Jack Coleman
Jack Coleman | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 30, 1929 New York City, New York, United States |
| Died | January 22, 2006 Beverly, Massachusetts, United States |
| Residence | Beverly, MA, United States |
| Nationality | USA |
| Alma mater | Howard University University of Illinois University of Pennsylvania |
| Known for | Electron microscope development, plasma fusion research, solar energy advocacy |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions | National Bureau of Standards Howard University RCA Massachusetts Institute of Technology Solar Now, Inc. |
Jack Coleman (John William Coleman; December 30, 1929 – January 22, 2006) was an American physicist who worked on electron microscope development at RCA and on plasma fusion experiments at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and who in later life became a leading advocate of solar energy in Beverly, Massachusetts.
Biography
Coleman was born on December 30, 1929 in New York City. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Howard University in 1950, a Master of Science degree from the University of Illinois in 1957, and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1963.
From 1951 to 1953 he served as a physicist at the National Bureau of Standards, and in 1957–1958 he was an instructor in physics at Howard University.
Coleman lived in Beverly, Massachusetts, where he served as a member of the Beverly School Committee. He died on January 22, 2006. His personal and professional papers, dating from 1948 to 2006, are held by the Hagley Museum and Library.
Scientific contributions
From 1958 until 1969 Coleman worked for RCA in Camden, New Jersey, as a physicist and engineering leader, where his projects centered on improving the electron microscope.
In 1972 he joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a staff physicist, and in 1981 became a research scientist at the MIT Plasma Fusion Center, where he worked on the Tara tandem mirror fusion experiments. He spent roughly two decades at MIT.
Over the course of his career Coleman authored more than ninety papers and held nine patents.
In his later years Coleman was science director of Solar Now, Inc. As a member of the Beverly School Committee he successfully argued for Beverly to be selected as one of eight national sites for an experimental solar installation funded under the Carter administration; the array was installed beside Beverly High School in 1981 and is the only one of the eight still in operation. The site is now named the Dr. John W. Coleman Greenergy Park in his honor.
External links
- Retired MIT physicist John Coleman dies at 77 – MIT News
- John W. Coleman papers, 1948-2006 – Hagley Museum and Library
- Historic Solar at Greenergy Park – City of Beverly, Massachusetts