Alfred O. C. Nier

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Alfred O. C. Nier
Born May 28, 1911
St. Paul, Minnesota
Died May 16, 1994
Nationality American
Fields Physicist
Institutions University of Minnesota

Alfred Otto Carl Nier (May 28, 1911 - May 16, 1994) was an American physicist who pioneered the development of mass spectrometry and used it in innovative ways to establish some major scientific results.

Contents

[edit] Life

[edit] Early career

Born St. Paul, Minnesota, Nier showed an early ability in mathematics and science, coupled with an aptitude for craft and mechanical work. Nier's German immigrant parents had little education or financial resources but their determination for his development meant that he was able to attend the nearby University of Minnesota. Though he graduated in electrical engineering in 1931, the lack of engineering jobs during the Great Depression encouraged him to take up graduate study in physics. Nier's graduate research started his involvement in mass spectrometry.[1]

[edit] Harvard

In 1936, his spectroscopic skills won him a fellowship and substantial grant at Harvard University. His work there led to the 1938 publication of measurements of the relative abundance of the isotopes of uranium, measurements that were used by Fritz Houtermans and Arthur Holmes in the 1940s to estimate the age of the Earth.[1]

[edit] The Manhattan Project

Nier returned to Minnesota in 1938 to be near his ageing parents. In 1940, on the request of Enrico Fermi, he and a few students, including Edward Ney, prepared a pure sample of uranium-235 using an early mass spectrograph designed by Nier himself,[2] for John R. Dunning's team at Columbia University. On the day of its receipt (it was sent by US Postal Mail), Dunning's team was able to demonstrate that U-235 was the isotope responsible for nuclear fission, rather than the more abundant uranium-238. Confirmation of this suspected fact was a critical step in the development of the atomic bomb.[1]

From 1943 to 1945, Nier worked with Kellex Corporation in New York on the design and development of efficient and effective mass spectrometers for use in the Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb in World War II.[1]

[edit] Later work

After the war, he returned to Minnesota where he worked on geochronology, the upper atmosphere, space science and noble gases.[1]

Active to the end of his life, he died two weeks after being paralysed in a motor accident.[1]

[edit] Honors

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Reynolds (1998)
  2. ^ Nier Mass Spectrograph. NMAH. Retrieved on 2008-05-22.
  3. ^ Mars Nomenclature: Crater, craters. Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS: Astrogeology Research Program. Retrieved on 2007-08-16.
  4. ^ a b Mauersberger (1999)

[edit] Bibliography

  • Obituaries:
    • Minneapolis Star Tribune, May 17 1994;
    • St. Paul Pioneer Press, May 17 1994;
    • Pepin, R. and P. Signer (1994). "Memorial: Alfred O. C. Nier (1911-1994)". Meteoritics 29: 747-48. ;
    • Pepin, R. (1995). "Obituary: Alfred O.C. Nier, 1912-1994". Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society 27(4): 1481-1482. .
  • [Anon.] (1980) "Alfred Otto Carl Nier, American physicist", in McGraw-Hill Modern Scientists and Engineers, 3 vols, McGraw Hill, 361-363. ISBN 0070452660. 
  • De Laeter, J. & Kurz, M. D. (2006). "Alfred Nier and the sector field mass spectrometer". Journal of Mass Spectrometry 41(7): 847-854. 
  • Mauersberger, K. (1999). "Alfred O. C. NierPDF (227 KiB)". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 143(4): 685-691. 
  • Moore, M. P. (1991). "Alfred O. C. Nier: Physicist-gadgeteer extraordinaire". University of Minnessota Research Review: April. 
  • Nier, A. O. C. (1989). "Some reminiscences of mass spectrometry and the Manhattan Project". Journal of Chemical Education 66(5): 385-388. 
  • Nier, A. O. (1990). "Some reflections on the early days of mass spectrometry at the University of Minnesota". International Journal of Mass Spectrometry and Ion Processes 100: 1-13. 
  • Reynolds, J. H. (1998). Alfred Otto Carl Nier. Biographical Memoirs. National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved on 2007-08-16.

[edit] External links


v • d • e
Thomson Medallists

John H. Beynon / R. Graham Cooks / Keith R. Jennings / Fred McLafferty / Alfred O. C. Nier (1985) · Klaus Biemann / H. Matsuda / N. M. M. Nibbering (1991) · C. Brunnée / Carl Djerassi / H. Schwarz (1994) · Michael T. Bowers / D. E. Games / J. F. J. Todd (1997) · John Bennett Fenn / Donald F. Hunt / Alan G. Marshall (2000) · Richard B. Caprioli / Franz Hillenkamp / Victor Talroze (2003) · John H. Bowie / Michael L. Gross / Michael Karas (2006)


Persondata
NAME Nier, Alfred O. C.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION American Physicist
DATE OF BIRTH May 28, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Paul, Minnesota
DATE OF DEATH May 16, 1994
PLACE OF DEATH
Languages