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Clinton Davisson
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== Scientific career == After earning his Ph.D., Davisson was appointed as an assistant professor at the [[Carnegie Institute of Technology]]. In 1917, he took a leave from the Carnegie Institute to do war-related research with the engineering department of the [[Western Electric Company]] (later [[Bell Telephone Laboratories]]). At the end of the war, Davisson accepted a permanent position at Western Electric after receiving assurances of his freedom there to do basic research. He had found that his teaching responsibilities at the Carnegie Institute largely precluded him from doing research.<ref name="Kelly" /> Davisson remained at Western Electric (and Bell Telephone) until his formal retirement in 1946. He then accepted a research professor appointment at the [[University of Virginia]] that continued until his second retirement in 1954.<ref name="Kelly" /> Davisson was elected to the [[American Philosophical Society]], the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]], and the United States [[National Academy of Sciences]] in 1929.<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Clinton+J.+Davisson&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2023-07-19 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-02-09 |title=Clinton Joseph Davisson |url=https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/davisson-clinton.pdf |access-date=2024-08-26 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Clinton Davisson |url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/20001031.html |access-date=2023-07-19 |website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref> ; Electron diffraction and the Davisson–Germer experiment : [[File:Davisson and Germer.jpg|thumb|Davisson (left) with [[Lester Germer]] (right) 1927]] [[Diffraction]] is a characteristic effect when a wave is incident upon an aperture or a [[diffraction grating|grating]], and is closely associated with the meaning of wave motion itself. In the 19th century, diffraction was well established for light and for ripples on the surfaces of fluids. In 1927, while working for [[Bell Labs]], Davisson and [[Lester Germer]] performed an experiment showing that electrons were [[diffraction|diffracted]] at the surface of a crystal of nickel. This celebrated [[Davisson–Germer experiment]] confirmed the [[Matter wave|de Broglie hypothesis]] that particles of matter have a wave-like nature, which is a central tenet of [[quantum mechanics]]. In particular, their observation of diffraction allowed the first measurement of a [[wavelength]] for [[electron]]s. The measured wavelength <math>\lambda</math> agreed well with de Broglie's equation <math>\lambda = h/p</math>, where <math> h </math> is the [[Planck constant]] and <math> p </math> is the electron's [[momentum]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Davisson | first=Clinton | chapter=The Discovery of Electron Waves | title=Nobel Lectures, Physics 1922–1941 | chapter-url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1937/davisson-lecture.html | location=Amsterdam | publisher=Elsevier Publishing Company | year=1965 | access-date=2007-09-17}}</ref>
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