Biography:Anthony French
Anthony French | |
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| Born | Anthony Philip French November 19, 1920 Brighton, England |
| Died | February 3, 2017 (aged 96) |
| Alma mater | Cambridge University (BA, PhD) |
| Spouse(s) |
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| Awards | Oersted Medal (1989) |
| Scientific career | |
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Anthony Philip French (November 19, 1920 – February 3, 2017) was a British physicist. At the time of his death he was professor emeritus of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Biography
French was born November 19, 1920, in Brighton, England.[1][2] French won a scholarship to study at Sydney Sussex College at Cambridge University, receiving his B.A. in physics in 1942.[3]
In 1942, he was recruited by Egon Bretscher to the British effort to build an atomic bomb (codenamed Tube Alloys) at the Cavendish Laboratory.[3] By 1944, Tube Alloys had been merged with the American Manhattan Project and French was sent to Los Alamos.[1]
In 1945 he married Los Alamos mathematician Naomi Livesay.[4][1]
When the war ended, French returned to Cambridge University and the Cavendish Laboratory where he joined the faculty at Pembroke College, becoming a fellow and director of studies in natural sciences.[3] He was awarded a Ph.D. in 1948 based on some of his declassified work from Los Alamos.[3][1] French also briefly worked at the newly formed Atomic Energy Research Establishment in Harwell, Oxfordshire.[3]
In 1955, French relocated to the University of South Carolina and was soon appointed chair of the physics department.[1][3] At this time he wrote the textbook Principles of Modern Physics.[3] He left South Carolina in 1962 to take a faculty position in the MIT Physics Department, where he remained for the rest of his career.[3] French's main interest was undergraduate physics education. He was chairman of the Commission on Physics Education of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (1975-1981) and president of the American Association of Physics Teachers (1985-1986). He was also a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
French's wife Naomi died in 2001.[3] In 2002 he married Dorothy Jensen.[3] French died February 3, 2017.[1][2]
Books
- A.P. French, ed (1988). Physics in a Technological World: XIX General Assembly, International Union of Pure and Applied Physics. American Institute of Physics.
- A. P. French and P. J. Kennedy, ed (1985). Niels Bohr: A centenary volume. Harvard University Press.
- A. P. French, ed (1979). Einstein: A centenary volume. Heinemann for the International Commission on Physics Education.
- French, A.P.; Taylor, Edwin F. (1978). Introduction to Quantum Physics. MIT Introductory Physics Series. W.W. Norton & Company.
- French, A.P. (1971). Newtonian Mechanics. MIT Introductory Physics Series. W.W. Norton & Company.
- French, A.P. (1971). Vibrations and Waves. MIT Introductory Physics Series. W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9780748744473. https://books.google.com/books?id=RqE26vDmd5wC.
- French, A.P. (1968). Special Relativity. MIT Introductory Physics Series. W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9781420074819. https://books.google.com/books?id=8jPVRXNXj28C.
- French, A.P. (1958). Principles of Modern Physics. John Wiley.
Awards and honors
- 1976 Distinguished Service Citation of the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT)[1]
- 1980 University Medal of Charles University in Prague[1]
- 1988 Lawrence Bragg Medal of the Institute of Physics, London[1]
- 1989 Oersted Medal of the AAPT[1]
- 1991 Named Professor Emeritus at MIT[1]
- 1993 Melba Newell Phillips Medal of the American Association of Physics Teachers[1]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 Fisher, Peter H.; Holbrow, Charles H. (2017-06-01). "Anthony Philip French" (in en). Physics Today 70 (6): 74–75. doi:10.1063/PT.3.3604. ISSN 0031-9228. Bibcode: 2017PhT....70f..74F. https://pubs.aip.org/physicstoday/article/70/6/74/895467/Anthony-Philip-French. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "French, Anthony P.". The Boston Globe: pp. B7. 2017-02-07. ISSN 0743-1791. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/bostonglobe/name/anthony-french-obituary?id=15907590&fhid=14237.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 Miller, Sandi (2017-04-18). "Anthony French, professor emeritus of physics, dies at 96" (in en). Massachusetts Institute of Technology. https://news.mit.edu/2017/anthony-french-professor-emeritus-physics-dies-0418.
- ↑ Howes, Ruth H.; Herzenberg, Caroline L. (1999) (in en). Their Day In the Sun: Women of the Manhattan Project. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. pp. 197. ISBN 978-0-585-38881-6. http://archive.org/details/theirdayinsunwom0000howe.
External links
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| How to use archival material |
- 2008 Video Interview with Anthony French by Atomic Heritage Foundation Voices of the Manhattan Project
- 1992 Video Video Interview with Anthony French by Los Alamos Historical Society Voices of the Manhattan Project
- Anthony French's web page at MIT
- 1992 Video interview with Anthony French by Theresa Strottman Voices of the Manhattan Project
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