Vladimir Borisovich Rojansky (April 9, 1900 – March 6, 1981) was an American physicist, author and educator. He was born in

Bologoye Bologoye () is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. ;Urban localities *Bologoye, Tver Oblast, a town in Bologovsky District of Tver Oblast ;Rural localities * Bologoye, Omsk Oblast, a '' selo'' in Rozovsky Rural Okrug of Russko-P ...

, Russian Empire. His father was a railroad construction engineer and one of his grandfathers was a general. At the outbreak of the

Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...

(August 8, 1918) he enlisted in the dragoons of the

White Army The White Army (russian: Белая армия, Belaya armiya) or White Guard (russian: Бѣлая гвардія/Белая гвардия, Belaya gvardiya, label=none), also referred to as the Whites or White Guardsmen (russian: Бѣлогв� ...

. Within a month he was wounded in action and was hospitalized until the end of January. During the war his regiment retreated across Siberia to the Far Eastern Republic. There he was discharged as an officer in April 1921. That year he crossed the Pacific to America. He graduated from

Whitman College Whitman College is a private liberal arts college in Walla Walla, Washington. The school offers 53 majors and 33 minors in the liberal arts and sciences, and it has a student-to-faculty ratio of 9:1. Whitman was the first college in the Pacific ...

in 1924, from the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

(M.A. 1925), and from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

(Ph.D. 1928). His thesis was one of the first to employ the modern form of

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistr ...

. It was supervised by

John van Vleck John Hasbrouck Van Vleck (March 13, 1899 – October 27, 1980) was an American physicist and mathematician. He was co-awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1977, for his contributions to the understanding of the behavior of electronic magnetism ...

, who later won a

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

. In 1938 he published ''Introductory Quantum Mechanics'', one of the earliest textbooks on the subject. He taught at

Washington University Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

(1928-1930),

Union College Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...

(1930-1955), and Harvey Mudd College (1965-1972). From 1955 to 1965 he worked in the aerospace industry, first at the Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation and later at the Space Technology Laboratories of TRW.

Interest in contraterrene matter (antimatter)

In a 1935 paper, Rojansky coined the terms "terrene" and "contraterrene" to describe, respectively, ordinary matter and the substance now commonly known as "

antimatter In modern physics, antimatter is defined as matter composed of the antiparticles (or "partners") of the corresponding particles in "ordinary" matter. Antimatter occurs in natural processes like cosmic ray collisions and some types of radioac ...

," in which "atoms consist of negative nuclei surrounded by positrons." In a subsequent paper, he speculated that some comets may consist of antimatter. This suggestion was embraced by some meteorite specialists, and also found its way into science fiction stories.

Personal

His marriage (1926-1958) to Betty Lantz produced a daughter. After his wife's death from

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

he married (1958-1981) Mildred Black. His digestion never recovered from his war wounds.

Books

* ''Introductory Quantum Mechanics'' (1938) * ''Electromagnetic Fields and Waves'' (1971)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rojansky, Vladimir 1900 births 1981 deaths 20th-century American physicists Washington University in St. Louis faculty Washington University physicists White Russian emigrants to the United States Whitman College alumni University of Oregon alumni Fellows of the American Physical Society Union College (New York) faculty Harvey Mudd College faculty