion for isotope separation. He was Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Columbia University from 1950 to 1969.

Education

After graduation from Shelby High School in 1925, Dunning entered Nebraska Wesleyan University and received his B. A. degree in 1929 with highest honors. After graduation, he began a doctoral program at Columbia University. In 1932, James Chadwick discovered the neutron, which influenced Dunning’s career, as he thereafter devoted much of his professional interest to the characteristics and uses of the particle. Dunning’s research was enthusiastically supported at Columbia by George B. Pegram. In 1933, Dunning was an instructor at the University, and he received his Ph.D. in 1934.Herbert L. Anderson " [http://books.nap.edu/html/biomems/jdunning.pdf John Ray Dunning 1907 – 1975] " in "Biographical Memoir" 163-186 (National Academy of Sciences, 1989).]

Career

After gaining his doctorate at Columbia, Dunning continued teaching and research there. He became assistant professor in 1935, associate professor in 1938, Thayer Lindsley Professor of Applied Science in 1946, and Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science in 1950. Appointment to the position of dean ended his active career in research at Columbia. By the time he stepped down as Dean in 1969, he had raised $50 million for the School.

After his promotion in 1935, Dunning became the central figure at Columbia on neutron research, and his activities complemented those of Enrico Fermi in Italy. Fermi and many of his colleagues came to Columbia to work with Dunning and his associates. In 1936, Dunning received a Traveling Fellowship, which he used to meet and discuss his neutron physics research with many eminent European nuclear physicists including Niels Bohr, James Chadwick, Fermi, Werner Heisenberg, and Ernest Rutherford.

Dunning closely followed the work of Ernest Lawrence on the cyclotron. Dunning wanted a more powerful neutron source and the cyclotron appeared as an attractive tool to achieve this end. During 1935 and 1936, he was able construct a cyclotron using many salvaged parts to reduce costs and funding from industrial and private donations. [Broad, William J. "Columbia’s Historic Atom Smasher Is Now Destined for the Junk Heap", "New York Times" [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/20/nyregion/20atom.html 20 December 2007] . [http://www.columbia.edu/cu/physics/pdf-files/pupincyclotron.pdf PDF] .]

In December 1938, the German chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann sent a manuscript to " Naturwissenschaften" reporting they had detected the element barium after bombarding uranium with neutrons; [ O. Hahn and F. Strassmann "Über den Nachweis und das Verhalten der bei der Bestrahlung des Urans mittels Neutronen entstehenden Erdalkalimetalle" ("On the detection and characteristics of the alkaline earth metals formed by irradiation of uranium with neutrons"), "Naturwissenschaften" Volume 27, Number 1, 11-15 (1939). The authors were identified as being at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Chemie, Berlin-Dahlem. Received 22 December 1938.] simultaneously, they communicated these results to Lise Meitner. Meitner, and her nephew Otto Robert Frisch, correctly interpreted these results as being nuclear fission. [Lise Meitner and O. R. Frisch "Disintegration of Uranium by Neutrons: a New Type of Nuclear Reaction", "Nature", Volume 143, Number 3615, 239-240 [http://www.nature.com/physics/looking-back/meitner/index.html (11 February 1939)] . The paper is dated 16 January 1939. Meitner is identified as being at the Physical Institute, Academy of Sciences, Stockholm. Frisch is identified as being at the Institute of Theoretical Physics, University of Copenhagen. ] Frisch confirmed this experimentally on 13 January 1939. [ O. R. Frisch "Physical Evidence for the Division of Heavy Nuclei under Neutron Bombardment", "Nature", Volume 143, Number 3616, 276-276 [http://dbhs.wvusd.k12.ca.us/webdocs/Chem-History/Frisch-Fission-1939.html (18 February 1939)] . The paper is dated 17 January 1939. [The experiment for this letter to the editor was conducted on 13 January 1939; see Richard Rhodes "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" 263 and 268 (Simon and Schuster, 1986).] ] In 1944, Hahn received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the discovery of nuclear fission. Some historians have documented the history of the discovery of nuclear fission and believe Meitner should have been awarded the Nobel Prize with Hahn. [ Ruth Lewin Sime "From Exceptional Prominence to Prominent Exception: Lise Meitner at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry" [http://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/KWG/Ergebnisse/Ergebnisse24.pdf Ergebnisse 24] Forschungsprogramm "Geschichte der Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft im Nationalsozialismus" (2005).] [ Ruth Lewin Sime "Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics" (University of California, 1997).] [ Elisabeth Crawford, Ruth Lewin Sime, and Mark Walker "A Nobel Tale of Postwar Injustice", "Physics Today" Volume 50, Issue 9, 26-32 (1997).]

Even before it was published, Meitner’s and Frisch’s interpretation of the work of Hahn and Strassmann crossed the Atlantic Ocean with Niels Bohr, who was to lecture at Princeton University. Isidor Isaac Rabi and Willis Lamb, two Columbia University physicists working at Princeton, heard the news and carried it back to Columbia. Rabi said he told Fermi; Fermi gave credit to Lamb. It was soon clear to a number of scientists at Columbia that they should try to detect the energy released in the nuclear fission of uranium from neutron bombardment. On 25 January 1939, Dunning was a member of the experimental team at Columbia University which conducted the first nuclear fission experiment in the United States, [ H. L. Anderson, E. T. Booth, J. R. Dunning, E. Fermi, G. N. Glasoe, and F. G. Slack "The Fission of Uranium", "Phys. Rev." Volume 55, Number 5, 511 - 512 (1939). Institutional citation: Pupin Physics Laboratories, Columbia University, New York, New York. Received 16 February 1939.] which was conducted in the basement of Pupin Hall; the other members of the team were Herbert L. Anderson, Eugene T. Booth, Enrico Fermi, G. Norris Glasoe, and Francis G. Slack.Bederson, Benjamin "The Physical Tourist: Physics in New York City", "Physics in Perspective" Volume 5, 87-121 [http://www.bederson.org/bensr/nyc.pdf (2003)] .] [ Richard Rhodes "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" 267-270 (Simon and Schuster, 1986).]

During the Manhattan Project, Dunning conducted pioneering work at Columbia University on gaseous diffusion to separate uranium isotopes; others working on the project included Booth, Henry A. Boorse, Willard F. Libby, Alfred O. C. Nier, and Francis G. Slack. Due to the secrecy of this work, Dunning and three of his colleagues were awarded $300,000 each in lieu of patent royalties. [ Boney, F. N. and Michael Adams "A Pictorial History of the University of Georgia" 114 (University of Georgia, 2000).]

Personal

Dunning married Esther Laura Blevins in 1930. They had two children, John Ray, Jr. and Ann. Their son became a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Sonoma State University.

Honors and positions

Dunning received honors for his work and participated in national scientific leadership organizations.

*1946 – Presidential Medal for Merit
*1948 – Elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences
*2006 – Phi Kappa Tau Hall of Fame
*Chairman, New York City Board of Education Advisory Committee on Science Manpower
*Chairman, President’s Committee on Supersonic Transport
*Chairman, Science Advisory Council to the Legislature of the State of New York
*Member of the Board, American Association for the Advancement of Science
*Member, Science Advisory Committee, Department of Defense
*Scientific Director, Construction of Columbia’s Nevis Laboratories – A cooperative effort of Columbia University, the United States Atomic Energy Commission, and the Office of Naval Research
*Trustee, Fund for Peaceful Atomic Development

elected Literature

*John R. Dunning "The Emission and Scattering of Neutrons", "Phys. Rev." Volume 45, Issue 9, 586 - 600 (1934). Institutional citation: Department of Physics, Columbia University. Received 5 March 1934.
* H. L. Anderson, E. T. Booth, J. R. Dunning, E. Fermi, G. N. Glasoe, and F. G. Slack "The Fission of Uranium", "Phys. Rev." Volume 55, Number 5, 511 - 512 (1939). Institutional citation: Pupin Physics Laboratories, Columbia University, New York, New York. Received 16 February 1939.

*E. T. Booth, J. R. Dunning, and F. G. Slack "Delayed Neutron Emission from Uranium", "Phys. Rev. " Volume 55, Number 9, 876 - 876 (1939). Institutional citation: Department of Physics, Columbia University, New York, New York. Received 17 April 1939.

*E. T. Booth, J. R. Dunning, and F. G. Slack "Energy Distribution of Uranium Fission Fragments", "Phys. Rev." Volume 55, Number 10, 981 - 981 (1939). Institutional citation: Pupin Physics Laboratories, Columbia University, New York, New York. Received 1 May 1939.

*E. T. Booth, J. R. Dunning, and G. N. Glasoe "Range Distribution of the Uranium Fission Fragments", "Phys. Rev." Volume 55, Issue 10, 982 - 982 (1939). Institutional citation: Pupin Physics Laboratories, Columbia University, New York, New York. Received 1 May 1939.

*A. O. Nier, E. T. Booth, J. R. Dunning, and A. V. Grosse "Nuclear fission of separated uranium isotopes", "Phys. Rev." Volume 57, Issue 6, 546-546 (1940). Received 3 March 1940. Booth, Dunning, and Grosse were identified as being at Columbia University, New York, New York. Nier was identified as being at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

*A. O. Nier, E. T. Booth, J. R. Dunning, and A. V. Grosse "Further experiments on fission of separated uranium isotopes", "Phys. Rev." Volume 57, Issue 8, 748-748 (1940). Received 13 April 1940. Booth, Dunning, and Grosse were identified as being at Columbia University, New York, New York. Nier was identified as being at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

*E. T. Booth, J. R. Dunning, A. V. Grosse, and A. O. Nier "Neutron Capture by Uranium (238)", "Phys. Rev." Volume 58, Issue 5, 475 - 476 (1940). Received 13 August 1940. Booth, Dunning, and Grosse were identified as being at Columbia University, New York, New York. Nier was identified as being at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

*A. V. Grosse, E. T. Booth, and J. R. Dunning "The Fourth (4n+1) Radioactive Series", "Phys. Rev." Volume 59, Issue 3, 322 - 323 (1941). Institutional citation: Pupin Physics Laboratories, Columbia University, New York, New York. Received 11 January 1941.

Books

*John R. Dunning "Matter, Energy and Radiation (Columbia College Natural Science Series)" (McGraw Hill, 1941)
*John R. Dunning and Bruce R. Prentics (editors) "Hot Laboratory Operation and Equipment, Volume III. Fifth Hot Laboratories and Equipment Conference" (Symposium Publications Division Pergamon Press, 1957)
*John R. Dunning and Bruce R. Prentics (editors) "Advances in Nuclear Engineering, Volume I. Proceedings of the Second Nuclear Engineering and Science Conference" (Pergamon Press 1957)
*John R. Dunning and Bruce R. Prentics (editors) "Advances in Nuclear Engineering, Volume II. Proceedings of the Second Nuclear Engineering & Science Congress" (Pergamon Press 1957)

Bibliography

*Herbert L. Anderson " [http://books.nap.edu/html/biomems/jdunning.pdf John Ray Dunning 1907 – 1975] " in "Biographical Memoir" (National Academy of Sciences, 1989) 163-186.

External links

* [http://photos.aip.org/quickSearch.jsp?qsearch=dunning&group=10&Submit=GO Dunning Photos]
*findagrave|28493140

Notes