:Percy Williams Bridgman

Bridgman was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and grew up in nearby Auburndale.{{cite book | last1 = Kemble | first1 = Edwin C. | last2 = Birch | first2 = Francis | title = Percy Williams Bridgman – 1882–1961 | publisher = National Academy of Sciences | year = 1970 | url = http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/bridgman-percy-w.pdf | pages = 25, 26, 27}}

Bridgman's parents were both born in New England. His father, Raymond Landon Bridgman, was "profoundly religious and idealistic" and worked as a newspaper reporter assigned to state politics. His mother, Mary Ann Maria Williams, was described as "more conventional, sprightly, and competitive".

Bridgman attended both elementary and high school in Auburndale, where he excelled at competitions in the classroom, on the playground, and while playing chess. Described as both shy and proud, his home life consisted of family music, card games, and domestic and garden chores. The family was deeply religious; reading the Bible each morning and attending a Congregational Church. However, Bridgman later became an atheist.Ray Monk (2013). Robert Oppenheimer: A Life Inside the Center. Random House LLC. {{ISBN|9780385504133}}. In many ways they were opposites; Kemble, the theorist, was a devout Christian, while Bridgman, the experimentalist, was a strident atheist.

Bridgman entered Harvard University in 1900, and studied physics through to his PhD. From 1910 until his retirement, he taught at Harvard, becoming a full professor in 1919. In 1905, he began investigating the properties of matter under high pressure. A machinery malfunction led him to modify his pressure apparatus; the result was a new sealing device enabling him to create pressures eventually exceeding 100,000 kgf/cm² (10 GPa; 100,000 atmospheres). This was a huge improvement over previous machinery, which could achieve pressures of only 3,000 kgf/cm² (0.3 GPa).{{Cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1946/ceremony-speech/|title = The Nobel Prize in Physics 1946}} This new apparatus led to an abundance of new findings, including a study of the compressibility, electric and thermal conductivity, tensile strength and viscosity of more than 100 different compounds.{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}} Bridgman is also known for his studies of electrical conduction in metals and properties of crystals. He developed the Bridgman seal and is the eponym for Bridgman's thermodynamic equations, which were used to further his research.

Bridgman made many improvements to his high-pressure apparatus over the years, and unsuccessfully attempted the synthesis of diamond many times.{{Citation | last=Hazen | first=Robert | title=The Diamond Makers | publisher=Cambridge University Press | location=Cambridge | year=1999 | isbn=0-521-65474-2 }} The high-pressure torsion apparatus developed by Bridgman {{Cite journal|last=Kaveh Edalati, Zenji Horita|date=2016|title=A review on high-pressure torsion (HPT) from 1935 to 1988.|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285216434|journal= Materials Science and Engineering: A|volume=0921-5093|pages=325–352|doi=10.1016/j.msea.2015.11.074}} significantly contributed to the development of severe plastic deformation field decades later.{{cite journal|last=Edalati|first=K.|author2=Bachmaier, A. |author3=Beloshenko, V.A. |author4=Beygelzimer, Y. |author5=Blank, V.D. |author6=Botta, W.J. |author7=Bryła, K. |author8=Čížek, J. |author9=Divinski, S. |author10=Enikeev, N.A. |author11=Estrin, Y. |author12=Faraji, G. |author13=Figueiredo, R.B. |author14=Fuji, M. |author15=Furuta, T. |author16=Grosdidier, T. |author17=Gubicza, J. |author18=Hohenwarter, A. |author19= Horita, Z. |author20=Huot, J. |author21=Ikoma, Y. |author22=Janeček, M. |author23=Kawasaki, M. |author24=Krǎl, P. |author25=Kuramoto, S. |author26=Langdon, T.G. |author27=Leiva, D.R. |author28=Levitas, V.I. |author29=Mazilkin, A. |author30=Mito, M. |author31=Miyamoto, H. |author32=Nishizaki, T. |author33=Pippan, R. |author34=Popov, V.V. |author35=Popova, E.N. |author36=Purcek, G. |author37=Renk, O. |author38=Révész, A. |author39=Sauvage, X. |author40=Sklenicka, V. |author41=Skrotzki, W. |author42=Straumal, B.B. |author43=Suwas, S. |author44=Toth, L.S. |author45=Tsuji, N. |author46=Valiev, R.Z. |author47=Wilde, G. |author48=Zehetbauer, M.J. |author49=Zhu, X. |title=Nanomaterials by severe plastic deformation: review of historical developments and recent advances|journal=Materials Research Letters|date=April 2022|volume=10|issue=4|pages=163–256|doi=10.1080/21663831.2022.2029779|s2cid=246959065 |doi-access=free }}

His philosophy of science book The Logic of Modern Physics (1927) advocated operationalism and coined the term operational definition. In 1938 he participated in the International Committee composed to organise the International Congresses for the Unity of Science.{{cite journal|last1=Neurath|first1=Otto|title=Unified Science as Encyclopedic Integration|journal=International Encyclopedia of Unified Science|date=1938|volume=1|issue=1|pages=1–27}} He was also one of the 11 signatories to the Russell–Einstein Manifesto.

J. Robert Oppenheimer, the director of the Manhattan Project, was an undergraduate student of Bridgman's. Of his teaching abilities, Oppenheimer said that, “I found Bridgman a wonderful teacher because he never really was quite reconciled to things being the way they were and he always thought them out.”{{Cite book |last=Bird |first=Kai |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/695567255 |title=American Prometheus: the triumph and tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer |date=2006 |publisher=Vintage|isbn=978-0-307-42473-0 |edition=1st Vintage books |location=New York |oclc=695567255}}

File:Percy Bridgman with wife and Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden 1946.jpg in Stockholm in 1946]]

Bridgman married Olive Ware (1882-1972), of Hartford, Connecticut, in 1912. Ware's father, Edmund Asa Ware, was the founder and first president of Atlanta University. The couple had two children and were married for nearly 50 years, living most of that time in Cambridge. The family also had a summer home in Randolph, New Hampshire, where Bridgman was known as a skilled mountain climber.

Bridgman was a "penetrating analytical thinker" with a "fertile mechanical imagination" and exceptional manual dexterity. He was a skilled plumber and carpenter, known to shun the assistance of professionals in these matters. He was also fond of music and played the piano, and took pride in his flower and vegetable gardens.

Bridgman committed suicide by gunshot after suffering from metastatic cancer for some time. His suicide note was a mere two sentences; "It isn't decent for society to make a man do this thing himself. Probably this is the last day I will be able to do it myself."{{cite journal |last1=Holton |first1=Gerald |title=Percy Williams Bridgman |journal=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists |date=1 February 1962 |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=22–23 |doi=10.1080/00963402.1962.11454315 |bibcode=1962BuAtS..18b..22H |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00963402.1962.11454315 |access-date=20 October 2021 |ref=PWBHolton|url-access=subscription }}{{cite book |last=Nuland |first=Sherwin B. |date=1995 |title=How we die : reflections on life's final chapter |location=New York |publisher=Vintage Books |page=152-153 |isbn=0-679-74244-1}} Bridgman's words have been quoted by many in the assisted suicide debate.[http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=15041&news_iv_ctrl=1021 Ayn Rand Institute discussion on assisted suicide]. Aynrand.org; retrieved January 28, 2012.[http://www.assistedsuicide.org/ Euthanasia Research and Guidance Organization]. Assistedsuicide.org (June 13, 2003); retrieved 2012-01-28.

Bridgman received Doctors, honoris causa from Stevens Institute (1934), Harvard (1939), Brooklyn Polytechnic (1941), Princeton (1950), Paris (1950), and Yale (1951). He received the Bingham Medal (1951) from the Society of Rheology, the Rumford Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1919), the Elliott Cresson Medal (1932) from the Franklin Institute, the Gold Medal from Bakhuys Roozeboom Fund (founder Hendrik Willem Bakhuis Roozeboom) (1933) from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences,{{cite web|title=Bakhuys Roozeboom Fund laureates|url=http://www.knaw.nl/Pages/DEF/27/600.bGFuZz1FTkc.html|work=Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=January 13, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807075341/http://www.knaw.nl/Pages/DEF/27/600.bGFuZz1FTkc.html|archive-date=August 7, 2011}} and the Comstock Prize (1933) of the National Academy of Sciences.{{cite web|title=Comstock Prize in Physics|url=http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_comstock|publisher=National Academy of Sciences|access-date=February 13, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101229195326/http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_comstock|archive-date=December 29, 2010}}

Bridgman was a member of the American Physical Society and was its president in 1942. He was also a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the National Academy of Sciences. He was a Foreign Member of the Royal Society and Honorary Fellow of the Physical Society of London.{{Citation needed|date=September 2017}}

The Percy W. Bridgman House, in Massachusetts, is a U.S. National Historic Landmark designated in 1975.{{citation|url={{NHLS url|id=75000298}}|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Percy Bridgman House/Bridgman House-Buckingham School|date=February 1975|format=PDF|author=James Sheire|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=June 22, 2009}} and {{NHLS url|id=75000298|title=Accompanying one photo, exterior, from 1975|photos=y}} {{small|(519 KB)}}

In 2014, the Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification of the International Mineralogical Association approved the name bridgmanite for perovskite-structured {{chem2|(Mg,Fe)SiO3}},[http://www.mindat.org/min-45900.html Page on bridgmanite], mindat.org; retrieved June 3, 2014.Tschauner, O., Ma, C., Beckett, J.R., Prescher, C., Prakapenka, V.B., Rossman, G.R. (2014) Discovery of bridgmanite, the most abundant mineral in Earth, in a shocked meteorite. Science: 346: 1110-1112. doi:10.1126/science.1259369the Earth's most abundant mineral,{{cite journal|last=Murakami|first=M.|author2=Sinogeikiin S.V.|author3=Hellwig H.|author4=Bass J.D.|author5=Li J.|year=2007|title=Sound velocity of MgSiO3 perovskite to Mbar pressure|journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters|publisher=Elsevier|volume=256|issue=1–2|pages=47–54|bibcode=2007E&PSL.256...47M|doi=10.1016/j.epsl.2007.01.011}} in honor of his high-pressure research.

• {{cite book |last1= Bridgman|first1= Percy Williams|title= Dimensional Analysis|publisher= Yale University Press|location= New Haven|date= 1922|oclc= 840631|author-mask= 1|url= https://archive.org/details/dimensionalanaly00bridrich }}
• {{cite book |last1= Bridgman|first1= Percy Williams|title= A Condensed Collection of Thermodynamics Formulas|publisher= Harvard University Press|location= Cambridge, Massachusetts|date= 1925|oclc= 594940689|author-mask= 1|url= http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015081199062;view=1up;seq=11 }}
• {{cite book |last1= Bridgman|first1= Percy Williams|title= The Logic of Modern Physics|url= https://archive.org/details/logicofmodernphy00brid|publisher= Macmillan|location= New York|date= 1927|oclc= 17522325|author-mask= 1}}{{cite journal|author=Kovarik, A. F.|title=Review: The Logic of Modern Physics by P. W. Bridgman|journal=Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.|year=1929|volume=35|issue=3|pages=412–413|url=https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/1929-35-03/S0002-9904-1929-04767-0/S0002-9904-1929-04767-0.pdf|doi=10.1090/s0002-9904-1929-04767-0|doi-access=free}} [http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/us/bridgman.htm Online excerpt.]
• {{cite book|author-mask=1|last1= Bridgman|first1= Percy Williams|title=The Thermodynamics of Electrical Phenomena in Metals|url=https://archive.org/details/thermodynamicsof00brid|url-access=registration|publisher=Macmillan|location= New York|date=1934}}
• {{cite book |last1= Bridgman|first1= Percy Williams|title= The Nature of Physical Theory|url= https://archive.org/details/natureofphysical0000brid_n6v5|url-access= registration|publisher= Dover|date= 1936|oclc= 1298653|author-mask= 1}}
• {{cite book |last1= Bridgman|first1= Percy Williams|title= The Intelligent Individual and Society|publisher= MacMillan|location= New York|date= 1938|oclc= 1488461|author-mask= 1|url= https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3219262;view=1up;seq=9 }}
• {{cite book |last1= Bridgman|first1= Percy Williams|title= The Nature of Thermodynamics|publisher= Harvard University Press|location= Cambridge, Massachusetts|date= 1941|isbn= 9780844605128|oclc= 4614803|author-mask= 1|url= https://archive.org/details/natureofthermody031258mbp }}
• {{cite book |last1= Bridgman|first1= Percy Williams|title= The Physics of High Pressure|url= https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.474903|publisher= G. Bell|location= London|date= 1949|oclc= 8122603|author-mask= 1}}
• {{cite book |last1= Bridgman|first1= Percy Williams|title= Reflections of a Physicist|publisher= Philosophical Library|location= New York|date= 1950|oclc= 583047|author-mask= 1|url= https://archive.org/details/reflectionsofaph031333mbp }}{{cite journal|author=Riepe, D.|title=Book Review: Reflections of a Physicist, by P. W. Bridgman|journal=Popular Astronomy|volume=58|year=1950|pages=367–368|bibcode=1950PA.....58..367R}}
• {{cite book |last1= Bridgman|first1= Percy Williams|title= Studies in large plastic flow and fracture: with special emphasis on the effects of hydrostatic pressure|series= Metallurgy and metallurgical engineering series|publisher= McGraw-Hill|location= New York|date= 1952|oclc= 7435297|author-mask= 1|url= http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015006412780;view=1up;seq=7 }}
• {{cite book |last1= Bridgman|first1= Percy Williams|title= The Way Things Are|url= https://archive.org/details/waythingsare0000brid|url-access= registration|publisher= Harvard University Press|location= Cambridge, Massachusetts|date= 1959|isbn= 9780674948303|oclc= 40803473|author-mask= 1}}
• {{cite book |last1= Bridgman|first1= Percy Williams|title= Thermodynamics of Electrical Phenomena in Metals and a Condensed Collection of Thermodynamic Formulas|publisher= Macmillan|location= New Haven|date= 1961|orig-year= First published separately in 1925 and 1934|oclc= 610252150|author-mask= 1}}
• {{cite book |last1= Bridgman|first1= Percy Williams|title= A Sophisticate's Primer of Relativity|publisher= Wesleyan University Press|location= Middletown, Conn|date= 1962|oclc= 530615|author-mask= 1|url= http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015017188205;view=1up;seq=7 }}
• {{cite book |last1= Bridgman|first1= Percy Williams|title= Collected experimental papers|publisher= Harvard University Press|location= Cambridge, Massachusetts|date= 1964|oclc= 372237|author-mask= 1}}

• Bridgmanite, the most abundant mineral in Earth's mantle, named after Bridgman
• Bridgman's black
• Pascalization, also called bridgmanization
• Percy W. Bridgman House
• Phases of ice, discovery of high pressure forms of water was published by P.W. Bridgman in 1912

{{Reflist|30em}}

• Walter, Maila L., 1991. Science and Cultural Crisis: An Intellectual Biography of Percy Williams Bridgman (1882–1961). Stanford Univ. Press.
• {{Citation | pmid=16195758 | last=McMillan | first=Paul F | publication-date=Oct 2005 | year=2005 | title=Pressing on: the legacy of Percy W. Bridgman. | volume=4 | issue=10 | periodical=Nature Materials | pages=715–718 | doi=10.1038/nmat1488|bibcode = 2005NatMa...4..715M | s2cid=2785280 }}

{{Commons category|Percy Bridgman}}

• {{Nobelprize}}
• [http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/bridgman-percy-w.pdf National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir]
• {{MathGenealogy}}
• [https://philpapers.org/s/Percy%20Williams%20Bridgman Percy Williams Bridgman] at PhilPapers.

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{{Nobel Prize in Physics Laureates 1926–1950}}

{{1946 Nobel Prize winners}}

{{Presidents of the American Physical Society}}

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Category:1882 births

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