DuMond, Jesse William Monroe (Experimental Physicist)

Person

Staff Only

Dates

Existence: 1892 - 1976

Biographical/Historical

Background: Caltech Professor of Physics, 1938-1963; Caltech alumnus (PhD, 1929); Throop alumnus (BS, 1916).

Biographical/Historical

Description: Jesse DuMond was a highly gifted experimentalist who was also a master of mechanical design and a skilled interpreter of results. His experiments on the Compton shifted line, completed as part of his doctoral thesis and which provided support for the Rutherford-Bohr dynamic atomic model, are regarded as classics in the discipline. For years he was the undisputed keeper of the fundamental physical constants.

Biographical/Historical

Collection Notes: Papers, ca.1930-ca.1960 (bulk 1950s). Primarily correspondence. The collection also includes his autobiography.

Collection size: 7 boxes, 3 linear ft.

Finding aid available at the Archives.

Photo of Jesse W.M. DuMond (PhotoNet).

Found in 9 Collections and/or Records:

Design and Construction of an Harmonic Analyzer

Unprocessed Material

Identifier: 2004-00092

Dates: 1916-01-01

Found in: California Institute of Technology Archives and Special Collections

Jesse W. M. DuMond Papers

Collection

Identifier: 10010-MS

Abstract

Jesse William Monroe DuMond, experimental physicist and professor of physics at Caltech, 1938-1963, was known for his work on physical constants and spectroscopic instrumentation. His papers contain principally his scientific correspondence, with some reprints, photos of experimental apparatus, and biographical material, the latter including his unpublished autobiography.

Dates: 1912-1976

Found in: California Institute of Technology Archives and Special Collections