Solid State Physics Research at Purdue

Abstract

W ORLD WAR II thrust American physicists into the limelight. Along with their colleagues across the nation, physicists at Purdue University found themselves playing a more public role. In the 1930s physics at Purdue, like that at all but the largest and most prosperous laboratories, was done on a shoestring budget with homemade equipment. The Purdue physics department's primary purpose was to teach the basics of physics to undergraduate engineering students. But in 1942, through its own initiative, the department won a small contract with the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) to investigate the basic properties of germanium. Although it did not seem to be the best material, germanium was believed to be possibly useful for microwave radar receivers. Purdue's investigation yielded several improvements in the receivers, although these came too late to be widely used in the war. The studies also brought about a much better understanding of the nature of pure germanium, one of the two most important elements in the semiconductor revolution of the 1950s. But more important for Purdue, this experience, combined with postwar governmental largesse for basic studies in physical science, provided the university with the impetus to reach greater heights in physics research.' This article will examine the war's effect on Purdue scientists and their work, as well as the impact of Purdue's work on semiconductor physics. The study serves three purposes. First, it shows how research on pure germanium began in the United States on a large scale in 1942 in response to the war. Second, Purdue's investigation of germanium illustrates how basic and applied research followed essentially separate paths, with the greater effort devoted to applied work. Third, it provides a case study of the effect of World War II on physics in the United States.