Temple University - Templar Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

Page 31 text:

. . . Jtoe Colleague A fa Research . . llll! aidone to space FRANCIS NADIG, Professor of Physics A.B., 1925, Temple University; A.M., 1929, University of. Pennsylvania. Associate Professor Elmer L Offenbacher received his early formal education in the S. R. Hirsch day school in Germany. He was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany in 1923. Dr. Offenbacher teaches quantum-mechanics of solid state physics. He is interested in solid state physics from the theoretical approach and is absorbed with the theory of e lectrical con- ductivity and breakdown of insulators (dialectrics) applied to ionic crystals such as table salt. He is also working on propaga- tion of stress waves in metals and plastics. For his students, Dr. Offenbacher tries to create an atmosphere of challenge which he considers essential for developing the maximum edu- cational potential of students. Dr. Offenbacher is fighting the natural inertia of his laboratory students with a propellent in the form of a diary report. The students are assigned to ques- tion the why ' s of their experiments and to find the answers and record them. Dr. Offenbacher ' s interests are otherwise directed to gymnastics and participation sports, which he considers necessary to an integrated personality. Dr. Offen- bacher is a practicing Orthodox Jew and interested in religion from the point of integration with science. He is a founder of the Association of Orthodox Jewish Scientists. Associate Professor Francis H. Nadig has constructed a high- speed camera which will photograph what happens to a rapidly changing phenomenum, for example, to an exploding device, in one-half millionth of a second. It is a very useful recorder of split-second timed action. Mr. Nadig has worked with produc- ing apparatus as an illustration of general physics principles. Before coming to Temple as an undergraduate, Mr. Nadig had developed an interest in mechanics, as an apprenticed ma- chinist for three years. Students benefit from his interests in this field for their study of the law of refraction and the study of spectra which is accom- plished by seeing illustrations of them on a spectrometer. A member of the University staff since 1925 Mr. Nadig has en- joyed his work because whatever he did was largely a matter of my own judgment. He has a favorable impression of his stu- dents that makes him feel students are not chasing credits. Professor William F. G. Swann ' s teaching had covered a span of more than fifty years. Among his students were Professors Hodges and Bonn of the Physics Department. Dr. Ernest Lawrence, Nobel Prize winner for his work with the cyclotron, is one of his most famous students. In 1954, Dr. Swann was the recipient of an honorary doctorate degree from Temple Uni- versity. His classes at Temple University consist of lectures to graduate students. Honorary degrees conferred on him, as well as membership in many learned societies, among them the American Physical Society (pres. 193 1-33), American Philosophi- cal Society (counc. 1939-42, Sec ' y 1939-46) give evidence of a lifelong contribution to the development of science. He is also founder and conductor of the Swarthmore Symphony. Since 1927, Dr. Swann has been director of the Bartol Research Foundation in Swarthmore, where only pure research is done. There Dr. Swann and his staff are studying the relationship of mass to energy and how a tiny particle of cosmic ray can ac- quire billions of electron volts. It involves the study of the mechanism responsible for the generation of energies of cosmic-rays. ELMER L. OFFENBACHER, Associate Professor of Physics B.A., 1943, Brooklyn College; M.S., 1949; Ph.D., 1951, Uni- versity of Pennsylvania. 27 W. F. G. SWANN, Professor of Physics B.Sc., 1905; D.Sc., 1910, University of London; M.A., 1924, Yale University; .D.Sc., 1929, Swarthmore College; F.T.C.L.. 1936, Trinity College of Music, London; D.L., 1954, Temple University.

Page 30 text:

7 keA Part in fate opulent 0jf atettite J. LLOYD BOHN, Professor of Physics and Chairman of the Department B.S., 1924, The Pennsylvania State University; Ph.D., 1928, California Institute of Technology Assistant Professor Mary Harbold of the Physics Department considers her primary role to be that of a teacher. Along with her physics courses, Dr. Harold teaches music acoustics. Her interest in music led to a scholarship to the Curtis Institute for composition. Later, as a teacher, Dr. Harbold ' s interest in physics, superseded for awhile by music, was revived. Al- though she plays piano and likes the outdoors, she now finds little time for these. Having recently completed work on a radia- tion-detector, Dr. Harbold has started writing a text-book for music students. It is her hope, that the book will be com- pleted within a year. The title will be decided after the book is finihsed. Dr. Harbold is very enthused about the University ' s plans for a new science building and she ' s especially happy about the non-echoing (anechoic) chamber where she will be able to perform her experiments. Professor J. Lloyd Bohn, Chairman of Temple ' s Physics Depart- ment has recently been busy explaining to the layman his part in the development of the satellite Explorer. He designed the equipment for micrometeorite detection in space. This was done by using amplifiers to scale down the device from c. 28 pounds to the size of a pack of gum. Dr. Bohn is now working on plasma (ionized gas) acceleration with a possible application to space travel. Dr. Bohn has great facility for explaining to the layman many aspects of his work. Students have seen his articles in the Temple News and the Alumni Review. In answer to the question of outside interests, Dr. Bohn said that he plays the flute was in fact the first flutist in the oldest orchestra in America (Harvard University). The Muses can thank him also for his devotion to their cause in painting. Dr. Bohn is credited with developing the technique of x-raying canvases of old masters for determining the originals. The test is based upon the fact that pigments used in more recent times are more easily penetrable by x-ray. Dr. Bohn, who likes sports, was once coach of Temple ' s wrestling team (1930-43) but physics now requires most of- his time. Associate Professor Leonard Muldawer ' s devotion to psychics is carried into his classroom for the benefit of his students. Dr. Muldawer has acted as a consultant for both industry and laboratories such as the Franklin Institute Laboratories. He has directed research projects here at Temple for the Air Force and for Army Ordnance. His main interests are in x-ray diffraction and metal physics. He is interested in determining atomic arrangement in alloys and how these vary with temper- ature. Diffraction techniques provide the only means of study- ing such atomic design. His present research at Temple Dr. Muldawer considers color- ful he is studying the colors of alloys. He is an experimental scientist, because he is fascinated by the unpredictable in natural phenomena. He likes to teach because he is stimulated by the challenge of getting methods of thinking and difficult subject matter through to the students. As a physicist and educator, Dr. Muldawer is interested in his students and feels concern for the present high-school system. For relaxation Dr. Muldawer turns to singing. He is a member of the Singing City Chorale. MARLY L. HARBOLD, Assistant Professor of Physics A.B., 1933, Goucher College; M.S. in Ed., 1946, University of Pennsylvania; M.A., 1955; Ph.D., 1957, Temple University. 26 LEONARD MULDAWER, Associate Professor of Physics A.B., 1942; A.M., 1944, Temple University; Ph.D., 1948, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Page 32 text:

tu jif fat genie Variation, JAMES A. HARRISON, Professor of Biology A.B., 1926, Trinity University; Ph.D., 1935, University of Chicago. Dr. James A. Harrison, professor of biology, has been working on the antigenic variation in the Salmonelli, a specific species of bacteria. Dr. Harrison explained that the most invariable thing about living organisms is their continual variation. This variation can be found in any measurable characteristic. In humans this is hard to see but not in bacteria that multiply so rapidly one today, several trillion tomorrow. Amonq these trillion, some are unlike the original parent in certain measur- able characteristics. Here lies Dr. Harrison ' s interest. Dr. Harrison has also written many articles for Science and the Annual Review of Microbiology. The Antigenic Varia- tion in Protozoa and Bacteria appeared in 1947. Before his arrival at Temple in 1935, Dr. Harrison was a high school instructor in Texas, a lab assistant in Chicago, and an associate professor in the University of Texas Medical School. Dr. Harrison likes to play the piano for his own amusement and to work in the shop. In his spare time, he has been able to make a plugging machine for test tubes and also automatic machine for both filling and plugging test tubes. Why do students find Dr. Harry N. Stoudt ' s botany classes so interesting and enjoyable? Dr. Stoudt ' s informality in the class- room may be the answer. He admits, Even though I resolve each semester to be more reserved, I find that before the first lab period is over, I ' m as informal as before. Dr. Stoudt has been working out the sporogenesis of the Magnolia which is of a primitive group in the phylogeny of plants. Although the in- vestigation of the Magnolia will aid the study of other groups, very little had yet been done on it. In order to complete his research on the Magnolia, Dr. Stoudt said that buds were collected for four years, over 1 ,000 slides prepared, photomicrographs taken, a thorough study made, and a proper sequence of events established. The results of Dr. Stoudt ' s research will be sent to either the International Society of Plant Morphologists or the Botonic Society of America for publication. Dr. Stoudt is a member of both societies. In his office, above the slides and photomicrographs of his research work, hangs his favorite Ben Franklin quotation, Knowledge is the discovery of ignorance. HARRY N. STOUDT, Assistant Professor of Biology B.S. in Ed., 1931; Ed.M., 1933, Temple University; Ph.D., 1939, The Johns Hopkins University. 28 A highly respected man for his knowledge in the field of bio- chemistry is Dr. John M. Ward, assistant profesor of biology. At the fourth International Congress for Biochemistry in Vienna to be held in the fall of 1958, Dr. Ward will speak on Bio- chemical System Governing Differentiation of Fungi. Since 1954 Dr. Ward has been doing research on the fungi. He is particularly interested in the cellular division mechanism and the physiological pathways of these chlorophyll-free plants. In 1955, a research publication, Enzymatic Oxidation of Ascor- bic Acid in the Slime Mold, Physarum Polycephalon, appeared. To carry on his research work, Dr. Ward has received grants from the Lalor Foundation, Temple University Committee on Research, and the Curtiss Wright Corporation. In 1953 Dr. Ward was a United States Public Health pre-doctoral fellow and later a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute of Microbiology at Rutgers. Since his arrival at Temple in 1954, Dr. Ward has been appointed research associate at the Academy of Natural Science in Philadelphia. When asked what hobbies he had, Dr. Ward ad mitted, I ' m not very good at any, but I do like to play golf. IT ' - T JOHN M. WARD, Assistant Professor of Biology B.S., 1949, Rutgers University; Ph.D., 1954, University of Pennsylvania.