A Fresh Look at Instrumentation an Introduction

In the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, the American Jesse Beams (1898–1977) developed the modern ultra-centrifuge (Elzen 1986; Gordy 1983). The device and the man do not fit neatly into any standard institutional, professional, or intellectual mold. Long-time chairman of the University of Virginia physics department, Beams also sponsored two firms, acted as a key consultant to four additional companies, participated in the Manhattan Project, worked for the military during the 1940s and 50s, and contributed to numerous NSF science programs. Beams was not the classical academic, engineer, entrepreneur, nor technical consultant. Although often located at or near the University of Virginia, his principal connection to that academic institution was the huge and well-equipped workshops that he developed there during decades of arduous endeavor (Brown 1967).

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