Bascom Sine Deaver Jr. (born August 16, 1930, in

Macon, Georgia Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. Situated near the Atlantic Seaboard fall line, fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is southeast of Atlanta and near the ...

) is a retired American physicist known for his research into superconductor applications, and a professor and assistant chairman for undergraduate studies of the

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

department at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

. A leading researcher in the field of superconductors, he is noted for his discovery that the

magnetic flux In physics, specifically electromagnetism, the magnetic flux through a surface is the surface integral of the normal component of the magnetic field B over that surface. It is usually denoted or . The SI unit of magnetic flux is the we ...

threading a superconducting ring is quantized, a foundational discovery that led to the development of superconducting quantum interference devices, superconducting

magnetometer A magnetometer is a device that measures magnetic field or magnetic dipole moment. Different types of magnetometers measure the direction, strength, or relative change of a magnetic field at a particular location. A compass is one such device, ...

s, and superconducting tunnel junction diodes for use in

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 ...

receivers. As a professor, Deaver has overseen 26 Ph.D. students, developed two undergraduate concentrations in

optics Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of optical instruments, instruments that use or Photodetector, detect it. Optics usually describes t ...

and

computational physics Computational physics is the study and implementation of numerical analysis to solve problems in physics. Historically, computational physics was the first application of modern computers in science, and is now a subset of computational science ...

, and created a B.A. degree for students a program designed to "expose students to the intellectual beauty of physics without sophisticated mathematics."

Education and career

Deaver received his undergraduate B.S. degree from the

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...

in 1952, and his masters at

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) is a private research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1853 by a group of civic leaders and named for George Washington, the university spans 355 acres across its Danforth ...

in 1954. Between 1954 and 1957, he was a physicist and commissioned a lieutenant in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

at the

Air Force Special Weapons Center An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere ...

Kirtland Air Force Base Kirtland Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base. It is located in the southeast quadrant of the Albuquerque, New Mexico, urban area, adjacent to the Albuquerque International Sunport. The base was named for the early Army aviator C ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

. Deaver began his career as a professor at the University of Virginia in 1965, having completed in 1962 his PhD at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, under the supervision of William M. Fairbank, with thesis ''Experimental evidence for quantized magnetic flux in superconducting cylinders''. He attended the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

as an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow between 1966 and 1968. Deaver has received a number of awards at the university, including the Alumni Association's Distinguished Professor Award for teaching in 2004. He is a member 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 ...

, the Virginia Academy of Science, the

Raven Society The Raven Society is an honor society at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. It was founded in 1904 by William McCully James who named it in honor of the poem by Edgar Allan Poe, who attended the University of Virginia in 182 ...

Sigma Xi Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society () is an international non-profit honor society for scientists and engineers. Sigma Xi was founded at Cornell University by a faculty member and graduate students in 1886 and is one of the oldest ...

Tau Beta Pi The Tau Beta Pi Association (commonly Tau Beta Pi, , or TBP) is the oldest engineering honor society and the second oldest collegiate honor society in the United States. It honors engineering students in American universities who have shown a ...

, Sigma Pi Sigma, and

Omicron Delta Kappa Omicron Delta Kappa (), also known as The Circle and ODK, is an American collegiate honor society that recognizes leadership and scholarship. It was founded in 1914, at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia and has chartered more t ...

. In 2000 he received the George B. Pegram Award, for "Excellence in the Teaching of Physics in the Southeast", from the Southeastern Section of the

. In 2008 the physics department announced the establishment of the Bascom S. Deaver Scholarship Fund, the first undergraduate scholarship program in physics at UVA, "in recognition of Prof. Deaver's great impact on he UVA physicsprogram." Deaver retired from academia in summer 2010, after 45 years at UVA.

Publications

* * *

Patents

External links

Deaver's webpage at the University of Virginia

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deaver, Bascom S. Georgia Tech alumni University of Virginia faculty 21st-century American physicists Washington University in St. Louis alumni 1930 births Living people Sloan Research Fellows Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences alumni