Alvin Van Valkenburg and the diamond anvil cell

Abstract

Abstract As many of you may know already, Alvin Van Valkenburg died on December 5, 1991 in Tucson, Arizona at the age of seventy-eight. He was the last surviving scientist of four who share the honor of co-inventing the diamond anvil high pressure cell (DAC), now recognized as a world-class instrument for scientific research. In August of 1992 Professor A. Ruoff asked me to write a short article for AIRAPT describing Van Valkenburg's role in inventing the DAC because of its importance as a tool in high pressure research. He suggested that as a former colleague and as a scientist who has spent most of his professional career in high pressure research, I was perhaps the one person who could describe best the role Van Valkenburg played in the invention and development of the DAC. After some deliberation, I agreed to do it, mainly for three reasons: (1) the subject matter, indeed, is important to the history of science, and, in particular, to the high pressure community and should be documented; (2) all four ...