Hans Georg Dehmelt

About Hans Georg Dehmelt

Who is it?: Physicist
Birth Day: September 09, 1922
Birth Place: Görlitz, Germany, American
Died On: 7 March 2017(2017-03-07) (aged 94)\nSeattle, Washington, U.S.
Birth Sign: Libra
Alma mater: University of Göttingen
Known for: Development of the ion trap Precise measurement of the electron g-factor Penning trap
Awards: Nobel Prize in Physics (1989)
Fields: Physics
Institutions: University of Washington Duke University
Doctoral students: David J. Wineland

Hans Georg Dehmelt Net Worth

Hans Georg Dehmelt was born on September 09, 1922 in Görlitz, Germany, American, is Physicist. Hans Georg Dehmelt is a German-born American physicist, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1989, for co-developing the ion trap technique, popularly called Penning trap, with Wolfgang Paul. The duo shared one half of the prize as the other half was awarded to Norman Foster Ramsey. The Penning trap is an electromagnetic device that can hold small numbers of ions or electrically charged atoms and electrons for long periods of time, thus allowing the study of their properties. Though Dehmelt discovered the Penning trap in the 1950s, it was only in early 1970s that he put the device to use. He isolated a single electron for observation, an unprecedented feat that opened the way for the precise measurement of key properties of electrons. However, this wasn’t all as Dehmelt also developed methods for measuring atomic frequencies and individual quantum jumps with unprecedented precision. Dehmelt’s love for physics started early. He soon found himself deeply embroiled in physics principles and properties and no sooner made the subject his academic pursuit. Apart from scientific research, Dehmelt has chaired several academic positions. He served as the professor of physics at the University of Washington since 1961, duly retiring from the educational organisation in 2002 as Professor Emeritus.
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💰 Net worth: Under Review

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Biography/Timeline

1940

At the age of ten Dehmelt enrolled in the Berlinisches Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster, a Latin school in Berlin, where he was admitted on a scholarship. After graduating in 1940, he volunteered for Service in the German Army, which ordered him to attend the University of Breslau to study physics in 1943. After a year of study he returned to army Service and was captured during the Battle of the Bulge.

1946

After his release from an American prisoner of war camp in 1946, Dehmelt returned to his study of physics at the University of Göttingen, where he supported himself by repairing and bartering old, pre-war radio sets. He completed his master's thesis in 1948 and received his PhD in 1950, both from the University of Göttingen. He was then invited to Duke University as a postdoctoral associate, emigrating in 1952. Dehmelt became an assistant professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington in 1955, an associate professor in 1958, and a full professor in 1961.

1955

In 1955 he built his first electron impact tube in George Volkoff's laboratory at the University of British Columbia and experimented on paramagnetic resonances in polarized atoms and free electrons. In the 1960s, Dehmelt and his students worked on spectroscopy of hydrogen and helium ions. The electron was finally isolated in 1973 with David Wineland, who continued work on trapped ions at NIST.

1976

He created the first geonium atom in 1976, which he then used to measure precise magnetic moments of the electron and positron with R. S. Van Dyck into the 1980s, work that led to his Nobel prize. In 1979 Dehmelt led a team that took the first photo of a single atom. He continued work on ion traps at the University of Washington, until his retirement in October 2002.

1989

He was married to Irmgard Lassow, now deceased, and the couple had a son, Gerd, also deceased. In 1989 Dehmelt married Diana Dundore, a physician.

2010

In May 2010, he was honoured as one of Washington's Nobel laureates by Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden at a special event in Seattle.

2017

Dehmelt died on March 7, 2017 in Seattle, Washington, aged 94.