LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 Aug Marketplace Auction #87081  / 

90614

Physicist Percy Williams Bridgman Signature

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:9.00 USD Estimated At:35.00 - 50.00 USD
Physicist Percy Williams Bridgman Signature
<B>Physicist Percy Williams Bridgman Signature,</B></I> 5.5” x 2”, mounted on stiff card stock with brief typed biographical information. Fine. Bridgman (1882-1961) was an American physicist who won the 1946 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the physics of high pressures. He also wrote extensively on the scientific method and on other aspects of the philosophy of science. Bridgman entered Harvard University in 1900, and studied physics through to his Ph.D.. From 1910 until his retirement, he taught at Harvard, becoming a professor in 1919. In 1905, he began investigating the properties of matter under high pressure. A machinery malfunction led him to modify his pressure apparatus; the result was a new device enabling him to create pressures eventually exceeding 100,000 10 GPa. This was a huge improvement over previous machinery, which could achieve pressures of only 0.3 GPa. This new apparatus led to a plethora of new findings, including on the effect of pressure on electrical resistance, and on the liquid and solid states. Bridgman is also known for his studies of electrical conduction in metals and properties of crystals. He developed the Bridgman seal and is the eponym for Bridgman's thermodynamic equations. He made many improvements to his high pressure apparatus over the years, and attempted the synthesis of diamond many times. He never succeeded.<BR><BR> Bridgman committed suicide by gunshot after living with metastatic cancer for some time. His suicide note read in part, "It isn't decent for society to make a man do this thing himself. Probably this is the last day I will be able to do it myself." Bridgman's words have been quoted by many on both sides of the assisted suicide debate. <BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Flat Material, Small (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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