G. W. Pierce

Not to be confused withGeorge W. Peirce,Colorado miner.

George Washington Pierce
George Washington Pierce
Born	(1872-01-11)January 11, 1872 Webberville, Texas
Died	August 25, 1956(1956-08-25)(aged 84)
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Harvard University
Known for	Pierce oscillator
Awards	IEEE Medal of Honor(1929) Franklin Medal(1943)
Scientific career
Fields	Physics
Institutions	Harvard University
Doctoral advisor	John Trowbridge
Doctoral students	Emory Leon Chaffee

George Washington Pierce(January 11, 1872 – August 25, 1956) was an Americanphysicist.He was a professor ofphysicsatHarvard Universityandinventorin the development of electronictelecommunications.

The son of a Texas cattle rancher, he distinguished himself in school atTaylorand at theUniversity of Texasbefore beginning his enduring relationship with Harvard in 1898. He wrote three innovative texts, many learned papers, and was assigned 53 patents. The most notable is the single-stagecrystal oscillatorcircuit, which became the touchstone of the electronics communication art. Süsskind says that he was "an exceedingly warm and droll individual, much revered by his students."

Biography

Youth

G. W. Pierce was born January 11, 1872, inWebberville, Texas.He frequently recalled in later life “drawing water with leaky buckets from deep wells for thirsty mules” as a prod that motivated his intensity in study. At the University of Texas he hadAlexander Macfarlaneas teacher and mentor: they co-authored a paperfor the first volume of thePhysical Review.He taught at Dallas High School (1896-7) and worked in the clerk's office of theBastrop CountyCourt before winning his 1898 scholarship to Harvard. With a thesis on measurement of wavelength of shortwaves, he gained the Ph.D. in 1900. After a European study-tour that included some exposure toLudwig Boltzmann,he was invited to begin instructing at Harvard. He was instrumental in forming theWicht Club(1903–1911), a peer-group dedicated to continuing their learning even though teaching.

Family

G. W. Pierce was the middle son of three. He shared his name with his father, but there seems to have been no use of the traditional Sr. and Jr. appendages. In 1904, he married Florence Goodwin ofSaxonville, Massachusetts.Though they produced no offspring, they enjoyed some family life withCornelia and Walter Cannon,aHarvard Medical Schoolphysiologist, who drew the Pierces toFranklin, New Hampshire.For example, Cornelia introduced George to portrait, landscape, and abstractpainting.This medium became a strong method of expression for him. Walter and Cornelia’s grandson, Walter Pierce Burgess (born January 08, 1936) would be named after him, going by the name Pierce for his entire life. After Florence died in 1945, Pierce found a second companionship with Helen Russell ofSanbornton, New Hampshire.His first sign of faltering health came with a minorstrokein 1945, but he carried on until a series of major strokes killed him about a decade later. He died on August 25, 1956.

Pierce apparently was not related to the award-winningelectronics engineerJohn R. Pierce.

Professor/Inventor

G. W. Pierce had an eye for finding the main sticking point in physical processes. For electronics, he saw thatresonancewas a key phenomenon. His five-part series "Experiments on resonance in wireless telegraph circuits inPhysical Review(1904-7) are evidence of his leadership. By 1910 his firsttextbookPrinciples of Wireless Telegraphywas published. It is in this text, and others byJohn Ambrose Fleming,that the termmodulationis first used to describe imprinting an audio wave onto a high-frequencycarrier waveby variation of amplitude of the carrier.In 1912 he worked withArthur E. Kennellyon motional impedance (see below). In 1914, he was assigned the directorship of the Cruft Physics Laboratory at Harvard. Then in 1917 he gained the rank ofprofessor.

The year 1920 saw two important developments: his second textElectric Oscillations and Electric Waveswas published. And most significantly, he followed up on an innovation ofWalter Guyton Cadyof Wesleyan University, usingquartz crystalto stabilise the frequency of electrical oscillation. In early attempts, radio communication was severely handicapped by the lack of reliable fixed-frequency operation, and Pierce saw the potential for the quartz-governed circuit. Cady's circuit used multiple triodevacuum tubes,and Pierce was able to reduce this to a single tube.Insights such as this one resulted inpatentassignments, for which Pierce then sold license to use, yielding him the capital to purchase vacation homes in Franklin, New Hampshire, andSt. Petersburg, Florida.

Motional impedance

In their laboratory, Pierce andA. E. Kennellyundertook an experiment measuring the change inimpedanceoftelephonereceivers over a range of audio frequencies when the diaphragm was clamped by finger or quill insert. At each frequency the receiverresistanceandreactancewere measured and impedance computed, then the difference of free versus clamped impedance plotted as a complex number, or point in the impedance plane. For every receiver, the range of frequencies yields a series of con-cyclic points. The phenomenon was called "motional impedance" and the circle a "motional impedance circle".This example of circular phenomena in device-impedance became so familiar, eventually, that theSmith Chartwas introduced to provide a bounded universe (or chart) for such circles.

Later years

In 1921, he was madeRumford Professor of Physics;in 1929 he was awarded theMedal of Honorof theInstitute of Radio Engineers(I.R.E.). He continued to file patents, and he reported oncrystal oscillatorsin theProceedings of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciencesin 1923 and 1925. He retired in 1940, publishing his textSong of Insectsin 1943. It made an analysis of thecricket"songs". In the same year, theFranklin Instituteawarded him itsFranklin Medal.

For a list of publications and patents, see Saunders and Hunt (1959).

References

• Charles Süsskind "George Washington Pierce"Dictionary of Scientific Biography.
• F. Saunders & F. V. Hunt (1959)G. W. Pierce—Biographical Memoirsof theNational Academy of Sciences
• IEEE History Center biography
• James Brittain (1997) "GWP: Radio Pioneer and Educator" Proceedings of the IEEE. v.85online excerpt
• Karl D. StephanA Texan at Harvard