Editing Edwin Hall

{{Short description|American physicist (1855–1938)}}
{{Other people}}
{{Use American English|date=August 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Edwin Hall
| image             = Edwin Herbert Hall (1855-1938).jpg
| birth_name        = Edwin Herbert Hall
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1855|11|07|mf=yes}}
| birth_place       = [[Gorham, Maine]], U.S.
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|1938|11|20|1855|11|07|mf=yes}}
| death_place       = [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| alma_mater        = {{Plain list|
* [[Bowdoin College]]
* [[Johns Hopkins University]] ([[PhD]], 1880)
}}
| known_for         = [[Hall effect]] (1879)
| fields            = [[Physics]]
| work_institutions = [[Harvard University]] <br/> (1895–1921)
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Henry Augustus Rowland]]
{{Infobox officeholder
| embed             = yes
| order             = 6th
| title             = [[Rumford Chair of Physics|Rumford Professor of Physics]]
| term_start        = 1914
| term_end          = 1921
| predecessor       = [[John Trowbridge (physicist)|John Trowbridge]]
| successor         = [[G. W. Pierce]]
}}
}}

'''Edwin Herbert Hall''' (November 7, 1855 – November 20, 1938) was an American [[physicist]] who discovered the [[electric field]] [[Hall effect]]. Hall conducted [[thermoelectric]] research and also wrote numerous [[physics]] textbooks and laboratory manuals.

== Biography ==
Hall was born in [[Gorham, Maine]], [[United States|U.S.]] Hall did his undergraduate work at [[Bowdoin College]], [[Brunswick, Maine]], graduating in 1875. He was the principal of [[Gould Academy]] in 1875–1876 and the principal of [[Brunswick High School (Maine)|Brunswick High School]] in 1876–1877.<ref name="bridgman-memoir"/> He did his graduate schooling and research, and earned his [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] degree (1880), at the [[Johns Hopkins University]] where his seminal experiments were performed.

=== Discovery of Hall effect ===
The ''[[Hall effect]]'' was discovered by Hall in 1879, while working on his doctoral thesis in Physics under the supervision of [[Henry Augustus Rowland]].<ref name="bridgman-memoir">{{cite book|last=Bridgman|first=P. W.|authorlink=Percy Williams Bridgman|title=Biographical Memoir of Edwin Herbert Hall|year=1939|publisher=National Academy of Sciences|url=https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:qWPFjF1DGJcJ:books.nap.edu/html/biomems/ehall.pdf+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESiwi2QsmBBlJQ-CGCqOI-5jo7JVHR8KlVBUlYQg7o3jZTM3Hf2pSa3VeYGFgqCsepNg2dtCFeumBvFAX35h7vFrDq29vFqmPQsXXinsEp4aY1iC4-Tyws_IxDAUX0Gacg8xWCGQ&sig=AHIEtbSYLSS-LvLf1yfIKBflgxKm-7Qwdw}}</ref> Hall's experiments in [[electromagnetics]] consisted of exposing thin [[gold|gold leaf]] (and, later, using various other materials) on a [[glass]] plate and tapping off the gold leaf at points down its length. The effect is a [[potential difference]] (''Hall voltage'') on opposite sides of a thin sheet of conducting or semiconducting material (the ''Hall element'') through which an [[current (electricity)|electric current]] is flowing. This was created by a [[magnetic field]] applied perpendicular to the ''Hall element''. The ratio of the voltage created to the amount of current is known as the ''Hall resistance'', and is a characteristic of the material in the element. In 1880, Hall's experimentation was published as a doctoral thesis in the [[American Journal of Science]] and in the [[Philosophical Magazine]].

[[Hall effect sensor|Hall effect sensors]] use his ''Hall effect'' to detect the magnetic field. Hundreds of millions are sold every year and are present in a large number of devices, including high efficiency [[Hall-effect thruster|electric propulsion systems]] on spacecraft.<ref>{{Cite web |title=How the Hall Effect Still Reverberates - IEEE Spectrum |url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/hall-effect-sensor |access-date=2023-12-28 |website=[[IEEE]] |language=en}}</ref>

In the presence of large [[magnetic field]] strength and low [[temperature]], one can observe the [[quantum Hall effect]], the [[quantum mechanics|quantization]] of the Hall resistance and in 1990 became a [[calibration]] [[International System of Units|standard]] for [[electrical resistance]] due to its low uncertainty (see {{Slink|Quantum Hall effect|Applications}}).<ref>{{Citation |last=Aoki |first=H. |title=Integer Quantum Hall Effect |date=2011 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemistry/quantum-hall-effect#:~:text=Due%20to%20the%20small%20standard,Taylor%20and%20Witt,%201989).ew%20parts%20of%2010%E2%88%92%209) |work=Comprehensive Semiconductor Science and Technology |pages=175–209 |access-date=2023-12-28 |publisher=Elsevier |language=en |doi=10.1016/B978-0-44-453153-7.00054-7|isbn=978-0-444-53153-7 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

=== Subsequent career ===
Hall was appointed as a [[professor]] of physics at Harvard in 1895, and succeeded [[John Trowbridge (physicist)|John Trowbridge]] as [[Rumford Chair of Physics|Rumford Professor of Physics]] in 1914.<ref name=bridgman-memoir/> During the [[1919 Boston police strike]], Hall briefly volunteered as a [[Strikebreaker|strikebreaking]] [[police officer]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pendergrass |first=Drew&nbsp;C. |date=10 Nov 2016 |title=The Boys in Crimson: Boston's Police Strikebreakers |at=para.&nbsp;4 |work=[[The Harvard Crimson]] |publisher=[[Harvard University]] |location=Cambridge,&nbsp;MA |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/11/10/boston-strikebreakers/ |url-status=live |access-date=10 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161110023829/https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/11/10/boston-strikebreakers/ |archive-date=10 Nov 2016 |quote=Students were not the only members of the Harvard community to join the force. Rumford Professor of Physics Edwin H. Hall was the first to volunteer.}}</ref>  After returning to the physics department, Hall retired in 1921 and died in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], [[United States|U.S.]] in 1938.

== Works ==
Hall made various contributions to scientific journals on the thermal conductivity of iron and nickel, the theory of thermoelectric action, and on thermoelectric heterogeneity in metals. His publications include:  
* [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000537143 ''A Text-Book of Physics''] (1891; third edition, 1903), with [[Joseph Young Bergen|J. Y. Bergen]]
* [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/010103976 ''Elementary Lessons in Physics''] (1894; 1900)
* ''The Teaching of Chemistry and Physics'' (1902), with [[Alexander Smith (chemist)|Alexander Smith]]
* ''College Laboratory Manual of Physics'' (1904; revised edition, 1913)
* ''Elements of Physics'' (1912)

==See also==
* [[Hall effect]]
* [[Henry Augustus Rowland]]
* [[Scientific phenomena named after people]]

=== Relevant lists ===
* [[List of eponyms]]
* [[List of physicists]]

==References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links==
* Katz, Eugenii, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20040803235951/http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/~eugeniik/history/hall.html Hall]". Biosensors & Bioelectronics.
* The President and Fellows of Harvard College, "[http://oasis.harvard.edu/html/hou00686.html Hall, Edwin Herbert, 1855–1938. Papers: Guide.]". Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. 2002.
* "[http://photos.aip.org/quickSearch.jsp?qsearch=hall+edwin&group=10&Submit=GO Edwin Hall image]". aip.org.
* Hall, Edwin, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20070208040346/http://www.stenomuseet.dk/skoletj/elmag/kilde9.html On a New Action of the Magnet on Electric Currents]". ''American Journal of Mathematics'' vol. 2 pp.&nbsp;287–292, 1879.
* {{NIE}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Edwin}}
[[Category:1855 births]]
[[Category:1938 deaths]]
[[Category:American physicists]]
[[Category:Hall effect]]
[[Category:People from Gorham, Maine]]
[[Category:Bowdoin College alumni]]
[[Category:Johns Hopkins University alumni]]
[[Category:Harvard University faculty]]
[[Category:Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery]]