William Gould Dow
Encyclopedia
William Gould Dow was an American
scientist
, educator and inventor. He was a pioneer in a variety of fields, including electrical engineering
, space
research, computer engineering
, and nuclear engineering
. He helped develop life-saving radar jamming technology during World War II
, and was a long-time professor
at the University of Michigan
.
, Minnesota
to Dr. James J. Dow and the former Myra Brown, who had had the distinction of being the first two students to graduate from Carleton College
just months before their marriage in 1874. He was the great-great-grandson of American Revolutionary War
veteran Corporal Silas Gould.
He attended the University of Minnesota
, obtaining his BS
in 1916 and his BSE in EE in 1917. During World War I
, Dow was a lieutenant
in the US Army Corps of Engineers
, with stints at Camp A.A. Humphreys, Virginia
(now Fort Belvoir
) and the National Bureau of Standards. Upon leaving the Army in 1919, he took on a variety of sales
and marketing
positions, mainly selling electrical equipment for the Westinghouse Electric Corporation.
in electrical engineering. He obtained his MS
from Michigan in 1927. While on the faculty, he wrote what would become a classic textbook in the field, Fundamentals of Engineering Electronics, published in 1937. He was made an associate professor in 1938.
Dow obtained a contract from General Motors
' Fisher Body
division to develop new induction welding
technologies that used higher frequency
current than previous methods. Because of the skin effect
of alternating current
moving through a conductor
, higher frequencies meant more of the current (and thus the heat required for welding) was contained in the very upper layers of the material to be welded, rather than being wasted by being distributed deeper inside. The patent
Dow obtained for his method contemplates frequencies of up to 3 MHz of alternating current. Although originally intended for use in automobile manufacturing, when the US entered World War II
, GM instead put his technology into production manufacturing airplanes.
In 1942, following the end of his GM contract, Dow went to work directly in support of the war effort at the Harvard Radio Research Laboratory
, directed by Frederick Emmons Terman. The laboratory was dedicated to finding effective radar countermeasures, including both jamming of enemy radar signals and determining the location of enemy radar installations. His work took him to London, where he narrowly avoided a V-2 rocket
attack; the V-2 would eventually play a large role in his post-war research. The radar-jamming countermeasures Dow worked on were nearly 100% effective, and were credited with saving the lives of many Allied
pilots.
After returning to the University of Michigan in 1945, Dow was made a full professor
. Using the connections he had made during the war, Dow began trying to bring military and government contracts to the university. In January 1946, at a conference on telemetry
, he learned that the Army and Navy had begun a joint research program involving captured V-2 rockets. He arranged to attend the second meeting of the V-2 Upper Atmosphere Research Panel (later the Rocket and Satellite Research Panel or simply Rocket Research Panel), and would remain a member of the panel until it ceased operation in 1960. The panel included other luminaries of space research such as James Van Allen
and, later, the father of the V-2 rocket, Wernher von Braun
.
The panel required all of its members to be actively engaged in relevant research, and as his first experiment
, Dow chose to measure ion
and electron
temperature
s in the ionosphere
, under contract to the Air Force. The payload consisted of a vacuum tube
and a Langmuir probe
, but the launch (on August 22, 1946 at White Sands Missile Range
) was unsuccessful, with the V-2 crashing only a quarter-mile away from the launch site. The experiment was successfully launched in November of the same year. Another early experiment provided increased accuracy for estimates of the neutral density of the atmosphere, which is a critical factor in the computation of atmospheric drag, and which was thus important to determine accurately before spacecraft
could be designed to successfully stand the rigors of atmospheric re-entry.
During this same period of time, Dow helped start a number of various research laboratories at the University, including the Physics Research Lab, the Space Physics Research Lab, the Plasma Engineering Lab, and the Michigan Aeronautical Research Center
(which would eventually become the Willow Run Research Center and eventually the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan
, or ERIM).
In 1958, Dow was named Chairman of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, a position he would hold until 1964, when he retired from teaching. His wife Edna had died in 1963. After retiring from active teaching, he served part-time as a Senior Research Geophysicist in the Space Physics Research Lab until 1971. Dow remarried in 1968, to Katherine "Kitty" Keene, who would also pass away in 1997.
When ERIM split off from the University of Michigan in 1972, Dow became a member of its Board of Trustees. He left the board in 1990, but remained a Trustee Emeritus. During this time, Dow continued his research, now in the field of fusion power
, with several more patents to his credit.
and Washington.
William Dow died on October 17, 1999, aged 104, in Bellevue
, Washington, while residing with his son Daniel, who himself had been Chairman of the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Washington
in Seattle for a period of time starting in 1968.
): Large Throat Portable Welder (assigned to General Motors
): High-Frequency Inductive Welding Apparatus (assigned to General Motors
): Small Throat Portable Welder (assigned to General Motors
): Method and Apparatus for Producing Nuclear Fusion (assigned to Consumers Power Company): Trochoidal nuclear fusion reactor (assigned to Environmental Institute of Michigan): Nuclear fusion system (assigned to Environmental Research Institute of Michigan
)
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
, educator and inventor. He was a pioneer in a variety of fields, including electrical engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
, space
Outer space
Outer space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....
research, computer engineering
Computer engineering
Computer engineering, also called computer systems engineering, is a discipline that integrates several fields of electrical engineering and computer science required to develop computer systems. Computer engineers usually have training in electronic engineering, software design, and...
, and nuclear engineering
Nuclear engineering
Nuclear engineering is the branch of engineering concerned with the application of the breakdown as well as the fusion of atomic nuclei and/or the application of other sub-atomic physics, based on the principles of nuclear physics...
. He helped develop life-saving radar jamming technology during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and was a long-time professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
.
Early life
William Dow was born on September 30, 1895 in FaribaultFaribault, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 20,818 people, 7,472 households, and 4,946 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,644.8 people per square mile . There were 7,668 housing units at an average density of 605.8 per square mile...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
to Dr. James J. Dow and the former Myra Brown, who had had the distinction of being the first two students to graduate from Carleton College
Carleton College
Carleton College is an independent non-sectarian, coeducational, liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, USA. The college enrolls 1,958 undergraduate students, and employs 198 full-time faculty members. In 2012 U.S...
just months before their marriage in 1874. He was the great-great-grandson of American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
veteran Corporal Silas Gould.
He attended the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
, obtaining his BS
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
in 1916 and his BSE in EE in 1917. During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Dow was a lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
in the US Army Corps of Engineers
United States Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 38,000 civilian and military personnel, making it the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency...
, with stints at Camp A.A. Humphreys, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
(now Fort Belvoir
Fort Belvoir
Fort Belvoir is a United States Army installation and a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Originally, it was the site of the Belvoir plantation. Today, Fort Belvoir is home to a number of important United States military organizations...
) and the National Bureau of Standards. Upon leaving the Army in 1919, he took on a variety of sales
Sales
A sale is the act of selling a product or service in return for money or other compensation. It is an act of completion of a commercial activity....
and marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
positions, mainly selling electrical equipment for the Westinghouse Electric Corporation.
Academia
In 1924, Dow married Edna Lois Sontag, and two years later he joined the faculty of the University of Michigan as an instructorProfessor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
in electrical engineering. He obtained his MS
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
from Michigan in 1927. While on the faculty, he wrote what would become a classic textbook in the field, Fundamentals of Engineering Electronics, published in 1937. He was made an associate professor in 1938.
Dow obtained a contract from General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
' Fisher Body
Fisher Body
Fisher Body is an automobile coachbuilder founded by the Fisher brothers in 1908 in Detroit, Michigan; it is now an operating division of General Motors Company...
division to develop new induction welding
Induction welding
Induction welding is a form of welding that uses electromagnetic induction to heat the workpiece. The welding apparatus contains an induction coil that is energised with a radio-frequency electric current. This generates a high-frequency electromagnetic field that acts on either an electrically...
technologies that used higher frequency
Frequency
Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time. It is also referred to as temporal frequency.The period is the duration of one cycle in a repeating event, so the period is the reciprocal of the frequency...
current than previous methods. Because of the skin effect
Skin effect
Skin effect is the tendency of an alternating electric current to distribute itself within a conductor with the current density being largest near the surface of the conductor, decreasing at greater depths. In other words, the electric current flows mainly at the "skin" of the conductor, at an...
of alternating current
Alternating current
In alternating current the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. In direct current , the flow of electric charge is only in one direction....
moving through a conductor
Electrical conductor
In physics and electrical engineering, a conductor is a material which contains movable electric charges. In metallic conductors such as copper or aluminum, the movable charged particles are electrons...
, higher frequencies meant more of the current (and thus the heat required for welding) was contained in the very upper layers of the material to be welded, rather than being wasted by being distributed deeper inside. The patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
Dow obtained for his method contemplates frequencies of up to 3 MHz of alternating current. Although originally intended for use in automobile manufacturing, when the US entered World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, GM instead put his technology into production manufacturing airplanes.
In 1942, following the end of his GM contract, Dow went to work directly in support of the war effort at the Harvard Radio Research Laboratory
Radio Research Laboratory
The Radio Research Laboratory , located on the campus of Harvard University was an 800-person secret research laboratory during World War II. Under the U.S...
, directed by Frederick Emmons Terman. The laboratory was dedicated to finding effective radar countermeasures, including both jamming of enemy radar signals and determining the location of enemy radar installations. His work took him to London, where he narrowly avoided a V-2 rocket
V-2 rocket
The V-2 rocket , technical name Aggregat-4 , was a ballistic missile that was developed at the beginning of the Second World War in Germany, specifically targeted at London and later Antwerp. The liquid-propellant rocket was the world's first long-range combat-ballistic missile and first known...
attack; the V-2 would eventually play a large role in his post-war research. The radar-jamming countermeasures Dow worked on were nearly 100% effective, and were credited with saving the lives of many Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
pilots.
After returning to the University of Michigan in 1945, Dow was made a full professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
. Using the connections he had made during the war, Dow began trying to bring military and government contracts to the university. In January 1946, at a conference on telemetry
Telemetry
Telemetry is a technology that allows measurements to be made at a distance, usually via radio wave transmission and reception of the information. The word is derived from Greek roots: tele = remote, and metron = measure...
, he learned that the Army and Navy had begun a joint research program involving captured V-2 rockets. He arranged to attend the second meeting of the V-2 Upper Atmosphere Research Panel (later the Rocket and Satellite Research Panel or simply Rocket Research Panel), and would remain a member of the panel until it ceased operation in 1960. The panel included other luminaries of space research such as James Van Allen
James Van Allen
James Alfred Van Allen was an American space scientist at the University of Iowa.The Van Allen radiation belts were named after him, following the 1958 satellite missions in which Van Allen had argued that a Geiger counter should be used to detect charged particles.- Life and career :* September...
and, later, the father of the V-2 rocket, Wernher von Braun
Wernher von Braun
Wernher Magnus Maximilian, Freiherr von Braun was a German rocket scientist, aerospace engineer, space architect, and one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany during World War II and in the United States after that.A former member of the Nazi party,...
.
The panel required all of its members to be actively engaged in relevant research, and as his first experiment
Experiment
An experiment is a methodical procedure carried out with the goal of verifying, falsifying, or establishing the validity of a hypothesis. Experiments vary greatly in their goal and scale, but always rely on repeatable procedure and logical analysis of the results...
, Dow chose to measure ion
Ion
An ion is an atom or molecule in which the total number of electrons is not equal to the total number of protons, giving it a net positive or negative electrical charge. The name was given by physicist Michael Faraday for the substances that allow a current to pass between electrodes in a...
and electron
Electron
The electron is a subatomic particle with a negative elementary electric charge. It has no known components or substructure; in other words, it is generally thought to be an elementary particle. An electron has a mass that is approximately 1/1836 that of the proton...
temperature
Temperature
Temperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...
s in the ionosphere
Ionosphere
The ionosphere is a part of the upper atmosphere, comprising portions of the mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere, distinguished because it is ionized by solar radiation. It plays an important part in atmospheric electricity and forms the inner edge of the magnetosphere...
, under contract to the Air Force. The payload consisted of a vacuum tube
Vacuum tube
In electronics, a vacuum tube, electron tube , or thermionic valve , reduced to simply "tube" or "valve" in everyday parlance, is a device that relies on the flow of electric current through a vacuum...
and a Langmuir probe
Langmuir probe
A Langmuir probe is a device named after Nobel Prize winning physicist Irving Langmuir, used to determine the electron temperature, electron density, and electric potential of a plasma. It works by inserting one or more electrodes into a plasma, with a constant or time-varying electric potential...
, but the launch (on August 22, 1946 at White Sands Missile Range
White Sands Missile Range
White Sands Missile Range is a rocket range of almost in parts of five counties in southern New Mexico. The largest military installation in the United States, WSMR includes the and the WSMR Otera Mesa bombing range...
) was unsuccessful, with the V-2 crashing only a quarter-mile away from the launch site. The experiment was successfully launched in November of the same year. Another early experiment provided increased accuracy for estimates of the neutral density of the atmosphere, which is a critical factor in the computation of atmospheric drag, and which was thus important to determine accurately before spacecraft
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
could be designed to successfully stand the rigors of atmospheric re-entry.
During this same period of time, Dow helped start a number of various research laboratories at the University, including the Physics Research Lab, the Space Physics Research Lab, the Plasma Engineering Lab, and the Michigan Aeronautical Research Center
Michigan Aeronautical Research Center
The Michigan Aeronautical Research Center was one of America's leading air research organisations, run by the University of Michigan at Willow Run Airport...
(which would eventually become the Willow Run Research Center and eventually the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan
Environmental Research Institute of Michigan
-History:The Environmental Research Institute of Michigan began as Willow Run Laboratories in 1946, but was established as a private not for profit research institute when it formally separated from the University of Michigan in 1972. ERIM contributed to the development of remote sensing for...
, or ERIM).
In 1958, Dow was named Chairman of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, a position he would hold until 1964, when he retired from teaching. His wife Edna had died in 1963. After retiring from active teaching, he served part-time as a Senior Research Geophysicist in the Space Physics Research Lab until 1971. Dow remarried in 1968, to Katherine "Kitty" Keene, who would also pass away in 1997.
When ERIM split off from the University of Michigan in 1972, Dow became a member of its Board of Trustees. He left the board in 1990, but remained a Trustee Emeritus. During this time, Dow continued his research, now in the field of fusion power
Fusion power
Fusion power is the power generated by nuclear fusion processes. In fusion reactions two light atomic nuclei fuse together to form a heavier nucleus . In doing so they release a comparatively large amount of energy arising from the binding energy due to the strong nuclear force which is manifested...
, with several more patents to his credit.
Later Years
Dow remained active late in life, despite failing hearing. He continued to go in to his two offices four days a week even after his 100th birthday, a milestone which the EECS Department commemorated by hosting a two-day birthday celebration for his friends and colleagues from around the country. Finally, at the age of 102, after the death of his second wife, he left Michigan to split time between his sons' homes in TexasTexas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and Washington.
William Dow died on October 17, 1999, aged 104, in Bellevue
Bellevue, Washington
Bellevue is a city in the Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, across Lake Washington from Seattle. Long known as a suburb or satellite city of Seattle, it is now categorized as an edge city or a boomburb. The population was 122,363 at the 2010 census.Downtown Bellevue is...
, Washington, while residing with his son Daniel, who himself had been Chairman of the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
in Seattle for a period of time starting in 1968.
Commemoration
- In 1980, the University of ColoradoUniversity of Colorado at BoulderThe University of Colorado Boulder is a public research university located in Boulder, Colorado...
awarded him an honorary Doctorate. - In 2001, the University of Michigan Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science established the William Gould Dow Distinguished Lectureship, the highest external honor the department bestows. It is awarded on the basis of "lifetime achievements, groundbreaking contributions to their fields, and sustained research excellence." In addition to presenting a lecture at the university, recipients receive a $5,000 honorarium.
Patents
: Welding Method (assigned to General MotorsGeneral Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
): Large Throat Portable Welder (assigned to General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
): High-Frequency Inductive Welding Apparatus (assigned to General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
): Small Throat Portable Welder (assigned to General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
): Method and Apparatus for Producing Nuclear Fusion (assigned to Consumers Power Company): Trochoidal nuclear fusion reactor (assigned to Environmental Institute of Michigan): Nuclear fusion system (assigned to Environmental Research Institute of Michigan
Environmental Research Institute of Michigan
-History:The Environmental Research Institute of Michigan began as Willow Run Laboratories in 1946, but was established as a private not for profit research institute when it formally separated from the University of Michigan in 1972. ERIM contributed to the development of remote sensing for...
)