"FAMOUS FOR LIGHT PRESSURES RESEARCH & RADIOMETER"

DR. NICHOLS DIES SUDDENLY WHILE READING PAPER TO AMERICAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On April 29, 1924, Dr. Ernest Fox Nichols* of the Nela Research Laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio, "died suddenly...while reading a paper to the American Academy of Sciences on the occasion of the inauguration of its new building."

The Evening Star reports that the Doctor "had acquired worldwide fame because of his researches on light pressures and his radiometer**...to measure such pressures."

*Ernest Fox Nichols (1869-1924) was born in Leavenworth, Kansas & did research at Cornell University 1888-1892.  EFN was professor of Physics at Colgate, Dartmouth College & Columbia University before serving as president of Dartmouth College for 7 years.

**Radiometer is a device which measures the power of electromagnetic radiation.  The Nichols radiometer demonstrates photon pressure. 

SOURCES

"Dr. Nichols Dies Reading Paper To Science Academy," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., April 29. 1924, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

"Ernest Fox Nichols (1869-1924) by E. L. Nichols, National Academy of Sciences, 1929. 

 

 

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