Gustaf Adolf Ising (; 19 February 1883 - 5 February 1960) was a Swedish

metrologist Metrology is the scientific study of measurement. It establishes a common understanding of units, crucial in linking human activities. Modern metrology has its roots in the French Revolution's political motivation to standardise units in Fra ...

geophysicist Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and properties of Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. Geophysicists conduct investigations acros ...

, and accelerator physicist.

Biography

Ising earned his first academic degree (''filosofie kandidat''/Bachelor of Arts) at

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

in 1903 and continued studying at

Stockholm University Stockholm University (SU) () is a public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social ...

receiving his Ph.D. in 1919, and receiving an honorary professor title in 1934. He is best known for the invention of the

linear accelerator A linear particle accelerator (often shortened to linac) is a type of particle accelerator that accelerates charged subatomic particles or ions to a high speed by subjecting them to a series of oscillating electric potentials along a linear ...

concept in 1924, which is the progenitor of all modern accelerators based on oscillating

electromagnetic field An electromagnetic field (also EM field) is a physical field, varying in space and time, that represents the electric and magnetic influences generated by and acting upon electric charges. The field at any point in space and time can be regarde ...

s. His article was then taken up and turned into practice by Rolf Widerøe, also starting the development of cyclic accelerator structures like the

cyclotron A cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator invented by Ernest Lawrence in 1929–1930 at the University of California, Berkeley, and patented in 1932. Lawrence, Ernest O. ''Method and apparatus for the acceleration of ions'', filed: Januar ...

. He was elected to the Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1935, being a member of the Nobel Committee for Physics from 1947 to 1953, together with former Nobel laureate and chairman

Manne Siegbahn Karl Manne Georg Siegbahn (; 3 December 1886 – 26 September 1978) was a Swedish physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1924 "for his discoveries and research in the field of X-ray spectroscopy". Biography Siegbahn was born in Ör ...

Svante Arrhenius Svante August Arrhenius ( , ; 19 February 1859 – 2 October 1927) was a Swedish scientist. Originally a physicist, but often referred to as a chemist, Arrhenius was one of the founders of the science of physical chemistry. In 1903, he received ...

, Erik Hulthen, Axel Edvin Lindh, Ivar Waller, and Gudmund Borelius.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ising, Gustaf Swedish physicists Experimental physicists Accelerator physicists 1883 births 1960 deaths People from Hässleholm Municipality