George C. Baldwin

George C. Baldwin
Born	May 5, 1917 Denver, Colorado
Died	January 23, 2010 (age 92) Albuquerque, New Mexico
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Kalamazoo College University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Scientific career
Fields	Atomic and nuclear experimental and theoretical physics
Institutions	General Electric Research Laboratory Argonne National Laboratory Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Los Alamos National Laboratory
Thesis	Measurements on the Nuclear Photo-Effect at Energies Below 20 MeV  (1943)
Doctoral advisor	Donald William Kerst

George Curriden Baldwin (May 5, 1917 - January 23, 2010) was an American theoretical and experimental physicist, a Professor Emeritus of nuclear engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and a researcher at General Electric Research Laboratory and at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He authored a book on Nonlinear Optics, and he authored or co-authored over 130 technical papers.

Education and career

George C. Baldwin earned his B.S. degree in physics from Kalamazoo College in 1939 and his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1943. His Ph.D. thesis work under Donald William Kerst was on nuclear photo-effect.

Continuing at Illinois, he taught college-level physics to GIs in the Army Specialized Training Program during World War II. He joined General Electric Research Laboratory in Schenectady, New York, as a research physicist in industrial research and development (1944-1967). He directed the Argonaut Research Reactor facility at Argonne National Laboratory, conducting neutron measurements and developing operational procedures (1958-1959). He served as a Professor of Nuclear Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York (1967-1977). He then joined Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico (1977-1987) to continue his research.

Scientific contributions

Most of Baldwin’s work involved the betatron and the giant dipole resonance; electron scattering; and the gamma ray laser, as well as nonlinear optics and the development of commercial synchrotrons.

His early research involved perfecting GE’s 100 MeV Betatron for use as an x-ray source. Using bremsstrahlung radiation from the betatron beam, he and G. S. Klaiber excited uranium nuclei and observed a prominent peak of about 20 MeV in the cross section for photons (1947), (1948). This "giant dipole resonance" observed by Baldwin was subsequently explained theoretically by Edward Teller and Maurice Goldhaber, and others.

Baldwin‘s research in low-energy electron scattering in noble gases was a notable extension of the state-of-the-art, extending the scattering cross-section data to well under 1 eV (1967).

His book "An Introduction to Nonlinear Optics" (1969) helped bridge the gap in knowledge between specialists in the field and engineers and technical managers involved with this new technology.

Baldwin, along with GE colleagues, developed ideas for nuclear radiation analogues of the optical laser, now known as the gamma-ray laser, or Gamma-Ray Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation (GRASER). He launched international efforts to define and quantify issues facing the development of this advanced idea, working with many academic colleagues, including R. V. Khokhlov and V. I. Gol'danskii of the USSR and J. C. Solem of Los Alamos, to open and explore an entirely new field of laser physics and making bold, creative attempts to bring the concept to fruition (1963), (1965), (1975).

He authored an early bibliography of literature on the problem of developing gamma-ray lasers, covering the period 1917 through 1979 (1979).

Baldwin investigated methods for detecting nuclear stimulated emission, seeking to demonstrate coherent emission from nuclear states. He established that a number of innovative ideas were unworkable. He and his colleagues were able to identify criteria necessary to the process of laser action at gamma-ray energies. He collaborated on theoretical issues, on experiments to demonstrate laser isomer separation, and on computer modeling of gamma-ray laser kinetics.

Decades of his gamma-ray laser work, together with that of others, is assessed in a paper (1981) and a second assessment concentrates on later work on recoilless gamma-ray lasers (1997). These review papers contain an extensive list of references.

He collaborated with J. C. Solem on research on the use of x-ray microholography to image biological specimens (1982).

Personal life

Baldwin’s 57-year marriage to his wife Winnie produced three children and seven grandchildren — three of his offspring with college degrees in physics. Baldwin was an avid amateur astronomer, grinding his own lenses and building his own telescopes; fisherman; self-taught pianist, entertaining friends by playing by ear; and historical researcher. One of Baldwin’s notable accomplishments was locating an inscription left by the Dominguez-Escalante expedition of 1776, discovered originally in 1884 by his father on a surveying expedition in northern Arizona. Baldwin documented in the Journal of the Southwest (1999) the re-discovery of Escalante’s inscription by the 1995/1996 Museum of New Mexico expeditions that Baldwin organized.

Publications

Books

• Baldwin, George C. (1969). An Introduction to Nonlinear Optics. Springer.
• Baldwin, George C. (2006). The Science Was Fun: Selected Recollections of a Life in Science. AuthorHouse.

Cited articles

• Baldwin, G. C.; Klaiber, G. S. (1947). "Photo-fission in heavy elements". Physical Review. 71 (1). American Physical Society: 3.
• Baldwin, G. C.; Klaiber, G. S. (1948). "X-ray yield curves for $\gamma$—n reactions". Physical Review. 73 (10). American Physical Society: 1156.
• Baldwin, G. C.; Neissel, J. P.; Tonks, L.; Vali, V.; Vali, W. (1963). "Induced gamma-ray emission". Proceedings of the IEEE. 51 (9). IEEE: 1247–1248.
• Terhune, J. H.; Baldwin, G. C. (1965). "Nuclear superradiance in solids". Physical Review Letters. 14 (15). American Physical Society: 589.
• Baldwin, G. C.; Friedman, S. I. (1967). "Time-of-flight electron velocity spectrometer". Review of Scientific Instruments. 38 (4). AIP Publishing: 519–531.
• Baldwin, G. C.; Khokhlov, R. V. (1975). "Prospects for a gamma-ray laser". Physics Today. 28. American Physical Society: 32–39.
• Baldwin, G. C. (1979). "Bibliography of GRASER research" (PDF). Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory Report LA-7783-MS.
• Baldwin, G. C.; Solem, J. C.; Gol'Danskii, V. I. (1981). "Approaches to the development of gamma-ray lasers". Reviews of Modern Physics. 53 (4). American Physical Society: 687.
• Solem, J. C.; Baldwin, G. C. (1982). "Microholography of living organisms". Science. 218 (4569). American Association for the Advancement of Science: 229–235.
• Baldwin, G. C.; Solem, J. C.; Gol'Danskii, V. I. (1997). "Recoilless gamma-ray lasers". Reviews of Modern Physics. 69 (4). American Physical Society: 1085.
• Baldwin, G. C. (1999). "The Vanishing Inscription". Journal of the Southwest. 41 (2): 119–176.

Honors and awards

• Fellow of the American Physical Society (1953)
• Distinguished Achievement Award, Kalamazoo College (1987)

Patents

• U.S. Patent No. 2,331,788. Jan. 20, 1942. Baldwin, G. C. “Magnetic induction accelerator”.
• U.S. Patent No. 2,803,767. Sept. 30, 1952. Baldwin, G. C.; Gaerttner, E. R.; Yeater, M. L. “Radiation sources in charged particle accelerators”.
• U.S. Patent No. 2,902,613. April 9, 1954. Baldwin, G. C. “Adaptation of a high energy electron accelerator as a neutron source”.
• U.S. Patent No. 2,902,604. Sept. 26, 1955. Baldwin, G. C. “Scintillation converter”.