Clifford Shull American physicist Date of Birth: 23.09.1915 Country: USA

Biography of Clifford Shull

Clifford Shull, an American physicist and Nobel laureate, was born in Glenwood, Pennsylvania, in a family of David and Daisy Shull. He developed an interest in physics during his final year at Shenley High School, where he took a physics course taught by Paul DuSart. This interest led him to pursue a degree in physics at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, where he was inspired by the lectures of Harry Hower, the dean of the physics department.

In 1934, Shull's father unexpectedly passed away, causing a family crisis. His older brother, Perry Leo, had to abandon his plans for further education and take over their father's business. This situation continued until Shull completed his studies at the institute in 1937.

After his education, Shull received an invitation to join one of the research groups at the physics department of New York University, which was working on nuclear physics problems. Under the guidance of Frank Myers and Robert Huntoon, Shull participated in the initial experiments of the Kokhroft-Walton generator, which aimed to accelerate deuterons with a power of 200 keV.

During his time in New York, Shull also met Martha-Noel Summer, who would later become his wife. In 1941, he completed his doctoral degree and moved with his family to Binghamton, New York, where he worked at the research laboratory of The Texas Company until 1946. There, he studied the microstructure of catalysts using gas adsorption, X-ray diffraction, and scattering techniques, which became particularly important during World War II for the production of high-performance aviation fuel.

After the war, Shull successfully joined the Manhattan Project in June 1946 and relocated with his family to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to work at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He collaborated with Ernest Wollan on the construction of a two-axis spectrometer for obtaining neutron diffraction patterns of crystals and other materials. Their research in neutron diffraction led Shull to receive the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1994, which he shared with Bertram Brockhouse.

Shull remained at the Oak Ridge laboratory until 1955, after which he joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). There, he conducted research and taught students at the MIT Research Reactor, focusing on neutron radiation and its applications in various fields, such as magnetism in crystals, polarized radiation technology, dynamic scattering in perfect crystals, interferometry, and fundamental properties of neutrons.

In 1986, Shull retired from scientific and teaching activities. He passed away on March 31, 2001, at the age of 85, in the Lawrence Memorial Hospital in Medford, Massachusetts, after a brief illness. Shull had three sons: John, Robert, and William.