Ernest C. Pollard 2622489 224765128 2008-07-10T09:20:29Z Lightbot 7178666 Units/dates/other {{expand|date=March 2008}} {{Infobox scientist |name = Dr. Ernest Pollard |image = replace this image male.svg |image_size = 150px |birth_date = [[April 4]], [[1906]] |birth_place = Yunnan, China |nationality = |field = |work_institutions = [[Pennsylvania State University]]<br>[[Yale University]] |alma_mater = [[University of Cambridge]] |doctoral_advisor = |doctoral_students = |known_for = |prizes = }} '''Ernest Charles Pollard''' ([[1906-04-16]] in [[Yunnan]], [[China]] &ndash; [[1997-02-24]] in [[Jupiter, Florida]]) was a [[professor]] of [[physics]] and [[biophysics]] and an [[author]], who worked on the development of [[radar]] systems in [[World War II]], worked on the physics of living cells, and who wrote textbooks and approximately 200 papers on nuclear physics and radiation biophysics. == Biography == The son of [[Sam Pollard]], Ernest C. Pollard lived until age 10 in China, moving to the [[United Kingdom]] when his father died. He studied physics at [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge University]]. He did his [[Ph.D.]] work under [[James Chadwick]] at [[Cavendish Laboratory]], which was led by [[Ernest Rutherford]], receiving his degree in 1932. In 1933, he joined the physics department of [[Yale University]], where he designed the university's first [[cyclotron]] in 1939. From 1941 to 1945 he was a member of the [[MIT Radiation Laboratory]], working on such projects as [[Li'l Abner (radar)|Li'l Abner]] (for which he was granted a patent), [[Microwave Early Warning|MEW]], the [[moving target indicator]], and the [[height finder]]; and serving as associate head, co-head, and head of Division 10. For his work on radar development, he received the [[President's Certificate of Merit|Citation of Merit]] from [[President of the United States]] [[Harry S. Truman]]. In 1948 he led the formation of a group of biophysicists at Yale. A department of biophysics was formally organized there in 1954, with funding from the John A. Hartford Foundation, where he became a professor, serving as the departmental chairman until 1961. During this time, Pollard supervised numerous doctoral students including the future [[Crafoord Prize]] winner [[Carl Woese]]. (The department of biophysics subsequently merged with the department of biochemistry, in 1969, becoming the department of molecular biophysics and biochemistry.) As part of the centennial celebration at [[Vassar College]], he spoke on ''The Advance of Physical Science into the Biological and Social Sciences'' at a conference on the natural and social sciences on [[1960-11-04]]. He was also a member of the national Democratic advisory committee on science and technology during [[John F. Kennedy]]'s presidential campaign. During the 1950s, he was head of the Committee on Loyalty and Security, an arm of the [[Federation of American Scientists]], a group that actively defended scientists that were attacked during the [[Joseph McCarthy|McCarthy]] hearings. He founded the [[Biophysical Society]] in 1957, serving as a member of its executive board in that year and also as its president later from 1959-1960. From 1961 until his retirement in 1971 he taught at [[Pennsylvania State University]], founding the Department of Biophysics there. The Ernest C. Pollard Lectures, given at the university as part of a programme of lectures by the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, are named after him, as is the Ernest C. Pollard Professorship in Biotechnology. At the same time he served on the [[NASA]] Advisory Committee on Space Biology alongside [[Carl Sagan]]. After retirement, he continued as a research scholar, initially at Pennsylvania State University until 1977 and thereafter at the [[University of Florida]] and [[Duke University]], as well as the [[National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences]] in [[North Carolina]]. == Bibliography == * {{cite book| author=Ernest C. Pollard| title=Radiation: One Story of the M.I.T. Radiation Laboratory}} (a copy can be found in the papers of [[Kenneth Bainbridge]] at Harvard University) * {{cite book| author=Ernest C. Pollard| title=Microwaves and radar electronics| year=1948| publisher=J. Wiley| id=ASIN B0007DQ5DQ}} * {{cite book| author=Ernest C. Pollard| title=The physics of viruses| year=1953| publisher=Academic Press| id=ASIN B0007DOTDO}} &mdash; also published in ''[[Scientific American]]'' in December 1954 * {{cite book| author=Ernest C. Pollard and William Lee Davidson| title=Applied nuclear physics| year=1956| publisher=Wiley| id=ASIN B0007EY7IA}} * {{cite book| author=Ernest C. Pollard and Richard B. Setlow| title=Molecular biophysics| year=1962| publisher=Addison-Wesley| id=}} * {{cite book| author=Ernest C. Pollard| title=Radiation : one story of the M.I.T. Radiation Laboratory| year=1982| location=Durham, NC | publisher=Woodburn Press| id=ISBN 0-9612798-1-8}} * {{cite book| author=Ernest C. Pollard and Douglas C. Huston| title= Physics, an introduction; poets' physics| year=April, 1985| publisher=Oxford University Press| id=ISBN 0-19-501023-X}} * {{cite book| author=Ernest C. Pollard| title=The Cataclysm: Just the Facts| year=1988| publisher=Woodburn Press, State College| id=ISBN 0-9612798-2-6}} * {{cite book| author=Ernest C. Pollard| title=Radiation: Cells and People| year=[[1991-12-01]]| publisher=Woodbine| id=ISBN 0-9612798-3-4}} * {{cite book| author=Ernest C. Pollard, Neena Agarwala, and Wallace Snipes| title=The Molecular Basis of Human Disease and Approaches to Its Treatment| year=1992| publisher=Woodburn Press, Lemont, PA| id=ISBN 0-9612798-5-0}} * {{cite book| author=Ernest C. Pollard| title=Sermons in Stones: Thoughts on moral values that are suggested by the scientific revelations of natural law| year=1993| location=Lemont, PA | publisher=Science and People (The Woodburn Press)| id=ISBN 0-9612798-6-9}} == References == * {{cite web | url=http://biophysics.org./about/governance.htm | title=Past Executive Board members| author=| work=Biophysical Society Governance| accessmonthday=September 5 | accessyear=2005 }} * {{cite web | url=http://www.science.psu.edu/alert/Pollard3-1999.htm | title=Pollard Lecture Set for March 29| author=| work=Penn State Eberly College of Science| accessmonthday=September 5 | accessyear=2005 }} * {{cite web | url=http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4902/ch4.htm | title=NASA Advisory Groups| author=| work=SP-4902 The Planetary Quarantine Program| accessmonthday=September 5 | accessyear=2005 }} &mdash; lists the membership of the NASA Advisory Committee on Space Biology * {{cite web | url=http://www.yale.edu/opa/ybc/v25.n25.obit.html | title=Obituary of Ernest C. Pollard| author=| work=Yale Bulletin and Calendar| accessmonthday=September 5 | accessyear=2005 }} * {{cite web | url=http://www.yale.edu/opa/ybc/v26.n12.obit.html | title=Obituary of Franklin Hutchinson| author=| work=Yale Bulletin and Calendar| accessmonthday=September 5 | accessyear=2005 }} &mdash; mentions the formation of the biophysics department * {{cite web | url=http://faculty.vassar.edu/daniels/1957_1960.html | title=1957-1960| author=| work=Vassar History| accessmonthday=September 5 | accessyear=2005 }} * {{cite web | url=http://www.bmb.psu.edu/general/newsletters/news4.htm | title=Ernest C. Pollard - A Founder of the Biophysical Society| author=Stan Person| work=Penn State Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Fall 1997 Newsletter| accessmonthday=September 5 | accessyear=2005 }} * {{cite web | url=http://www.hamhud.net/darts/scr584.html | title=The Team| author=Steve Bragg| work=SCR-584 Radar Tribute Page| accessmonthday=September 5 | accessyear=2005 }} &mdash; The list of the SCR-584 development team in [[World War II]] * {{cite journal| url=http://www.biophysics.org/publications/sept05.pdf| author=| title=Biophysicists in Profile: Ernest C. Pollard| journal=Biophysical Society Newsletter| date=September 2005| format=PDF}} == Further reading == * {{cite web | url=http://ieee.org./organizations/history_center/oral_histories/transcripts/pollard.html | title=Pollard oral history| author=John Bryant| work=IEEE History Center| accessmonthday=September 5 | accessyear=2005 }} == External links == * [http://wikitree.org/index.php?title=Ernest_C._Pollard Ernest C. Pollard's family tree] {{DEFAULTSORT:Pollard, Ernest C.}} [[Category:1906 births]] [[Category:1997 deaths]] [[Category:American physicists]] [[Category:American academics]] [[Category:Duke University faculty]] [[Category:University of Florida faculty]]