John Bardeen

The only two-time Nobel laureate in Physics.

He is the only person to have won the Nobel Prize in Physics twice, first in 1956 for the transistor and again in 1972 for the BCS theory of superconductivity.^[1][2] John Bardeen was born on May 23, 1908, in Madison, Wisconsin, to Dr. Charles R. Bardeen and Althea Harmer.^[3][2] On January 30, 1991, John Bardeen died from heart disease at age 82.^[4][5]

Quick Facts

Born: 23 May 1908
Birthplace: Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.
Died: 30 January 1991
Place of death: Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Resting place: Forest Hill Cemetery
Education: University of Wisconsin (BS, MS); Princeton University (PhD)
Spouse: Jane Maxwell (1938)
Children: 3, including James and William

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Bardeen graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1928 and an M.S. in 1929.^[6][7][5] Bardeen resigned from Gulf in 1933 to pursue graduate work in mathematical physics at Princeton University.^[2] On December 23, 1947, Bardeen and Walter Brattain succeeded in creating a point-contact transistor that achieved amplification.^[8] Bardeen left Bell Labs in 1951 to join the engineering and physics faculties at the University of Illinois.^[9][10]

In 1957, Bardeen, Leon Cooper, and John Schrieffer proposed the first successful explanation of superconductivity, known as the BCS theory.^[11][2] Between 1930 and 1933, Bardeen was employed at Gulf Research Laboratories in Pittsburgh, where his work involved creating techniques to interpret magnetic and gravitational survey data.^[12][2]

What the cited sources add

The Nobel Foundation biographical note states that Bardeen's father was Professor of Anatomy and Dean of the Medical School at the University of Wisconsin.^[2][5] The Nobel Foundation curriculum vitae records that Bardeen received the John Scott Medal of Philadelphia in 1955.^[5] The Nobel Foundation note also states that Bardeen was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1954.^[2] Jane Maxwell became Bardeen's wife in 1938.^[2]

References

Wikipedia, "John Bardeen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "NIHF Inductee John Bardeen and the First Transistor Invented"; Hoddeson, Lillian and Vicki Daitch. True Genius: the Life and Science of John Bardeen. National Academy Press, 2002. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
"John Bardeen – Biographical", Nobel Foundation. facts only, no text reused. nobelprize.org
Wikipedia, "John Bardeen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "John Bardeen – Biographical", Nobel Foundation (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "John Bardeen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: John Noble Wilford, "Dr. John Bardeen, 82, Winner Of Nobel Prize for Transistor, Dies", The New York Times, January 31, 1991; "John Bardeen, Nobelist, Inventor of Transistor, Dies", Washington Post, January 31, 1991; "Jane John Bardeen - Forest Hill Cemetery - Madison, WI", www.foresthillcemetery.net (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
"Curriculum Vitae of John Bardeen", The Nobel Foundation. facts only, no text reused. nobelprize.org
Wikipedia, "John Bardeen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Curriculum Vitae of John Bardeen", The Nobel Foundation; David Pines, "John Bardeen: genius in action", physicsworld.com, May 1, 2003 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "John Bardeen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; "Curriculum Vitae of John Bardeen", The Nobel Foundation (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "John Bardeen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Biography of John Bardeen 2", PBS (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "John Bardeen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Biography of John Bardeen 2", PBS; "Nice Guys Can Finish As Geniuses at University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.", Chicago Tribune: Knight Ridder News Service, January 25, 2003 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "John Bardeen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Crystal Fire p. 278; R. Kessler. "Absent at the Creation", Washington Post Magazine, 1997. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "John Bardeen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "John Bardeen, Nobelist, Inventor of Transistor, Dies", Washington Post, January 31, 1991 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "John Bardeen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "John Bardeen, Nobelist, Inventor of Transistor, Dies", Washington Post, January 31, 1991; "John Bardeen – Biographical", Nobel Foundation (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article John Bardeen (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.