Louis Malter (April 28, 1907 – May 7, 1985) was an American physicist specializing in vacuum tube research and high-vacuum systems. He is known for his 1936 discovery of the eponymous

Malter effect The Malter effect is named after Louis Malter, who first described the effect. Following exposure to ionizing radiation (e.g., electrons, ions, X-rays, extreme ultraviolet, vacuum ultraviolet), secondary electron emission from the surface of a th ...

Biography

Louis Malter was born on April 28, 1907, in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. He graduated in 1926 with a B.S. from the College of the City of New York. He then taught physics at the college from 1926 to 1928. In 1931, Malter received his M.A. from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

, and he received his Ph.D. in 1936. After receiving his Ph.D., Malter was employed by the

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

, first working in the Acoustic Research and Photophone Division between 1928 and 1930, then at the RCA Manufacturing Company between 1933 and 1942. In 1941, Malter was elected a Fellow 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 ...

. From 1943 to 1946, Malter led the RCA Manufacturing Company's Special Development Division. In May 1946, Malter became the head of the

Naval Research Laboratory The United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. Located in Washington, DC, it was founded in 1923 and conducts basic scientific research, appl ...

's Vacuum Tube Research Section in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, before returning to RCA in 1949. Between 1949 and 1955, Malter corresponded with

Leonard Benedict Loeb Leonard Benedict Loeb (September 16, 1891 – June 17, 1978) was a Swiss-born 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 t ...

. In the early 1950s, Malter was the Chief Engineer of the RCA Semiconductor Division. In the late 1950s, he was recruited to direct the Varian Vacuum Division of

Varian Associates Varian Associates was one of the first high-tech companies in Silicon Valley. It was founded in 1948 by Russell H. and Sigurd F. Varian, William Webster Hansen, and Edward Ginzton to sell the klystron, the first vacuum tube which could amp ...

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

. In the 1970s, Malter acted as an expert on high-vacuum systems at

Linus Pauling Linus Carl Pauling ( ; February 28, 1901August 19, 1994) was an American chemist and peace activist. He published more than 1,200 papers and books, of which about 850 dealt with scientific topics. ''New Scientist'' called him one of the 20 gre ...

's Institute of Orthomolecular Medicine.

Personal life

Malter died on May 7, 1985, in

San Mateo, California San Mateo ( ) is the most populous city in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula. It is part of the San Francisco Bay Area metropolitan region, and is located about south of San Francisco. San Mateo border ...

. He was married twice, and had three children.

Selected publications

* * * * * (After receiving his Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, D. B. Langmuir worked for RCA in Harrison, New Jersey. During WW II he worked with

Vannevar Bush Vannevar Bush ( ; March 11, 1890 – June 28, 1974) was an American engineer, inventor and science administrator, who during World War II, World War II headed the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), through which almo ...

. ) * * * 1950 (over 850 citations) *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malter, Louis 1907 births 1985 deaths City College of New York alumni Cornell University alumni RCA people Silicon Valley people 20th-century American physicists Fellows of the American Physical Society