Physics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Physics - Essay Example Besides this, he had inventions that made him unique among other physicists. In 1951, Bardeen left Bell Laboratories and went ahead to carry out his own research at Illinois. It is here that he won two major Nobel prizes in physics. His first Nobel Prize was the transistor in which he shared with William Shockley and Walter Brattain. The second Nobel Prize was for explanation of the theoretical concept of superconductivity. He shared this prize with Leon Cooper and Bob Schrieffer. The microscopic theory of superconductivity was also known as the â€Å"BCS Theory†. They were the first ones to give â€Å"a coherent explanation at the microscopic level of a wide range of intricate and fascinating phenomena in metals at low temperature, known as and related to superconductivity† (Bruus and Flensberg 325). Besides the two Nobel prizes making him different from the other scientific geniuses in physics of the twentieth century, his â€Å"remarkable modesty, his deep interest in the application of science, and his genuine ability to collaborate easily with experimentalist and theorist alike† added to his being distinguished (Bardeen 288). Nick Holonyak, his first electrical engineering graduate student did develop the light-emitting diode thus honoring John Bardeen. Ernest Rutherford was a British physicist born in 1871 in New Zealand (Marshall Cavendish Corporation 1501). According to Eve and Wilson, Rutherford was â€Å"one of the most eminent physicists ever, and earned his scientific reputation primarily by his pioneering contributions to radioactivity and nuclear physics† (Kragh 1). In 1907 in Canada, he was greatly involved in research at Mc Gill University where he discovered atomic nucleus or radioactivity. At Victoria University of Manchester (known as university of Manchester today) together with Thomas Royds, they were able to differentiate and name the alpha and the beta radiation. They did prove that the alpha radiation is the helium