Anthony French

Anthony Philip French (November 19, 1920 February 3, 2017) was a British physicist. At the time of his death he was professor emeritus of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Anthony French
Born
Anthony Philip French

(1920-11-19)November 19, 1920
DiedFebruary 3, 2017(2017-02-03) (aged 96)
Alma materCambridge University (BA, PhD)
Spouses
Naomi Livesay
(m. 1945; died 2001)
    Dorothy Jensen
    (m. 2002)
    AwardsOersted Medal (1989)
    Scientific career
    Fields
    Institutions

    Biography

    French was born November 19, 1920 in Brighton, England.[1][2] French won a scholarship to study at Sydney Sussex College at Cambridge University, receiving his B.A. in physics in 1942.[3]

    In 1942, he was recruited by Egon Bretscher to the British effort to build an atomic bomb (codenamed Tube Alloys) at the Cavendish Laboratory.[3] By 1944, Tube Alloys had been merged with the American Manhattan Project and French was sent to Los Alamos.[1]

    In 1945 he married Los Alamos mathematician Naomi Livesay.[4][1]

    When the war ended, French returned to Cambridge University and the Cavendish Laboratory where he joined the faculty at Pembroke College, becoming a fellow and director of studies in natural sciences.[3] He was awarded a Ph.D. in 1948 based some of his declassified work from Los Alamos.[3][1] French also briefly worked at the newly formed Atomic Energy Research Establishment in Harwell, Oxfordshire.[3]

    In 1955, French relocated to the University of South Carolina and was soon appointed chair of the physics department.[1][3] At this time he wrote the textbook Principles of Modern Physics.[3] He left South Carolina in 1962 to take a faculty position in the MIT Physics Department, where he remained for the rest of his career.[3] French's main interest was undergraduate physics education. He was chairman of the Commission on Physics Education of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (1975-1981) and president of the American Association of Physics Teachers (1985-1986). He was also a Fellow of the American Physical Society.

    French's wife Naomi died in 2001.[3] In 2002 he married Dorothy Jensen.[3] French died February 3, 2017.[1][2]

    Books

    • A.P. French, ed. (1988). Physics in a Technological World: XIX General Assembly, International Union of Pure and Applied Physics. American Institute of Physics.
    • A. P. French, ed. (1979). Einstein: A centenary volume. Heinemann for the International Commission on Physics Education.
    • French, A.P. (1971). Newtonian Mechanics. MIT Introductory Physics Series. W.W. Norton & Company.
    • French, A.P. (1968). Special Relativity. MIT Introductory Physics Series. W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9781420074819.
    • French, A.P. (1958). Principles of Modern Physics. John Wiley.

    Awards and honors

    References

    1. Fisher, Peter H.; Holbrow, Charles H. (June 1, 2017). "Anthony Philip French". Physics Today. 70 (6): 74–75. Bibcode:2017PhT....70f..74F. doi:10.1063/PT.3.3604. ISSN 0031-9228. Archived from the original on August 8, 2023. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
    2. "French, Anthony P." The Boston Globe. February 7, 2017. pp. B7. ISSN 0743-1791. Archived from the original on June 24, 2023. Retrieved August 8, 2023 via Legacy.com.
    3. Miller, Sandi (April 18, 2017). "Anthony French, professor emeritus of physics, dies at 96". MIT News. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Archived from the original on March 31, 2023. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
    4. Howes, Ruth H.; Herzenberg, Caroline L. (1999). Their Day In the Sun: Women of the Manhattan Project. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. p. 197. ISBN 978-0-585-38881-6 via Internet Archive.
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