Herbert S. Bridge

Bridge was born in Berkeley, California in 1919. He studied chemistry at the University of Maryland (BSc, 1941),{{cite journal |doi=10.1063/1.2807597 |title=Herbert S. Bridge |date=1996 |last1=Belcher |first1=John W. |last2=Lazarus |first2=Alan J. |last3=Vasyliunas |first3=Vytenis M. |author3-link=Vytenis Vasyliunas |journal=Physics Today |volume=49 |issue=4 |page=78 |bibcode=1996PhT....49d..78B }} and then worked at the National Defense Research Council Separation Project at Princeton and the Los Alamos Laboratory during the war.{{cite web |url=https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/profile/herbert-s-bridge/ |title=Herbert S. Bridge - Nuclear Museum }} He got a PhD in physics from MIT, working on cosmic ray research under Bruno Rossi's supervision (1950) (before MIT, Bridge worked with Rossi at Los Alamos). He was a researcher at the MIT Laboratory for Nuclear Science, and became a professor there at 1966. In 1957, he went for a year to Switzerland, to work at CERN. He also worked at the Brookhaven National Laboratory.{{cite web |url=https://news.mit.edu/1995/bridge |title=Dr. Herbert S. Bridge Dies at 76 |date=September 1995 }} His research "focused on nuclear interactions produced by cosmic ray particles and on the new, unstable particles that result". Among his results was the "discovery of the positive K-meson and the cloud chamber observation of a cosmic-ray event interpreted tentatively as the annihilation of a heavy antiparticle".{{Cite web|url=https://web.mit.edu/space/www/Bridge.html|title=Herbert S. Bridge|website=web.mit.edu}} In 1965, he became an associate director of the MIT's Center for Space Research, became its director in 1978, and retired in 1984.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/02/obituaries/herbert-s-bridge-76-scientist-crucial-in-study-of-solar-system.html |title=Herbert S. Bridge, 76, Scientist Crucial in Study of Solar System |work=The New York Times |date=2 September 1995 |last1=Saxon |first1=Wolfgang }}

File:Bridge-herbert s.jpg

File:Explorer 10.jpg

Bridge started to work on space plasma in 1958; together with Rossi, he designed and tested a plasma probe based on the classical Faraday cup. To enhance the instrument's response to positively charged protons and to suppress its response to photoelectrons produced by sunlight, four grids were deployed within the cup. A key innovation was a modulating voltage applied to one of the grids, which converted the signal into an alternating current, proportional to the proton flux and uncontaminated by any contribution of photoelectrons.{{cite web | url = https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/experiment/display.action?id=1961-010A-02 | title = Faraday Cup Plasma Probe | access-date = 28 April 2013 | last = Bridge | first = Herbert S. | date = 27 March 2013 | work = National Space Science Data Center | publisher = NASA | quote = NSSDC ID: 1961-010A-02; Version 4.0.21 }}

File:Voyager Plasma Science Experiment.jpg

The modulated-grid Faraday cup for the Explorer 10 (1961) was the first of Bridge's spacecraft instruments. It was the first instrument that detected dilute plasma in interplanetary space. It was further developed into Plasma Science Experiment for the Voyager program (1977) and Parker Solar Probe, among others. According to his colleague John W. Belcher, "Bridge was the principal investigator for plasma probes on spacecraft which visited the sun and every major planetary body in the solar system."{{Cite web|url=https://news.mit.edu/2024/interstellar-instrument-takes-final-bow-1002|title=An interstellar instrument takes a final bow|date=October 2, 2024|website=MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology}}

Bridge had two sons and a daughter. He enjoyed "cars, photography, mountaineering and the out-of-doors", and visited many high-altitude laboratories through his interest in cosmic rays and mountains.

• member of the American Geophysical Society
• Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• member of Phi Beta Kappa
• 1974 NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal

{{refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}

• {{Cite journal|last1=Bridge |first1=H. S. |first2=B. B. |last2=Rossi |title=Cosmic-ray bursts in an unshielded chamber and under one inch of lead at different altitudes |journal=Phys. Rev. |issue=6 |page=379 |year=1947|volume=71 |doi=10.1103/PhysRev.71.379.2 |bibcode=1947PhRv...71..379B }}
• {{Cite journal|last1=Bridge |first1=H. S. |first2=B. B. |last2=Rossi |title=Burst production by penetrating cosmic-ray particles |journal=Phys. Rev. |issue=3 |page=257 |year=1947|volume=72 |doi=10.1103/PhysRev.72.257.2 |bibcode=1947PhRv...72..257B }}
• {{Cite journal|last1=Bridge |first1=H. S. |first2=C. |last2=Peyrou |first3=B. B. |last3=Rossi |first4=R. |last4=Safford |title=Cloud chamber observations of the heavy charged unstable particles in cosmic rays |journal=Phys. Rev. |issue=5 |page=921 |year=1953|volume=90 |doi=10.1103/PhysRev.90.921 |bibcode=1953PhRv...90..921B }}
• {{Cite book|last1=Bridge |first1=H. S. |chapter=Experimental results on charged K-mesons and hyperons, Chapter II |title=Progress in Cosmic Ray Physics, Vol. III |publisher=North Holland Publishing Company |location=Amsterdam, Holland |year=1956}}
• {{Cite journal|last1=Bridge |first1=H. S. |title=An instrument for the investigation of interplanetary plasma |journal=J. Geophys. Res. |issue=10 |year=1960|volume=65 |page=3053 |doi=10.1029/JZ065i010p03053 |bibcode=1960JGR....65.3053B }}
• {{Cite journal|last1=Bridge |first1=H. S. |first2=A. J. |last2=Lazarus |first3=E. F. |last3=Lyon |first4=B. |last4=Rossi |first5=F. |last5=Scherb |title=Plasma probe instrumentation on Explorer X |journal=J. Phys. Soc. Japan |volume=17 |issue=Supplement A-III |pages=1113–1121 |year=1962}}
• {{Cite conference |last1=Bonetti |first1=A. |first2=H. S. |last2=Bridge |first3=A. J. |last3=Lazarus |first4=E. F. |last4=Lyon |first5=B. |last5=Rossi |first6=F. |last6=Scherb |title=Explorer X plasma measurements |conference=Proceedings of the Third International Space Science Symposium, Space Research III |editor=W. Priester |pages=540–552 |publisher=North-Holland Publ. Co. |location=Amsterdam, the Netherlands |year=1963}}
• {{Cite journal|last1=Bridge |first1=H. S. |title=Plasmas in space |journal=Physics Today |issue=3 |page=31 |year=1963|volume=16 |doi=10.1063/1.3050802 |bibcode=1963PhT....16c..31B }}
• {{Cite journal|last1=Bridge |first1=H. S. |first2=A. J. |last2=Lazarus |first3=C. W. |last3=Snyder |first4=E. J. |last4=Smith |first5=L. |last5=Davis, Jr. |first6=P. J. |last6=Coleman, Jr. |first7=D. E. |last7=Jones |title=Mariner V: Plasma and magnetic fields observed near Venus |journal=Science |issue=3809 |pages=1669–1673 |year=1967|volume=158 |doi=10.1126/science.158.3809.1669 |pmid=17749787 |bibcode=1967Sci...158.1669B }}
• {{Cite journal|last1=Bridge |first1=H. S. |first2=A. J. |last2=Lazarus |first3=J. D. |last3=Scudder |first4=K. W. |last4=Ogilvie |first5=R. E. |last5=Hartle |first6=J. R. |last6=Asbridge |first7=S. J. |last7=Bame |first8=W. C. |last8=Feldman |first9=G. L. |last9=Siscoe |title=Observations at Venus encounter by the plasma science experiment on Mariner 10 |journal=Science |issue=4131 |year=1974|volume=183 |pages=1293–1296 |doi=10.1126/science.183.4131.1293 |pmid=17791370 |bibcode=1974Sci...183.1293B }}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Ogilvie |first1=K. W. |first2=J. D. |last2=Scudder |first3=R. E. |last3=Hartle |first4=G. L. |last4=Siscoe |first5=H. S. |last5=Bridge |first6=A. J. |last6=Lazarus |first7=J. S. |last7=Asbridge |first8=S. J. |last8=Bame |first9=C. M. |last9=Yeates |title=Observations at Mercury encounter by the plasma science experiment on Mariner 10 |journal=Science |issue=4146 |pages=145–151 |year=1974 |volume=185 |doi=10.1126/science.185.4146.145 |pmid=17810507 |bibcode=1974Sci...185..145O }}
• {{Cite journal|last1=Bridge |first1=H. S. |first2=J. W. |last2=Belcher |first3=R. J. |last3=Butler |first4=A. J. |last4=Lazarus |first5=A. M. |last5=Mavretic |first6=J. D. |last6=Sulivan |first7=G. L. |last7=Siscoe |first8=V. M. |last8=Vasyliunas |title=The plasma experiment on the 1977 Voyager mission |journal=Space Sci. Rev. |issue=3 |pages=259–287 |year=1977 |volume=21 |doi=10.1007/BF00211542 |bibcode=1977SSRv...21..259B |display-authors=3}}
• {{Cite journal|last1=Bridge |first1=H. S. |first2=J. W. |last2=Belcher |first3=A. J. |last3=Lazarus |first4=J. D. |last4=Sullivan |first5=R. L. |last5=McNutt, Jr. |first6=F. |last6=Bagenal |first7=J. D. |last7=Scudder |first8=E. C. |last8=Sittler |first9=G. L. |last9=Siscoe |first10=V. M. |last10=Vasyliunas |first11=C. K. |last11=Goertz |first12=C. M. |last12=Yeates |title=Plasma observations near Jupiter: Initial results from Voyager 1 |journal=Science |issue=4396 |pages=987–991 |year=1979|volume=204 |doi=10.1126/science.204.4396.987 |pmid=17800436 |bibcode=1979Sci...204..987B }}
• {{Cite journal|last1=Bridge |first1=H. S. |first2=F. |last2=Bagenal|first3=J. W. |last3=Belcher |first4=A. J. |last4=Lazarus |first5=R. L. |last5=McNutt, Jr. |first6=J. D. |last6=Sullivan |first7=P. R. |last7=Gazis |first8=R. E. |last8=Hartle |first9=K. W. |last9=Ogilvie |first10=J. D. |last10=Scudder |first11=E. C. |last11=Sittler, Jr. |first12=A. |last12=Eviatar |first13=G. L. |last13=Siscoe |first14=C. K. |last14=Goertz |first15=V. M. |last15=Vasyliunas |title=Plasma observations near Saturn: Initial results from Voyager 2 |journal=Science |issue=4532 |pages=563–570 |year=1982 |volume=215 |doi=10.1126/science.215.4532.563 |pmid=17771279 |bibcode=1982Sci...215..563B |display-authors=3}}
• {{Cite journal|last1=Bridge |first1=H. S. |first2=J. W. |last2=Belcher |first3=B. |last3=Coppi |display-authors=3 |title=Plasma Observations Near Uranus: Initial Results from Voyager 2 |journal=Science |issue=4759 |pages=89–93 |year=1986|volume=233 |doi=10.1126/science.233.4759.89 |pmid=17812895 |bibcode=1986Sci...233...89B }}
• {{Cite journal|last1=Belcher |first1=J. W. |first2=H. S. |last2=Bridge |first3=F. |last3=Bagenal |display-authors=3 |title=Plasma observations near Neptune: Initial results from Voyager 2 |journal=Science |issue=4936 |pages=1478–1483 |year=1989|volume=246 |doi=10.1126/science.246.4936.1478 |pmid=17756003 |bibcode=1989Sci...246.1478B }}

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• [https://mitmuseum.mit.edu/collections/object/GCP-00002803 Herbert Bridge with Voyager's Plasma Science Instrument, MIT Museum photo]

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