Harold R. Kaufman
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{{short description|American physicist}}
Harold R. Kaufman (born November 24, 1926 - January 4, 2018) was an American physicist, noted for his development of electrostatic ion thrusters for NASA during the 1950s and 1960s. Kaufman developed a compact ion source based on electron bombardment, the "Kaufman Ion Source," a variant of the duoplasmatron, for the purpose of spacecraft propulsion.{{cite web |title=In memory: Harold R. Kaufman |date=9 January 2018 |url=https://source.colostate.edu/in-memory-harold-r-kaufman/ |publisher=Colorado State University |accessdate=20 July 2019}}
Biography
Born in Audubon, Iowa, USA, in 1926, Kaufman grew up in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.{{Cite web |url=https://www.avs.org/Awards-Recognition/Past-Professional-Awards/Albert-Nerken-Award |title=Albert Nerkin Award Winners |access-date=2017-02-24 |archive-date=2017-01-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170121074538/http://www.avs.org/Awards-Recognition/Past-Professional-Awards/Albert-Nerken-Award |url-status=dead }} He trained in electrical engineering during World War II through an electronic technician program in the US Navy. After the war ended, he took a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Northwestern University.{{cite web|
url=https://www.nasa.gov/feature/dr-harold-r-kaufman|date=September 6, 2016|title=Dr. Harold R. Kaufman|publisher=NASA|access-date=January 27, 2023}} After college he joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the predecessor of NASA, working on turbo jet engines{{cite book|url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4404/notes6.htm|title=Liquid Hydrogen as a Propulsion Fuel 1945-1959, Notes citations #24, #25|chapter=Chapter 6: NACA Research on Hydrogen for High-Altitude Aircraft |publisher=NASA|access-date=January 27, 2023}} at the Lewis Research Center (now NASA Glenn) in Cleveland.
He then moved to a group studying electric space propulsion. After concluding that a Von Ardenne source was insufficient, he developed the electron bombardment source in 1958/1959,{{cite web |url=http://www.svc.org/H/H_Kaufman.html |title=Harold Kaufman |accessdate=2009-10-06 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323045733/http://www.svc.org/H/H_Kaufman.html |archivedate=2010-03-23 }} and was responsible for the development of two ion thrusters that were tested in space (SERT-1 and SERT-II missions).NASA Glenn, "[http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/ion/past/70s/sert2.htm SPACE ELECTRIC ROCKET TEST II (SERT II)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927004353/http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/ion/past/70s/sert2.htm |date=2011-09-27 }} (Accessed July 1, 2010) The Kaufman ion source is now also used for other applications, such as ion implanters used in semiconductor processing.
Kaufman was awarded a Ph.D. from Colorado State University (CSU) in 1970, and an Exceptional Scientific Achievement Award by NASA in 1971. He joined CSU as staff in 1974, then left academia in 1984 to work at Kaufman & Robinson, Inc., in Fort Collins, Colorado. He invented the end-Hall ion source in 1989.{{cite patent|title=End-Hall ion source|pubdate=Aug 29, 1989|inventor-last=Kaufman|inventor2-last=Robinson|inventor-first=Harold R.|inventor2-first=Raymond S.|country=US|number=4862032A}}
In 1991, the AVS awarded him its Albert Nerkin Award.{{Cite web|url=https://www.avs.org/Awards-Recognition/Past-Professional-Awards/Albert-Nerken-Award|title=Past Professional Awards|last=|first=|date=|website=AVS|access-date=February 24, 2017|archive-date=January 21, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170121074538/http://www.avs.org/Awards-Recognition/Past-Professional-Awards/Albert-Nerken-Award|url-status=dead}} In September 2016, Kaufman was inducted into the NASA Hall of Fame for his advances in ion propulsion.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-glenn-inducts-nine-exemplary-employees-into-hall-of-fame|title=NASA Glenn Inducts Nine Exemplary Employees into Hall of Fame|last=|first=|date=September 9, 2016|website=NASA official site|access-date=February 24, 2017}}
He was a professor emeritus of the CSU department of physics.{{cite web |url=https://www.natsci.colostate.edu/emeritus/harold-kaufman/|title=Harold R. Kaufman, Chair and Professor Emeritus, Physics|date=4 June 2013|website=CNS Emeritus/Emerita Directory|publisher=Colorado State University College of Natural Sciences|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100610011207/http://www.natsci.colostate.edu/faculty/emfaculty.cfm?menu=view&id=8 |archive-date=2010-06-10 }}
References
External links
- [https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4306/p190.jpg Harold R. Kaufman with his electron bombardment ion thruster]
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Category:21st-century American physicists
Category:People from Audubon, Iowa
Category:People from Evanston, Illinois