Mark Waldo Zemansky (May 5, 1900 – December 29, 1981Bederson, Benjamin
"The Physical Tourist: Physics and New York City"
Phys. perspect. 5 (2003) 87–121 © Birkha¨ user Verlag, Basel, 2003. Cf. p.106 &c.) was an American

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

. He was a professor of physics at the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

for decades and is best known for co-authoring '' University Physics'', an introductory physics textbook, with

Francis Sears Francis Weston Sears (October 1, 1898 – November 12, 1975) was an American physicist. He was a professor of physics at MIT for 35 years before moving to Dartmouth College in 1956. At Dartmouth, Sears was the Appleton Professor of Physics. He is ...

. The book, first published in 1949, is often referred to as "''Sears and Zemansky''", although Hugh Young became a coauthor in 1973.

Early life

He grew up in

Bensonhurst, Brooklyn Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22nd ...

where his mother, Bessie Cohen Zemansky (1868–1946), helped to found a

Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...

temple, and his father, Dr. Abraham Philip Zemansky (d. 1932), an 1874 graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in the City of New York, was one of the first attending physicians at Lebanon Hospital located in

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Yo ...

, New York (later merged as Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center). His twin brother, Abraham Philip Zemansky Jr. (

Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) is the graduate medical school of Columbia University, located at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. Founded ...

, '23), died in 1928 at age 28 of

sepsis Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

after a mastoid operation.

Academic career

Zemansky graduated from

in 1921 and received a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1927. His Ph.D. research and thesis was done under the supervision of Harold Worthington Webb (1884–1974) and his thesis was entitled "The Diffusion of Imprisoned Resonance Radiation In Mercury Vapor". It was published in the journal ''

Physical Review ''Physical Review'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal established in 1893 by Edward Nichols. It publishes original research as well as scientific and literature reviews on all aspects of physics. It is published by the American Physical Soci ...

'' in 1927. In 1925, he joined the faculty of City College of New York.Cf. Hofstadter, et al. obituary Zemansky was a National Research Council fellow, at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nin ...

from 1928 to 1930, then at the

Kaiser Wilhelm Institute The Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science ( German: ''Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften'') was a German scientific institution established in the German Empire in 1911. Its functions were taken over by ...

Berlin, Germany Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

from 1930 to 1931. The research he did during that time was in radiation and collision processes of gaseous atoms. In 1934, he co-authored with Allan C. G. Mitchell, son of the astronomer

Samuel Alfred Mitchell Samuel Alfred Mitchell (April 29, 1874 – February 22, 1960) was a Canadian-American astronomer who studied solar eclipses and set up a program to use photographic techniques to determine the distance to stars at McCormick Observatory, where ...

, a seminal treatise entitled "Resonance Radiation and Excited Atoms". Nearly thirty years later, with enhanced interest in resonance phenomena set off by the invention of the laser and the discovery of the

Mössbauer effect The Mössbauer effect, or recoilless nuclear resonance fluorescence, is a physical phenomenon discovered by Rudolf Mössbauer in 1958. It involves the resonant and recoil-free emission and absorption of gamma radiation by atomic nuclei bound in ...

, the book would be reprinted in 1961. In the early 1940s, he was involved in helping scientists get out of Germany and into the United States; in 1941, Zemansky and Rudolf Ladenburg helped Fritz Reiche and his family get out of Germany and into the United States securing them aid and academic positions.Bederson, Benjamin
"In Appreciation: and the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars"
Phys. perspect. 7 (2005) 453–472. Cf.pp.459-460, 470 on Zemansky. From 1946 to 1956, he was associated with the Cryogenic Laboratory of Columbia University where he collaborated with Henry A. Boorse, an expert on low-temperature physics, on the measurement of heat capacities of superconducting metals and other researches. During this time he was involved in helping

Chien-Shiung Wu ) , spouse = , residence = , nationality = ChineseAmerican , field = Physics , work_institutions = Institute of Physics, Academia SinicaUniversity of California at BerkeleySmith CollegePrinceton UniversityColumbia UniversityZhejiang Unive ...

to arrange for her groundbreaking experiment, in which the violation of parity conservation in

weak interaction In nuclear physics and particle physics, the weak interaction, which is also often called the weak force or weak nuclear force, is one of the four known fundamental interactions, with the others being electromagnetism, the strong interaction ...

s was established, to be carried out at the low-temperature laboratories of 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 sci ...

. Zemansky taught for over four decades at the City College of New York until 1967 when he became a Professor Emeritus of Physics. As chairman of the physics department from 1956 to 1959, he brought it into the modern era. From 1963 to 1966 he was the first executive officer of the City University's new doctoral program in physics. He was active in the

American Association of Physics Teachers The American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) was founded in 1930 for the purpose of "dissemination of knowledge of physics, particularly by way of teaching." There are more than 10,000 members in over 30 countries. AAPT publications includ ...

and was its president in 1951 and its executive secretary from 1967 to 1970.

Death

He died at his home in

Teaneck, New Jersey Teaneck () is a township in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a bedroom community in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 39,776, reflecting an increase of 516 (+1.3%) f ...

on December 29, 1981, of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

complications, and was survived by his wife Adele and son Herbert.

Personal life

Zemansky, his wife Adele, and their family resided in Teaneck, New Jersey until the time of his death. They had two sons, Philip Zeman (1939–1979), and Herbert Zeman (b. 1943), a physicist and inventor of medical devices who graduated from

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest coeducational liberal arts college in the United States and the second oldest continuously operating coeducational institute of highe ...

in 1965 (A.B. Physics) then

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

in 1972 (M.S., Ph.D. Physics).

Awards

* 1956 —

Oersted Medal The Oersted Medal recognizes notable contributions to the teaching of physics. Established in 1936, it is awarded by the American Association of Physics Teachers. The award is named for Hans Christian Ørsted. It is the Association's most prestig ...

of the American Association of Physics Teachers

Selected books

* Mitchell, Allan C. G.; Zemansky, Mark W. (1934). ''Resonance Radiation and Excited Atoms'', Cambridge

ng. Ng, ng, or NG may refer to: * Ng (name) (黄伍吳), a surname of Chinese origin Arts and entertainment * N-Gage (disambiguation), a handheld gaming system * Naked Giants, Seattle rock band * '' Spirit Hunter: NG'', a video game Businesses ...

University Press * Zemansky, Mark W. (1937). ''Heat and Thermodynamics: an Intermediate Textbook for Students of Physics, Chemistry, and Engineering'' New York : McGraw-Hill Publishing Company. ** Zemansky, Mark W. and Dittman, Richard. (1997). ''Heat and Thermodynamics: an Intermediate Textbook'' (edition: 7). McGraw-Hill. * Sears, Francis; Zemansky, Mark. (1947–1948). ''College Physics'', 2 volumes, Cambridge, Mass. : Addison-Wesley Press ** * Zemansky, Mark W. (1964)
''Temperatures Very Low and Very High''
Princeton, N.J., Published for the Commission on College Physics by D. Van Nostrand Company Inc. (reprinted by Dover Publications Inc., New York, NY, in 1981)
alternative copy of entire book online
-

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

)

References

Sources

* Hofstadter, Robert; Lustig, Harry; Semat, Henry
"Obituary: Mark W. Zemansky"
Phys. Today 35(3), 73 (1982); doi: 10.1063/1.2914982

External links

Photos of Mark Zamansky
- The Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, part of the Niels Bohr Library & Archives at the American Institute of Physics. {{DEFAULTSORT:Zemansky, Mark 1900 births 1981 deaths 20th-century American physicists Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons alumni City College of New York alumni City College of New York faculty American male non-fiction writers American textbook writers Jewish American physicists American twins 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American Jews Fellows of the American Physical Society