John Bardeen
The only person to have won the
Nobel Prize in Physics twice, John Bardeen was an American physicist and
one of the co-inventors of the transistor. A qualified electrical
engineer, he also propounded a fundamental theory of conventional
superconductivity along with physicists Leon N Cooper and John Robert
Schrieffer. His inventions in the field of physics led to a revolution
in the electronics industry as it was the transistor that paved the way
for further research and development in information and communication
technology. His contributions to the scientific world are of immense
significance and he was counted among LIFE Magazine's list of "100 Most
Influential Americans of the Century” in 1990. Even as a young boy
Bardeen was exceptionally intelligent and performed brilliantly at
school. Tragedy struck when his mother became ill with cancer and died
leaving him heartbroken. His father quickly remarried adding to the
boy’s unhappiness. Nonetheless he faced this tragedy bravely and went on
to study engineering. It was while working at Bell Labs that he
invented the transistor along with some colleagues which led to his
first Nobel Prize victory. A few years later he again won the Nobel
Prize for his theory of superconductivity. He is among the only four
people to win the coveted prize twice.
Childhood & Early Life
He
was born on 23 May 1908, in Wisconsin, as the second son of Dr. Charles
Russell Bardeen and his wife Althea Harmer Bardeen. He father was the
dean of the University of Wisconsin medical school while his mother too
was an educated woman who had studied at the Pratt Institute in
Brooklyn.
Major Works
He
played a pivotal role in the development of the transistor along with
Walter Brattain and William Shockley. The transistor became the primary
building block of various other electronic devices and led to more
research and development in the field of electronic communication.
Personal Life & Legacy
He
married Jane Maxwell in 1938. His wife was a biologist who taught at a
girls’ high school. The couple had three children and he was a very
devoted family man.
In
spite of all his professional achievements, Bardeen was a very simple
and unassuming person. He was a good-natured and friendly man who loved
playing golf.
He died of heart disease on January 30, 1991 at the age of 82.
Trivia
He is the only person to have won the Nobel Prize in Physics twice. 