Kenneth Ross MacKenzie
| Kenneth Ross MacKenzie | |
|---|---|
| Born |
June 15, 1912 Portland, Oregon, United States |
| Died |
July 4, 2002 (aged 90) Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | nuclear physics |
| Institutions | Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, University of California, Los Angeles |
| Alma mater | BS University of British Columbia, PhD University of California, Berkeley |
| Doctoral advisor | Ernest Lawrence[1] |
| Known for | Synthesis of astatine |
Kenneth Ross MacKenzie (June 15, 1912 – July 4, 2002)[2] together with Dale R. Corson and Emilio Segrè, synthesized the element astatine, in 1940. MacKenzie received his PhD under Ernest Lawrence at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Lawrence, MacKenzie, and their colleagues devised the first cyclotron. He was a professor of physics at UCLA, where he and Reg Richardson built UCLA's first cyclotron and later a bevatron. MacKenzie devised MacKenzie buckets which are plasma sources created by lining vacuum chamber walls with permanent magnets of alternating polarity to suppress plasma electron losses, that are widely used to this day. He later traveled around the world, helping to troubleshoot various country's cyclotron problems. Later in life, he studied plasma physics and dark matter.
Notes
References
- "In Memoriam Kenneth Ross MacKenzie". University of California.