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Ernest Lawrence Facts & Worksheets

Ernest Lawrence was one of the pioneer American nuclear scientists. He invented the Cyclotron and received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939 for his invention.

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Ernest Lawrence was one of the pioneer American nuclear scientists. He invented the Cyclotron and received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939 for his invention. He was also a part of the Manhattan Project that produced the first nuclear weapon.

See the fact file below for more information on the Ernest Lawrence or alternatively, you can download our 24-page Ernest Lawrence worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

BIOGRAPHY

  • Ernest Orlando Lawrence was an American physicist born in Canton, South Dakota, on August 8, 1901. At the age of 9, he became interested in simple electrical devices and constructed wireless equipment by the age of 13. However, he decided to study medicine after completing his high school education.
  • At St. Olaf’s College in Northfield, Lawrence pursued studying this degree for a year. After a year, he attended the University of South Dakota in Vermillion. While studying at the latter school, he became under the influence of Lewis Akeley who influenced him to be interested in physics.
  • With this, Lawrence mastered course after course of physics and abandoned his plans of pursuing a medical career. In 1922, under W.F.G. Swann, he completed his bachelor’s degree in physics, and it took him one academic year to complete his master’s degree.
  • Lawrence accompanied Swann when he moved to the University of Chicago and Yale University. At the same time, Lawrence received his doctoral degree at Yale in 1925.
  • During his stay at Yale University from 1925-1927, Lawrence received a National Research Council fellowship because of his exceptional talents as an experimental physicist.
  • Lawrence focused on exploring the photoelectric effect in potassium vapor for his thesis research. The achievement he accomplished made him one of the most talented experimentalists in the country.
  • In 1927-1928, Lawrence became an associate professor in physics at the University of California at Berkeley. After two years, he became the youngest full professor in Berkeley history and married Mary Kimberly Blumer in 1932.

THE CYCLOTRON

  • Lawrence has established a thriving school of research at Berkeley and became very focused on his work. He also decided to change and focused on new research about nuclear physics.
  • Lawrence designed a machine that would stimulate the ions in a spiral path between two D-shaped electrodes. It was known as the “magnetic resonance accelerator,” the Cyclotron.
  • A small model was constructed by M. Stanley Livingston and a graduate student working under Lawrence’s close supervision in the early 1930s. Two years later, a 10-inch model was designed to produce protons of energy over 1 million electron volts. It was also an event that induced great excitement and celebration in the laboratory.
  • Lawrence constantly pushed for constructing a larger and larger machine in the 1930s because doubling the diameter of a cyclotron would quadruple the particles’ energy. It accelerated and larger particles of energies meant deeper insight into the structure of the nucleus.
  • Lawrence started constructing a 27-inch machine and a 184-inch machine funded in 1940, but to have crucial technical breakthroughs for completion, it needed to wait for the war to end.
  • However, many Cyclotrons of varying size were constructed with Lawrence’s help and encouragement by many laboratories.
  • In 1934, Lawrence was elected to be a member of the National Academy of Sciences for his formulation and development of the Cyclotron. He had also received many medals and honorary degrees and the Nobel Prize in 1939.

LAWRENCE’S WORK AT WAR

  • During the 1940-1942 war against the Germans, American physicists wanted to formulate an atomic bomb that could beat the Germans’ atomic bomb. Lawrence suggested using mass-spectroscopic techniques to separate the fissionable isotope of uranium as a tangible plan to obtain a constant supply of fissionable material.
  • Lawrence also stated that if the method would be done as a large-scale enterprise, it could relatively quickly yield a sufficient amount of uranium for the bomb. This idea was rapidly put into action by beginning converting his 37-inch Cyclotron into a huge mass spectrograph.
  • During the time of the war, three other isotope-separation techniques were also formulated. This included a gaseous centrifuge technique, a liquid thermal diffusion technique, and a gaseous diffusion technique.
  • However, Lawrence’s electromagnetic separation technique showed the most promise of success, so it was heavily funded. Yet, the gaseous diffusion technique had been yielding U235 in quantity. As a result, Lawrence’s technique became obsolete in a very short period.

LAWRENCE’S POST WAR ACTIVITIES

  • Lawrence completed the construction of his 184-inch Cyclotron after the war. In 1946, it started operating and yielded great results of importance for particle physics. He also secured funds from the Atomic Energy Commission after a few years.
  • Lawrence began supervising the development of a huge new accelerator, the ‘electron synchrotron’ or ‘bevatron’ based on E.M. McMillian’s discovery of “phase stability.”
  • In 1950, after Lawrence experienced many successes, he encountered a severe failure because of the so-called Materials Testing Accelerator (MTA). It was a machine designed for producing Pu239 by proton bombardment of U238.
  • The failure resulted in a decline of his health and he acquired an intestinal ulcer and rapidly deteriorated. His personal life was also affected.
  • Physics was Lawrence’s life. In addition to the Nobel Prize he received, he also achieved the Medal of Merit in 1946 and the Fermi Award in 1957.

Ernest Lawrence Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the Ernest Lawrence across 24 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Ernest Lawrence worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Ernest Lawrence who was one of the pioneer American nuclear scientists. He invented the Cyclotron and received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939 for his invention. He was also a part of the Manhattan Project that produced the first nuclear weapon.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Ernest Lawrence Facts
  • Lawrence’s Profile
  • The Timeline of Ernest
  • Ernest Questions
  • Isotope-Separation
  • Lawrence’s Filling
  • The Jumbled Accelerator
  • Cyclotron Parts
  • The Achievements of Ernest
  • Find the Particles
  • The Book of Cyclotron

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