Georges Charpak

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Georges Charpak
Born (1924-08-01)1 August 1924
Dąbrowica, Poland (now Dubrovytsia, Ukraine)
Died 29 September 2010(2010-09-29) (aged 86)
Paris, France
Nationality French
Fields Physics
Known for Multiwire proportional chamber
Notable awards Nobel Prize in Physics, 1992
Spouse Dominique Vidal (m. 1953; 3 children)

Georges Charpak (1 August [1] 1924 – 29 September 2010) was a French physicist from a Polish Jewish family who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1992.[2][3]

Life

Georges Charpak was born to Jewish parents, Anna (Szapiro) and Maurice Charpak, in the village of Dąbrowica in Poland (now Dubrovytsia, Ukraine). Charpak's family moved from Poland to Paris when he was seven years old, beginning his maths study in 1941 at the Lycée Saint Louis.[4]

During World War II Charpak served in the resistance and was imprisoned by Vichy authorities in 1943. In 1944 he was deported to the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau, where he remained until the camp was liberated in 1945.

After classes préparatoires studies at Lycée Saint-Louis in Paris and later at Lycée Joffre in Montpellier,[5] he joined in 1945 the Paris based École des Mines, one of the most prestigious engineering schools in France. The following year he became a naturalized French citizen. He graduated in 1948, earning the French degree of Civil Engineer of Mines (Ingénieur Civil des Mines equivalent to a Master's degree) becoming a pupil in the laboratory of Frédéric Joliot-Curie at the Collège de France during 1949,[4][6] the year after Curie had directed construction of the first atomic pile within France.[7] While at the Collège, Charpak secured a research position[4] for the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). He received his PhD in 1954[8] from Nuclear Physics at the Collège de France, receiving the qualification after having written a thesis on the subject of very low radiation due to disintegration of nuclei (Charpak & Suzor).[4][9][10]

In 1959, he joined the staff of CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Geneva. This is where he invented, and developed,[11][12] the multiwire proportional chamber. The chamber was patented and that quickly superseded the old bubble chambers, allowing for better data processing. This new creation had been made public during 1968.[13] Charpak was later to become a joint inventor with Ngoc and Policarpo of the scintillation drift chamber during the latter parts of the 1970s.[14] He eventually retired from CERN in 1991. In 1980, Georges Charpak became professor-in-residence at École supérieure de physique et de chimie industrielles in Paris (ESPCI) and held the Joliot-Curie Chair there in 1984. This is where he developed and demonstrated the powerful applications of the particle detectors he invented, most notably for enabling better health diagnostics. He was the co-founder of a number of start-up in the biomedical arena, including Molecular Engines Laboratories, Biospace Instruments and SuperSonic Imagine – together with Mathias Fink. He was elected to the French Academy of Sciences on 20 May 1985.

Georges Charpak was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1992 "for his invention and development of particle detectors, in particular the multiwire proportional chamber", with affiliations to both École supérieure de physique et de chimie industrielles (ESPCI) and CERN. This was the last time a single person was awarded the physics prize.[citation needed] In March, 2001 Charpak received Honorary degree Ph.D from University of the Andes, Colombia in Bogotá.[15]

In France, Charpak was a very strong advocate for nuclear power. Prof. Charpak was a member of the Board of Sponsors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.[16]

Charpak married Dominique Vidal in 1953. They had three children.[17]

Publications

Books

Technical Reports

References

  1. ↑ Martin, Douglas (2 October 2010). "Georges Charpak, Physics Nobel Winner, Dies at 86". New York Times. "In a speech last year, Dr. Charpak (pronounced shahr-PUCK) said he was born on March 8, 1924, not Aug. 1 as officially recorded." 
  2. ↑ French Nobel physics laureate Georges Charpak dies at 86 Earthtimes. 30 September 2010. Retrieved 30 September 2010
  3. ↑ Giomataris, I. (2010). "Georges Charpak (1924–2010)". Nature 467 (7319): 1048. doi:10.1038/4671048a. PMID 20981084. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 CERN Scientific Information Service - Archive. CERN. Retrieved 2012-01-29. 
  5. ↑ "Tribulations d’un immigré d’Europe centrale, Georges Charpak" on Lycée Joffre website (French)
  6. ↑ Georges Charpak - Research on particle imaging detectors - 650 pages Volume 6 of World Scientific series in 20th century physics World Scientific, 1995 29 Jan 2012 ISBN 981-02-1902-4
  7. ↑ "Frédéric Joliot - Biography". Nobelprize.org. 29 Jan 2012 + [ atomic pile = fi + anl + us ]
  8. ↑ Charpak, G.; Chemia, M. - 1954 Jun 01 - Charpak, G.; Suzor, F. - 1954 May 01 Retrieved 2012-01-29
  9. ↑ STUDY OF THE PERIOD OF THE 57 KEV LEVEL ASSOCIATED WITH THE DISINTEGRATION OF MTh4 24 - Suzor, F.; Charpak, G. 1954 Oct 01 - Journal de Physique et le Radium (France) Changed to J. Phys. (Orsay, Fr.); Journal Volume: Vol: 15; Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-55 4358283 - Retrieved 2012-01-29 see also : 228Ac = (Actinium 228)
  10. ↑ F.Suzor et G.Charpak 1959 (June) Study of the electrons and X-rays of autoionisation with Beta radiation of Prometheum 147 - archive
  11. ↑ Department of Energy (DOE) Research and Development (R&D) Accomplishments - osti.gov Retrieved 2012-01-29
  12. ↑ Title: Investigation of some properties of multiwire proportional chambers Author: R. Bouclier, G. Charpak, Z. Dimčovski, G. Fischer, F. Sauli, G. Coignet, G. Flügge Publication:Nuclear Instruments and Methods Publisher:Elsevier Date:1 November 1970 Copyright © 1970, Elsevier 0029554X70908724 Retrieved 2012-01-29
  13. ↑ IEEEieeeghn Retrieved 2012-01-29
  14. ↑ Elena Aprile, Aleksey E. Bolotnikov, Alexander I. Bolozdynya, Tadayoshi Doke - Noble Gas Detectors - 362 pages John Wiley & Sons, 28 May 2007 (Google eBook) Retrieved 2012-01-29 ISBN 3-527-60963-6
  15. ↑ Universidad de los Andes Reglamentación del Doctorado Honoris Causa. Approved 2 December 2009. Retrieved 20 November 2010
  16. ↑ Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: Board of Sponsors. Thebulletin.org. Retrieved on 2011-07-04.
  17. ↑ http://articles.latimes.com/2010/oct/08/local/la-me-georges-charpak-20101008

External links

1901–1925
1926–1950
1951–1975
1976–2000
2001–present
Authority control
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