Jon Torger Hougen (23 October 1936 in

Sheboygan Sheboygan may refer to: Places in Wisconsin * Sheboygan, Wisconsin, city * Sheboygan (town), Wisconsin, town * Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, county * Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, city * Sheboygan Falls (town), Wisconsin, town * Sheboygan River ...

– 28 January 2019 in

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

) was an American spectroscopist.

Education and career

Hougen finished his undergraduate degree at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

in 1956. He obtained his master's and doctoral degrees at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. He worked at Harvard under the research direction of

William Moffitt William E. Moffitt (9 November 1925 – 19 December 1958) was a British quantum chemist. He died after a heart attack following a squash match.Prof William Moffit, Obituaries, by Charles Coulson, The Times, 30 December 1958 page 8 He had been t ...

and

William Klemperer William A. Klemperer (October 6, 1927 – November 5, 2017) was an American chemist, chemical physicist and molecular spectroscopist. Klemperer is most widely known for introducing molecular beam methods into chemical physics research, greatly ...

. He started his career in 1960 as a postdoctorate fellow at the

National Research Council of Canada The National Research Council Canada (NRC; ) is the primary national agency of the Government of Canada dedicated to science and technology research and development. It is the largest federal research and development organization in Canada. Th ...

in the

molecular spectroscopy Spectroscopy is the field of study that measures and interprets electromagnetic spectra. In narrower contexts, spectroscopy is the precise study of color as generalized from visible light to all bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. Spectrosc ...

group of

Gerhard Herzberg Gerhard Heinrich Friedrich Otto Julius Herzberg, (; December 25, 1904 – March 3, 1999) was a German-Canadian pioneering physicist and physical chemist, who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1971, "for his contributions to the knowledge ...

. He joined the staff at NRC in 1962 and supervised postdoctorate fellows J.K.G.Watson and

Philip Bunker Philip R. Bunker (born 29 June 1941) is a British-Canadian scientist and author, known for his work in theoretical chemistry and molecular spectroscopy. Education and early work Philip Bunker was educated at Battersea Grammar School in Strea ...

. In 1967 he joined the

National Bureau of Standards The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sc ...

(now the

National Institute of Standards and Technology The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into Outline of p ...

, or NIST). He started there as a member of D.R. Lide's

microwave Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths shorter than other radio waves but longer than infrared waves. Its wavelength ranges from about one meter to one millimeter, corresponding to frequency, frequencies between 300&n ...

and

infrared Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those ...

group. Later, he was the chief of the molecular spectroscopy section. In 1984, he was named a Senior Research Fellow of NIST. For a year, he served as acting chief of the molecular physics division. After retiring in 2001, he continued his research as a NIST Scientist Emeritus.

Research

His research focused on quantum mechanical and group theoretical calculations of quantities related to molecular spectroscopy. Three of his most-cited publications are: * * This paper introduced a

Hamiltonian Hamiltonian may refer to: * Hamiltonian mechanics, a function that represents the total energy of a system * Hamiltonian (quantum mechanics), an operator corresponding to the total energy of that system ** Dyall Hamiltonian, a modified Hamiltonian ...

that has come to be called the Hougen-

Bunker A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. T ...

-Johns (HBJ) Hamiltonian. *

Hobbies

He spoke several languages: French, French-Canadian, German, Czech, Japanese, and Mandarin in addition to English.

Awards and honors

Hougen was elected a Fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...

in 1979. In addition, Hougen received the following awards: *

Coblentz Award William Weber Coblentz (November 20, 1873 – September 15, 1962) was an American physicist notable for his contributions to infrared radiometry and spectroscopy. Early life, education, and employment William Coblentz was born in North Lima, Ohi ...

(1968) * NBS Silver Medal (1974) * NBS Gold Medal (1980) * Ellis R. Lippincott Award (1984) *

Earle K. Plyler Prize for Molecular Spectroscopy The Earle K. Plyler Prize for Molecular Spectroscopy and Dynamics is a prize that has been awarded annually by the American Physical Society since 1977. The recipient is chosen for "''notable contributions to the field of molecular spectroscopy and ...

(1984) * Marcus Marci Award from the Czech Spectroscopy Society (1990) The ''

Journal of Molecular Spectroscopy ''Journal of Molecular Spectroscopy'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that deals with experimental and theoretical articles on all subjects relevant to molecular spectroscopy and its modern applications. Indexing and abstracting According t ...

'' dedicated two special issues to him in honor of his 68th and 80th birthday. Two awards were created in his memory: the Jon Hougen Travel Award for the 26th Colloquium on High-Resolution Molecular Spectroscopy (2019) and the Jon Hougen Memorial Award, awarded annually at the International Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy (2020-present).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hougen, Jon T. American chemists 1936 births 2019 deaths People from Sheboygan, Wisconsin University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Harvard University alumni