Emory Leon Chaffee (April 15, 1885 – March 8, 1975) 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 cau ...

. He was a professor at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

from 1911 to 1953. Chaffee was born in

Somerville, Massachusetts Somerville ( ) is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a total population of 81,045 people. With an area o ...

. He studied electrical engineering and received his bachelor's degree from

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

in 1907. Afterward he made further studies at the

and took his master's degree and his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

He was made an instructor in electrical engineering in 1911 and got a position as assistant professor of physics in 1917. In 1923 he became an associate professor and a professor in 1926. He was appointed Rumford Professor of Physics in 1940, and Gordon McKay Professor of applied physics in 1946. Chaffee became chairman of the Department of Engineering Sciences and Applied Physics from 1949 till 1952. Chaffee was awarded the

IEEE Medal of Honor The IEEE Medal of Honor is the highest recognition of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). It has been awarded since 1917, when its first recipient was Major Edwin H. Armstrong. It is given for an exceptional contributio ...

in 1959. He was best known for his work on thermionic

vacuum tube A vacuum tube, electron tube, valve (British usage), or tube (North America), is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric potential difference has been applied. The type known as ...

s. In 1911 he invented the concept of the Chaffee Gap which was a way of producing continuous oscillations for long-distance telephone transmissions and in 1924 he started to work on controlling weather, using aircraft to break up clouds with electrically charged grains of sands. Chaffee died in Waltham,

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External links

Oral history interview transcript with Emory Leon Chaffee on 31 January 1964, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives
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IEEE
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaffee, Emory Leon 1885 births 1975 deaths 20th-century American physicists 20th-century American engineers Harvard University alumni Harvard University faculty IEEE Medal of Honor recipients MIT School of Engineering alumni