Glaser (Glaser), Donald A.

genus. September 21, 1926
American physicist Donald Arthur Glaser was born in Cleveland (Ohio) in a family of emigrants from Russia Lena and William J. Glaser. His father was a wholesaler. Primary and secondary education T. received in schools Cleveland Heights, Ohio. A talented musician, he worked on a class of violin, viola and composition at the Cleveland Institute of Music and at the age of sixteen years served with the local symphony orchestra.
Early in the proven ability in mathematics led Mr.. go to Keyzovsky Institute of Technology (now University of Case-Western Reserve), where he graduated in 1946. with a bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics. G. attended graduate school at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), under the leadership of Dr. Charles. Anderson. In 1950, Mr.. G. was awarded a doctorate in physics and mathematics for his work on experimental investigation of high energy cosmic rays and mesons at sea level. The year before, at the end of the course work at Caltech, D. adopted for the post of professor of physics at the University of Michigan. In 1953, Mr.. he became an assistant professor in 1955. - Associate Professor, and in 1957,. - A full professor.
In Michigan, Mr.. interest led to the elementary particles in cosmic rays, which with great energy bombard the Earth. Interacting with matter, such particles give rise to new particles, also have high energy and usually short-lived. In the 20-ies. When CH.T.R. Wilson invented his cell, physicists have opened way for you to make visible the tracks of particles. The air in the cloud chamber contains a supersaturated water vapor, so the atomic or subatomic particles, flying through the chamber, causing condensation of vapor in the form of tiny droplets of water along its path. The tracks are visible, and they can be photographed for subsequent measurements.
Hatched in the 50-ies. powerful new particle accelerators are not appropriate for the old method of detecting tracks. They dispersed particles to energies 1000 times higher than achievable twenty years ago. Low density gas in the cloud chamber meant that moving with high velocity particles could pass relatively large distances before they decay, or spend their energy. To get the tracks of such particles in a cloud chamber, would require installation of a length exceeding 100 m. But building such a gigantic instrument impossible. However, the low frequency of collisions between incident particles and atoms of the gas limits the number of interactions, observable, and the number of exotic new particles that could be born as a result of such interactions. Number data, . that could be collected using a cloud chamber, . limited and its slowness: short periods, . during which the camera can record the tracks of the incoming particles, . must be separated by intervals of not less than half, . necessary for the preparation of equipment.,
. Taking part in the construction of several traditional cameras Wilson, D
. began to search for methods of detecting high energy particles, based on the use of more dense substances in the cells with a large working volume. According to G., a suitable environment could be superheated liquid under pressure. He was aware that the liquid can be maintained for some time in an unstable state above its normal boiling point. This liquid does not boil spontaneously, but boiling it can cause anything. G. tried to establish whether high-energy particles to be 'trigger mechanisms' boiling superheated liquid under pressure. He began to experiment with bottles of heated beer and carbonated soft drinks, to determine whether the effect on foaming jet source. In the end, after more subtle experiments and calculations, he found that under appropriate conditions, the radiation could 'run' boiling liquid. For example, if diethyl ether is heated to 140 б° C (ie. to a temperature which is far above its normal boiling point), then under the action of radiation - cosmic rays or from any other source - he immediately begins to boil.
. Using a set of small glass chambers of various shapes with a working volume of several cubic centimeters and with superheated ether as the working substance, T
. attempted to accurately determine the tracks of particles of ionizing radiation. Heating the liquid under high pressure and rapidly dropping it, he managed to create a very unstable state and to fix clear the tracks of particles with high-speed filming before the liquid boiled. Designed T. method is like a mirror image of the method of Wilson. If the cloud chamber track form droplets of liquid in the gas, the bubble chamber G, the first version of which was built in 1952, the reverse process generates a track from the gas bubbles in the liquid.
G. quickly realized that for experiments in high energy physics would be more appropriate other liquids. So, he built a bubble chamber, which used liquid hydrogen at -246 б° C. This plant, whose construction was completed at the University of Chicago in 1953, soon led to the discovery have never been observed subatomic phenomena. In 1956, Mr.. G. experimenting with cameras on liquid xenon. High density of this medium has allowed physicists to photograph tracks as neutral and charged particles and to observe many previously unknown reaction. Hope G. justified: his method allows to construct large bubble chambers with a very short working cycles. Such cameras allow to fix the behavior of many atomic particles that have resisted earlier observation, and get them thousands of times more information.
In 1959, Mr.. G. as a visiting professor visited the University of California at Berkeley, and the following year became a permanent employee of the institution. For 1959 ... 1960. He collected almost half a million photographs, using the new bubble chamber, built at Berkeley, led by Luis Y. Alvarez. Equipped with a refrigeration unit and a large magnet, enabling the deflection of the trajectory of charged particles, this camera was the size of a small truck and is very different from those of cones with a capacity of 3 cubic centimeters, with whom Mr.. experimented only seven years earlier.
In 1969. G. was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his invention of the bubble chamber '. Introducing the new winner at the award ceremony, . Kai Siegbahn of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said: 'Some other scientists have also made great contributions to the design of various types of bubble chambers, . but a fundamental contribution to its creation belongs to the G. '.,
. After receiving the Nobel Prize for Mr.
. problems have attracted the application of physics to molecular biology. 1961. he held at Copenhagen University, studying microbiology. His further studies were devoted to the evolution of bacteria, regulation of cell growth, carcinogen, and genetic mutations. Adapted to the needs of Microbiology installation for the analysis of images used in the work on bubble chambers, T. developed a computerized scanning system that automatically identifies the species of bacteria. Since 1964, Mr.. G. - Professor of biology and physics at Berkeley.
In 1960, shortly after receiving the Nobel Prize, Mr.. married Ruth Bonnie Thompson, a graduate student, whom he met at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory at Berkeley. They had two children, but in 1969. marriage was dissolved. A man sporting a warehouse, Mr.. like mountain climbing, skiing, tennis and sailing. Throughout his life, he retains an interest in music, often played at local parties viola chamber ansamblyah.Po by Nobel Prize G. awarded the University of Michigan, Henry Russell (1953), Charles Vernon Boys Prize of the London Physical Society (1958) and Award of the American Physical Society