Clarence Max Fowler (November 26, 1918 – February 27, 2006) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

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 ...

who worked at Los Alamos between 1952 and 1996. His main contribution was on

explosively pumped flux compression generator An explosively pumped flux compression generator (EPFCG) is a device used to generate a high-power electromagnetic pulse by compressing magnetic flux using high explosives. EPFCGs are physically destroyed during operation, making them single-us ...

Career

From 1945 to 1952, Clarence "Max" Fowler did research, successively, at the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as United States Secre ...

, the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

, and Kansas State College. He began work for the

Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development Laboratory, laboratories of the United States Department of Energy National Laboratories, United States Department of Energy ...

in 1952, retiring in 1996. During this period Fowler became the highest Western authority on the research and application of

s. (The research of the Soviet physicist

Andrei Sakharov Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov (; 21 May 192114 December 1989) was a Soviet Physics, physicist and a List of Nobel Peace Prize laureates, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, which he was awarded in 1975 for emphasizing human rights around the world. Alt ...

Sarov Sarov () is a closed city, closed town in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It was known as Gorkiy-130 (Горький-130) and Arzamas-16 (), after a (somewhat) nearby town of Arzamas,SarovLabsCreation of Nuclear Center Arzamas-16/ref> from 194 ...

was more advanced, but for a long time the whole field of megagauss research was covered by military secrecy). In those years, mega-gauss technologies were being applied for the first time in a series of experimental devices, such as

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...

s, implosion foils, electromagnetic beam accelerators and the

railgun A railgun or rail gun, sometimes referred to as a rail cannon, is a linear motor device, typically designed as a ranged weapon, that uses Electromagnet, electromagnetic force to launch high-velocity Projectile, projectiles. The projectile norma ...

. Fowler also used these generators in order to study the response of several substances to ultra-strong magnetic fields, and among the materials that were investigated were superconductors that operated at the temperature of

liquid nitrogen Liquid nitrogen (LN2) is nitrogen in a liquid state at cryogenics, low temperature. Liquid nitrogen has a boiling point of about . It is produced industrially by fractional distillation of liquid air. It is a colorless, mobile liquid whose vis ...

(such as the

Yttrium barium copper oxide Yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO) is a family of crystalline chemical compounds that display high-temperature superconductivity; it includes the first material ever discovered to become superconducting above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen ...

compound).

Founding member of the "International Megagauss Conferences"

Clarence Fowler was the principal promoter of the first International Megagauss Conference. The first of these was held in

Frascati Frascati () is a city and in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital in the Lazio region of central Italy. It is located south-east of Rome, on the Alban Hills close to the ancient city of Tusculum. Frascati is closely associated with science, ...

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(1965). The Megagauss conferences were the principal forum where international scientists could present some of their theories and achievements in generating ultra-strong magnetic fields and their applications. Clarence Fowler and his group were the authors of the first paper presented at the first conference in Frascati. After the first, there were nine further conferences (the last was Megagauss-X, held in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in 2004), in each of these meetings Clarence Fowler and his wife Janet were active participants.

Foundation of NHMFL Consortium

Because of the successful research done by his group on the effects of ultra-intense magnetic fields on many materials and their mutual interaction,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

State and

decided to join their efforts to found the

National High Magnetic Field Laboratory The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab) is a facility at Florida State University, the University of Florida, and Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, that performs magnetic field research in physics, biology, bioengineeri ...

Publications

Clarence Fowler wrote more than 250 scientific papers, always about topics related to ultra-intense magnetic fields.

Death

Clarence "Max" Fowler died on February 27, 2006, at his home, after a brief battle against

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

. He was 87 years old.

References

External links

Obituary Notice by Physics Today

it details many aspects of several types of "electromagnetic bombs" and "elettromagnetic weapons" {{DEFAULTSORT:Fowler, Clarence Max Deaths from cancer in New Mexico Los Alamos National Laboratory personnel American nuclear physicists 20th-century American physicists 2006 deaths 1918 births