John Slater
- Born: December 22, 1900 (Oak Park, Illinois)
- Died: July 25, 1976 (Sanibel Island, Florida)
Education
- 1920: AB, University of Rochester
- 1922: AM, Harvard University
- 1923: PhD, Harvard University (Physics)
Major Positions
- 1923–1924: Cambridge University and University of Copenhagen, Sheldon Traveling Fellow
- 1924–1926: Harvard University, Instructor in Physics
- 1926–1929: Harvard University, Assistant Professor of Physics
- 1929–1930: Harvard University, Associate Professor of Physics
- 1930–1951: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Professor of Physics
- 1951–1966: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Institute Professor
- 1964–1976: University of Florida, Research Professor of Physics and Chemistry
Other Positions
- 1929–1930: University of Leipzig, Guggenheim Fellow
- 1930–1952: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Head, Department of Physics
- 1940–1945: MIT Radiation Laboratory, Researcher
- 1943–1945: Bell Laboratories, Member, Technical Staff
- 1951–1952: Brookhaven National Laboratory, Visiting Scientist
Selected Awards and Honors
- 1932: National Academy of Sciences, Member
- 1967: American Physical Society, Irving Langmuir Prize in Chemical Physics
- 1970: National Medal of Science
Archival Resources
American Philosophical Society Library, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Online Finding Aid
Oral History Interviews
- 1963: Available Online
- 1970: Available Online
Published Resources
Philip M. Morse, "John Clarke Slater: 1900-1976", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences
John C. Slater, Solid-State and Molecular Theory: A Scientific Biography (New York: Wiley, 1975)
Jean-Marie André, "John Clarke Slater: Sa Vie et Son Oeuvre Scientifique," Revue des Questions Scientifiques 148 (1977): 445-456
John Hendry, "Bohr-Kramers-Slater: A Virtual Theory of Virtual Oscillators and Its Role in the History of Quantum Mechanics," Centaurus 25 (1981): 189-221
Hiroyuki Konno, "Slater's Evidence for the Genesis of the Bohr-Kramers-Slater Theory," Historia Scientiarum 25 (1983): 39-52
Paul K. Hoch, "John Clarke Slater and the Science of the Transistor," European Journal of Physics 11 (1990): 283-291
S. S. Schweber, "The Young John Clarke Slater and the Development of Quantum Chemistry," Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences 20 (1990): 339-406
Hiroyuki Konno, "J. C. Slater's Optical Theory in 1925: Another Dispersion Theory," Historia Scientiarum 7 (1997): 59-64
Hiroyuki Konno, "Slater's Theory of Line Breadth and the Virtual Oscillator Model: A Premature Attempt in the Old Quantum Theory," Historia Scientiarum 7 (1998): 213-225
B. S. Park, "The Contexts of Simultaneous Discovery: Slater, Pauling, and the Origins of Hybridisation," Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 31 (2000): 451-474
