Allen Lewis King

Abstract

Allen Lewis King, a member of the physics faculty at Dartmouth College for more than 60 years, died on 11 December 2003 in Lebanon, New Hampshire, of age-related complications. During his active years, his physical research interests were chiefly in optics, thermal physics, and biophysics. In later years, he became engrossed in the history of physics as revealed in physical apparatus.Allen was born on 27 March 1910 in Rochester, New York. He received his BA, with a major in chemistry and a minor in physics, in 1932 and his MA in physics the following year, both from the University of Rochester. In 1934, he began research at Rochester under Lee DuBridge on photoelectric and thermionic properties of thoriated tungsten surfaces. He received his PhD in physics in 1937.Beginning his professional career at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Allen remained there from 1937 until the US entered World War II. His research on the temperature dependence of elastic constants of alloys and a fledgling consultancy with industry had to be deferred “for the duration.” Early in 1942, Allen was called to Dartmouth to help establish what later would become the US Navy V-12 program, the largest program for training naval officers. Every recruit was required to take two terms of physics. In the winter of 1944, that requirement led to the largest class in basic physics held anywhere up to that time. Allen taught the course with the help of more than 40 hastily trained professors from other departments of the college. Many of them never got over their hectic foray into physics. The tectonic shifts in US education that were produced by the war precluded a return to the old educational patterns, although many longed to go back to using those traditional approaches. Allen was eager to resume his prewar research and to begin work in biophysics and medical physics. His insistence on the importance of research to support effective teaching was critical at that time: He secured support in the Dartmouth administration for the changes that enabled it to create a graduate program in physics and astronomy in 1966. During that protracted process, Allen’s persistence was as important as the strength of his arguments.Following the launch of Sputnik in 1957, interest in the quality of science education and the problem of attracting young students to physics became national priorities fostered by NSF. State academies of science were invited to operate visiting scientist programs for schools, and colleges were asked to conduct workshops for science teachers. Allen took on both tasks. Through the Northern New England Academy of Science, he organized an NSF visiting scientist program that arranged for professors from most of the colleges and universities of the three northern New England states to make visits to high schools. That valuable program also gave the visitors an insight into the difficulties that high-school teachers faced daily.During his first year at Dartmouth, Allen explored out-of-the-way places throughout Wilder Laboratory and found a variety of early scientific instruments, some dating back to before the founding of the college in 1769. Delving into their history, he came to appreciate their value and began to look for better ways to protect Dartmouth’s legacy. Lack of suitable space, money, and administrative interest promised to make it a long and difficult task until Allen had the idea of making the instrument collection the centerpiece of the science division’s contribution to the Dartmouth bicentennial celebration in 1969–70, with a major exhibition in the art gallery on campus. Somehow, he convinced the artists on the committee that science belonged in the gallery and that the instrument exhibit would be a three-dimensional work of art. The future of the collection was assured when the exhibit proved to be a major success, attracting more visitors per week than any previous exhibit in the gallery. The history of science as revealed in scientific instruments became one of Allen’s major interests.After his retirement in 1975, Allen remained active as curator of Dartmouth’s collection of historical scientific apparatus. He also continued his many services to the community at large. In 1997, he was named Hanover Citizen of the Year for his “many years of service to advance the quality of life in the community.”Allen Lewis KingPPT|High resolution© 2004 American Institute of Physics.