Nationality American Died November 1986 Institutions U.S. Navy Fields Physicist | Name Curtis Humphreys Role Physicist Institution United States Navy | |
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Born February 17, 1898
Alliance, Ohio, United States ( 1898-02-17 ) Alma mater University of Michigan Class of '28 Known for Humphreys series of the hydrogen atom Notable awards Naval Award for Achievement in Science, William F. Meggers Award | ||
Doctoral advisor William Frederick Meggers | ||
Curtis Judson Humphreys (17 February 1898 – November 1986) was an American physicist born in Alliance, Ohio, USA. He was chief of the Radiometry Section of the U.S. Navy during the 1940s. He is famous for discovering the Humphreys series of the hydrogen atom.
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Biography
Humphreys married Jeanetta Mae Raum, with whom he had a son Richard and three daughters, Jean, Katherine, and Jamie.
He was involved in the Spectroscopic Program covering the NBS and U.S. Naval Ordnance Laboratory, Corona, CA, experiences. His inventions significantly advanced the techniques of radiometry and spectrophotometry. He credited the Corona Lab program with the establishment of the atomic wavelength standard in the infrared.
Humphreys attended the Rydberg Centennial Conference on Atomic Spectroscopy in 1954, which at the time was the most distinguished group of spectroscopic and atomic physicists ever assembled, and included the eminent Niels Bohr.
He corresponded with William F. Meggers while in Michigan in 1928.
Awards and accomplishments
Works
Humphreys is the author of many scientific research articles and books including First spectra of neon, argon, and xenon 136 in the 1.2-4.0 µm region, written in 1973 while he was at Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana.
Other works include: