Abstract
THE Faraday Medal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers given annually “either for notable scientific or industrial achievement in Electrical Engineering or for conspicuous service rendered to the advancement of electrical science”, has been awarded to Dr. W. D. Coolidge, director of the research laboratories of the General Electric Co., Schenectady. Dr. Coolidge was born in 1873, and educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at the University of Leipzig, studying especially physical chemistry. After holding certain academic posts, he joined the staff of the General Electric Co. in 1905, was promoted to be associate director in 1928 and in 1932 was appointed director of research. The name of Coolidge is associated with advances in many fields, but perhaps all his later work may be traced back to his important researches into the production of ductile tungsten, which revolutionized the design of electric lamps and had immediate applications in thermionic devices of several types. In the Coolidge X-ray tube, which was developed just before the Great War, the tube was evacuated as thoroughly as possible and the electrons necessary to produce X-rays were emitted by tungsten filaments heated to a suitable temperature. In this tube, for the first time, the X-ray worker was able by simple means to control separately the voltage and current applied to his tube, while the steadiness of running and constancy of X-ray output Were much greater than had been possible with the earlier ionic type of tube. Later, Coolidge developed tubes capable of operating at tensions up to a million volts in which the electrons were accelerated in stages. Somewhat similar tubes were made of such a design that the electron beam, instead of being intercepted by a target and producing X-rays, passed through a thin window and gave rise to remarkable fluorescent, chemical and biological effects, the possibilities of which have not yet been completely explored.
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Dr. W. D. Coolidge. Nature 143, 233 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/143233b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/143233b0