Donald W. Kerst

Born in Galena, Illinois, on November 1, 1911, Donald William Kerst quickly discovered a passion for physics, for which he earned a bachelor's degree in 1934 and a doctorate in 1937 from the University of Wisconsin. After graduating, he became an instructor, assistant professor, and then professor at the University of Illinois. He remained at the University from 1938 to 1957, with the exception of brief periods at General Electric (1937-1938, 1940), at Los Alamos, New Mexico (1943–45), and at the General Atomic Laboratory, La Jolla, California (1957–62). 

Donald Kerst, ca. 1950, wielding a soldering gun and drill. 

Before coming to Illinois, Kerst wrote to then F. L, Loomis, then the department head of Physics at Illinois, describing a "small electron accelerator which will go to very high voltages" and would "increase the flux within the robot of an electron and so induce an E.M.F. along its orbit which causes an acceleration". Loomis encouraged Kerst to work on this project at Illinois. It would become his most famous invention: the betatron. Created in 1940, the betatron was a particle accelerator that used a revolutionary method that "pushed" particles, rather than "kicking" them for the purpose of acceleration. So great was its impact, that it not only influenced every single particle accelerator that came after it, but also made significant contributions to the field of medicine for the more powerful x-rays it could produce. 

A true experimentalist, Kerst stayed committed to his project despite only having a $500 budget for it, and completed the first implementation of his invention in a little under a year, according to Loomis. However, the betatron garnered interest from the military for defense purposes, and in 1943, at the personal request of Dr. J.R. Oppenheimer, Kerst joined many other great scientists at Los Alamos to begin work on scientific advancements for the Second World War, most notably the atomic bomb. 

Despite the work he was doing, which Kerst admitted in correspondence was "very worthwhile", Kerst became ill shortly after arriving in Los Alamos and made repeated appeals to both those at Illinois and in the Military to be released from his assignment early. Oppenheimer, too, made an appeal for Kerst to be released as well. However, all appeals were rejected, Kerst recovered, and continued his work there before returning to the University at Illinois. Back at Illinois, Kerst designed bigger and more powerful versions of his invention, along with working on other key Illinois innovations, such as ILLIAC. 

Prof. Gerald P. Kruger (left), Prof. Donald W. Kerst (center), and Prof. James N. Snyder (right) examine some of the computations made by the ILLIAC, University of Illinois electronic computer, September 5th, 1957. 

Eventually, Kerst made the move back to his alma mater in 1962. This was largely a result of the efforts L.R. Ingersoll, Department of Phyics head at Wisconsin, who for years sent letters reinforcing the wish for Kerst to return to Wisconsin to teach. In one of the letters, Ingersoll goes so far as to nominate Kerst for the Nobel Prize in Physics, reminding Kerst that, should he win, to "please have some kind thoughts in your head towards us here at Wisconsin". Evidently he did, for Kerst remained at Wisconsin until his retirement to Florida with his wife, Dorothy. 

Even while retired, Kerst never forgot the research he helped develop, always making sure to call regularly and get updates. Donald W. Kerst died aged 81 on August 19th, 1993. 

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Sources:

Betatron Correspondence, 1938-1970, Record Series 11/10/11, University Archives, University of Illinois. 

Correspondance. Donald W. Kerst Papers, 1937-1959, 1983-85, 1987. Record Series 11/10/30, University Archives, University of Illinois.

Kerst to Loomis, Nov. 28, 1938, Betatron Correspondence, 1938-1970, Record Series 11/10/11, University Archives, University of Illinois.

Sessler, Andrew and Keith R. Symon. (1997) "Donald William Kerst". Biographical Memiors, v. 72. The National Academies Press: Washington D.C. 

Sprott, J.C. (1993). "Eulogy to Donald W. Kerst.". Retrieved from http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/eulogy.htm on September 3rd, 2013. 

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Collaboration: The Photoelectric Photometer

The photoelectric photometer was a great invention that improved the the field of astronomy by leaps and bounds. It started when Joel Stebbins’s wife (May) decided she wanted him home earlier, so she suggested Stebbins make use of electricity. As Stebbins searched for a better method recording star magnitudes, he met and became friends with F.C Brown. Brown was a physicist, who, at a demonstration, used a lamp to illuminate a selenium cell. When the lamp was on, a bell would ring. Turn it off, and the bell would stop.  Brown and Stebbins continued to work together to make an improved selenium cell.

After Brown left to pursue a fellowship at Princeton, Stebbins met Jakob Kunz, a colleague also working at Illinois. Kunz was developing his own photoelectric cell, and the collaboration of the two would result in Kunz’s photoelectric cells being put inside Stebbins’s photometer. From 1913 until his death, Kunz would provide Stebbins with ever new and improved photoelectric cells. According to Stebbins, these cells were far better than any other procurable at the time. Kunz’s cells provided greater sensitivity and faster operation to the selenium ones Stebbins was using.

This collaboration resulted in the measurement of many previously unrecorded stars, as well as several increases in photoelectric technology. 

Joel Stebbins with his invention: the Photoelectric Photometer, circa 1925

Department portrait of Jakob Kunz, signed by him, University of Illinois,  date unknown. 

Click Below to find out more about who was involved:

Joel Stebbins

Jakob Kunz

F.C. Brown

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Joel Stebbins

Stebbins was born in Nebraska in 1878 and graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1899. After completing his graduate work at the Washburn Observatory in Madison Wisconsin, he moved on to the Lick Observatory. There, in 1903, he became the third man to earn his doctorate in astronomy from the University of California and Lick Observatory where he is still considered one of the greatest researchers produced by Lick.Though originally at Mount Hamilton and Berkeley, Dr. Joel Stebbins decided that the University of Illinois provided with more opportunity, so in 1903 he accepted directorship of the Observatory.

Joel Stebbins with his invention: the Photoelectric Photometer, circa 1925

His early administration was marked with many changes: the Observatory was integrated in the Mathematics Department as the Division of Astronomy and had no operating budget. After spending eight dollars out of his own pocket, Stebbins convinced the Board of Trustees to create the first budget for the Observatory: $750. In addition, the curriculum was expanded from three classes to nine classes, including Astronomy for Engineers, Observational Astronomy, Seminar and Thesis. Most of the classes, taught by Stebbins and an instructor, required weekly use of the Observatory's facilitates.

Early on, Stebbins used the popular Pickering visual program to survey stars in search of undetected eclipsing binary stars. Later in 1904, he began the estimates of the relative magnitudes of 107 double stars, duplicating the work of astronomer E.C. Pickering in 1878.It was during Stebbins' photometric project when he first realized the need for a new method of photometry. In the summer of 1905, Stebbins was married and he soon found a source of inspiration for a new photometer. He provided the following account at a dinner of the American Astronomical Society in 1957:

“The photometric program went along well enough for a couple of years until we got a bride in our household, and then things began to happen. Not enjoying home alone, she (May Stebbins) found that if she came to the observatory and acted as recorder, she could get me home earlier. She wrote down the numbers as the observer called them, but after some nights of recording a hundred readings to get just one magnitude, she said it was pretty slow business. I responded that someday we would do this by electricity. That was a fatal remark. Thereafter she would often prod me with the question: "When are you going to change to electricity?" It happened that within a two or three months the department of physics gave an open house, and one of the exhibits was in charge of a young instructor F.C. Brown. He showed how when he turned on a lamp to illuminate a selenium cell, a bell would ring; when the lamp was off, the bell would stop. Here was the idea; why not turn a star on to a cell on a telescope and measure the current?” (Stebbins, Early Photometry, 507)

This friendship with F.C Brown soon led to the development of  a selenium cell photometer, which ultimately led to the discovery of  five new eclipsing binary stars, constructed a light curve for the Moon, determined the mid-eclipse time of the 24 July, 1907 lunar eclipse and determined the magnitude of Comet Halley in May, 1910. However, Stebbins was not happy with the photometer. The cells were not very sensitive, only stars brighter than the third magnitude could be studied. They also had a narrow spectral response, were not readily available, were difficult to work with and the characteristics varied from one cell to another. The solution to Stebbins' problems was found in physicist Jakob Kunz.

Kunz, in partnership with Stebbins, developed and installed a photoemissive photocell instead of a selenium based one. This worked fabulously. Kunz and Stebbins remained friends and continued to develop better cells for the photometer. Using the photometer, they even succeeded in measuring the brightness of the solar corona from the eclipse on 9 June, 1918.

Professor Stebbins left Illinois in September 1922 when he was offered the directorship of Washburn Observatory. Stebbins continued to improve and apply the photometer there where he enlisted the help of A. Whitford who developed a thermonic amplifier, C. M. Huffer, an Illinois math graduate who had taken a class with Stebbins at Illinois, and G. Kron at Mt. Hamilton who worked with photomultiplier tubes. Stebbins remained at the forefront of astronomical photometry until his death in 1966.

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Works Cited:

Joel Stebbins Papers, courtesy of the University of Illinois Archives Series No. 15/3/21, Box 1.

Stebbins, Joel. (1910)The Measurement of the Light of Stars with a Selenium Photometer. With An Application to the Variations of ALGOL. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 32 (3)

The Color Sensibility of Selenium Cells. The Astrophysical Journal. University of Chicago Press. 27(3). April 1908. 

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The Hardy Cross Method

Hardy Cross first published this method, in 1930, during his years at the University of Illinois. The Hardy Cross Method is actually an adaptation of his Moment Distribution Method, which was originally used to test the moments of indeterminate structures. The adaptation, by contrast, set forth an entirely new method for analyzing building frames.

Hardy Cross Paper Reprint, 1939

Amusingly, Cross published such a landmark piece of work largely due to the pressure put on him by his dean, Milo Ketchum. Supposedly, Ketchum was resentful of Cross for his reputation as a great teacher. One of the allegations Ketchum launched toward Cross was that he did not publish enough papers. In response to this, Cross put forth a ten page paper in the May,1930 Proceedings of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The paper, entitled "Analysis of Continuous Frames by Distributing Fixed-End Moments”, instantly garnered a lot of notice. Discussion of the paper was closed in 1930, but the paper itself was not published until two years later. At that time, space was afforded for 38 commentators who took up 146 pages, which may or may not be a record for commentators on a single paper. Cross was immediately hailed for not only solving one of the “knottiest” problems in Engineering, but doing so in such a way that could be adopted by any engineer working in the field. The Hardy Cross Method has made many architectural feats possible, ranging from skyscrapers to bridges to dams. 

Hardy Cross

Hardy Cross was born February 10th, 1885 on the family plantation in Nansemond County, near the Great Dismal Swamp, Virginia. Both Cross and his brother Tom Peete were both educated at the Norfolk Academy in Norfolk, VA. The brothers then both went on to Hampden-Sydney College where Cross received both B.A. and a B.S degrees in 1902 and 1903. Both of these degrees were awarded before his eighteenth birthday.

Hardy Cross

After graduation, Cross taught English and Mathematics for three years before going to MIT to receive a B.S in Civil Engineering after only two years of study. By 1911, Cross had moved on to Harvard University, where he received his Master of Science degree in Civil Engineering.

Cross soon moved on to teaching. His first appointment was at Brown University, where he served for seven years, between 1911-1918. Outside of the classroom he  served as a bridge engineer for the Missouri Pacific Railroad, worked with prominent consulting civil engineers that specialized in structural and hydraulic engineering. He also spent the year of 1920 as an assistant engineer for Charles T. Main.

Cross then came to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1921. He was replacing Charles Alton Ellis, who had resigned to design the Golden Gate Bridge. While at the University of Illinois, Cross advanced some of his most important work, including developing simplified methods of analysis by means of converging approximations. The most significant of these, the fixed-end moment distribution for analysis of continuous structures, greatly simplified the way stresses could be calculated. This method was published in 1930 and went on to be commonly called the Hardy Cross Method.

One of Cross's Many Papers on Structural Design, 1936.

As a teacher, Cross was a staunch supporter of oral examinations for candidate of advanced degrees, often leading discussions on the topic. Furthermore, he was very against educational inflation, once saying:

“A common characteristic of the campus inflationist is that he benefits from the inflation but pays for it not at all; he has bigger department, more courses, more contacts, without cost to himself: usually he hopes for more money for himself and certainly hopes for more influence. I here indict him as responsible for the penalties that others pay for inflation”.

Cross was on faculty at University of Illinois until 1937, when he went to Yale University to head and chair the Department of Civil Engineering. He remained at Yale until he retired in 1951. He and his wife Edythe moved to Virginia beach until their deaths, his in 1959 and hers in 1956. 

Research Residence No. 1

Research Residence No.1 was commissioned, designed, and built in 1924 by a collaboration between the University of Illinois and the National Warm Air Heating and Ventilation Association (NWAHVA). It was located at 1108 W. Stoughton St, Urbana, IL. 

Research Residence No. 1, during construction, 1924

The main goal was to create a space that could be used for research in forced air heating for private residences. The dedication of Research Residence No. 1 by Professor J.M White in December, 1924, was attended by professors, heating professionals, journalists, and locals.

Dedication of Research Residence No. 1. 

The team at Research Residence No. 1, led by A. P. Kratz, Vincent S. Day, and Arthur Cutts Willard, conducted several tests of various types of forced air heating systems. Each system would be installed, tested vigorously, and ultimately replaced in favor of a modified, or, in some cases, completely new, design.

Example of heater installed in basement of Research Residence No. 1, 1924

These tests also included materials testing (which was a better metal for pipe insulation? Copper or aluminium?), effects of a steam-heating boiler verses a hot-water heater, and the effects of drops and rises in barometric pressure. In order to accurately measure the effect of these experiments, the team installed sensors in every room, often at multiple levels. In a discussion of recent results from the Research Residence, Arthur Cutts Willard bragged that “very few makers of steam and hot-water heating equipment possess such complete data as represented by these results”.

Vincent S. Day checking room sensors, 1924

The previous quote sums up, quintessentially, what made Research Residence No. 1 such a renown success, to the extent that three more Research Residences were commissioned and built over the next three decades. Homeowners would come from miles around to look at the heating systems installed in the Research Residence in order to learn how to choose and install such systems in their homes. The home was even featured during a local “Better Homes Week”, a part of the Better Homes Movement. The Better Homes Movement was a post World War I nationwide campaign emphasizing home ownership, modernization, and beautification. 

Cars outside Research Residence No. 1 during “Better Homes Week”, 1925

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Works Cited:

Research Residence Reports and Photos, courtesy of Vincent S. Day Papers, 1918-1927. Series No. 11/8/23, Box 1- 2. Found in University Archives March 6th, 2013.

Special Thanks to Susan Frankenberg for the story about her grandfather.

“Publication [Nos. 11-12]/ issued by Better Homes in America.”(2013). American Memory. Retrieved on March 6th, 2013 from http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/coolbib:@field%28NUMBER+@band%28amrlg+lg58%29%29

We Know That Research Residence No. 1 Was on Stoughton in Urbana. Do You Remember It?

Jakob Kunz

Jakob Kunz was born in Brittnau, Switzerland, on November 3rd, 1874. He was educated in the public schools there until he attended Zurich Polytechnikum, where he gained both his B.S. and Ph.D.

Department portrait of Jakob Kunz, signed by him, University of Illinois,  date unknown.

After serving in various universities and laboratories abroad, Kunz came to United States in 1908. He worked at the University of Michigan for one year before being offered the role of assistant professor of mathematical physics at the University of Illinois, where he remained for the rest of his life, working up through associate professor to professor.

For years Kunz was practically solely responsible for the whole of graduate courses in mathematical physics. However, he never taught undergraduate courses, with friends noting that he probably did not like the “immature and almost passive attitude” of American undergraduate students.

Kunz was renown for his clear and thorough lectures on classical theoretical physics, but he never reconciled to more “modern” notions as could be found in relativity and quantum mechanics. Indeed, a colleague noted “as he was himself thoroughly familiar with the mathematical structure of these theories, his objections and criticisms were occasionally very penetrating; and indeed troublesome to any who had a tendency to accept them on faith or authority”.
However, Kunz is most famous for his work with photoelectric cells. Photoelectric cells are devices whose electrical characteristics (voltage, etc) vary when subjected to light. Being among the first to work with them in the country, he developed a specially sensitized alkali photoelectric cell. This cell, free from dark current, was far superior for certain astronomical purposes than anything else available at the time. An example of such astronomical purposes was studying the intensity of the sun’s corona during an eclipse.
Kunz was enthusiastic about many subjects, and often attended seminars conducted in the fields of chemistry, mathematics, and engineering. Though often in poor health during the last part of his life, he maintained an active presence in both teaching and research up until a few weeks before his death on July 18th, 1938.
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Works Cited:

Loomis, F.W. (1938). “Jakob Kunz”. Obituary Draft. Found in University Archives Series No. 11/10/ 25, Box 2.

“Portrait of Jakob Kunz” (Unknown). Found in University Archives Series No. 11/10/ 25, Box 2.

Arthur Newell Talbot

Arthur Newell Talbot was born October 21, 1857 in Cortland, IL. His early education took place in Cortland as well, in a town 55 miles West of Chicago, IL. His great mathematical aptitude was first recognized by his grandfather, who encouraged him by giving him difficult problems each day, such as calculating the time the sun would rise. Talbot came to the University of Illinois in 1877, then known as the Illinois Industrial University, a mere ten years after its establishment.

Arthur Newell Talbot, working on a railroad, 1941

While studying civil engineering at the University of Illinois, Talbot was both an outstanding student-his scholastic average was to be the record for years to come-and very involved in extracurricular activities, including serving as secretary, vice president, and president for the Philmatheon Literary Society.

After graduating in 1881, Talbot followed a boyhood interest in railroads to Colorado, where he worked on them for four years before returning to the University of Illinois in 1885 as an assistant professor in engineering and mathematics.

While in the position Talbot taught a wide variety of subjects, ranging from surveying to railroad engineering. He always considered teaching to be a very important part of his life, and his students expressed their gratitude (or perhaps their frustration) in many different ways. One of those ways can be seen in a handmade songbook called “Hymns of Stress and Strain”:

"Hymns of Stress and Strain", a songbook composed by one of Talbot's student, University of Illinois, 1923

Selection No. 7 from “Hymns of Stress and Strain”, to the tune of “Working on the Railroad”

Talbot would continue to help mold and shape young minds for more than forty years. During this time, he also made advancements in several areas of engineering, including formulas for areas of waterways for bridges and culverts and calculating the maximum amount of rainfall, as well as groundbreaking work with sewage systems by way of septic tanks and a thorough investigation of reinforced concrete.

However, Talbot is better known for his innovations in railway engineering. The most famous of his developments is the Railway Transition Spiral. The method is for laying out easement curves at the ends of circular curves. The method has gone through many editions and been used in the making of many railroads.

Starting in 1914, Talbot also began a thorough investigation of railroad track. Aptly called “Stresses in Railroad Track”, the investigation was conducted with a goal of discovering the properties, mode of action, and resistances developed in various track structures under the application of locomotives and cars moving at various speeds.

After retiring from teaching, Talbot was still very involved with the University of Illinois, serving on committees, project boards, and consulting on various projects. One of the projects he consulted on was the Bay Bridge connecting San Francisco to Oakland.

These accomplishments are only part of the story: while completing his pioneering work at the University of Illinois, Talbot also married Virginia Mann Hammat in 1886. She was a classmate and active in many student affairs that Talbot, too, was in involved in. They raised four children together: Kenneth Hammet Talbot, Mildred Virginia, Rachel Harriet, and Dorothy Newell.

Arthur Newell Talbot passed away on April 3rd, 1942, after almost sixty years of teaching, innovating, and mentoring in the fields of mathematics and engineering.
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Works Cited:

“Arthur Newell Talbot”. Found in University Archives Series No. 11/5/21, Box 5.

“Arthur Newell Talbot”. Found in University Archives Series No. 11/5/21, Box 10.

Phillips, James W.(Ed). (1994). “Biography of Arthur Newell Talbot”. A Tribute to Arthur Newell Talbot.