May 27, 1950 - Death of John Torrence Tate, leading researcher in quantum mechanics and experimental physics

On May 27, 1950, the American physicist who worked mainly as a professor and researcher at the University of Minnesota, in the areas of quantum mechanics and experimental physics, and as a scientific advisor to various government institutions, died. He also served as editor of the scientific journal Physical Review between 1923 and 1949 and other journals published by the American Physical Society.

In 1914 he was hired as a professor by the University of Nebraska and two years later (1916) he moved to the University of Minnesota where he would remain for the rest of his life. He gets a fairly fast promotion and around 1920 he already acquires the position of full professor.

The world war forced him to enlist and work for the Bureau of Standards in Washington, between 1917 and 1918. After the war ended, he returned to Minnesota, at whose university he would teach and research until 1940, with an additional course in 1946.

He dedicated an important part of his activity to the edition of scientific journals on physics, such as the Physical Review, or Reviews of Modern Physics.

He helped start the American Institute of Physics (AIP) in 1931.

Between 1941 and 1945, and within the efforts required by the Second World War, he directed the research group on submarine detection, within the Naval Defense Research Committee (NDRC) while also advising scientifically. to various government agencies.

Between 1946 and 1949, he directed the Argonne National Laboratory, as head of the committee of governors, until he had to retire due to illness.

His family

After marrying Lois Beatrice Fossler in 1917, they had a son, named after him, John Tate, who would become a famous mathematician and win the Abel Prize in 2010.

His first wife died in 1939, and a few years later, in 1945, he married for a second time, to Madeline Margherite Mitchell.

Work area

He began his research on topics close to chemistry (heats of vaporization of metals, ionization potentials, emission and absorption spectra) that served to help the initial development of quantum mechanics.

Other topics on which he developed research work were: ionization of atoms and dissociation of molecules by electron impact, thermal activation, etc.

His appointment as editor and head of the Physical Review magazine (1923) and his work for national defense organizations and advisory services for certain public institutions diminished his scientific production as a researcher.