Bogdan Maglich facts for kids
Bogdan Castle Maglich (pronounced Mag-lich) was a Serbian scientist who studied nuclear physics. He was born in Sombor, Yugoslavia, on August 5, 1928, and passed away on November 25, 2017, in Newport Beach, California, US. Maglich was a strong supporter of a special kind of clean energy called aneutronic fusion, which doesn't produce harmful radiation. He built four different machines called Migma devices. These machines were designed to create fusion by making tiny particles from deuterium atoms crash into each other.
Contents
Learning and University Work
Bogdan Maglich was a very educated person. He earned his first degree from the University of Belgrade in 1951. Then, he got his Master's degree from the University of Liverpool in 1955. Finally, he earned his Ph.D. (a very advanced degree) in high-energy physics and nuclear engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1959.
After finishing his Ph.D., Maglich joined a research team led by Dr. Luis Walter Alvarez at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. There, he and Fred Kirsten invented something called the "sonic spark chamber." This was a new type of detector that helped scientists see tiny particles without needing film.
From 1963 to 1967, he worked at CERN, a famous science organization in Geneva, Switzerland. While at CERN, he invented another tool called the "missing mass spectrometer." Using this instrument, his team of scientists from France and Switzerland discovered seven new types of particles called "mesons."
In 1967, Maglich started teaching at the University of Pennsylvania. He also visited and taught at Princeton University. In 1969, he became a professor at Rutgers University. By 1974, he decided to leave university teaching to focus on his research in private companies.
Important Discoveries
Maglich first became well-known for his work at the University of California's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He was part of a team that looked at data from a machine called a "bubble chamber" at Berkeley's "bevatron" accelerator. A bubble chamber is like a special camera that shows the paths of tiny particles.
His team, which included Luis W. Alvarez, Arthur H. Rosenfeld, and Lynn Stevenson, found the first clear proof of a particle called the ω meson. This was a very important discovery in physics. In 1968, Luis Alvarez won a Nobel Prize for this work and other related research.
Because of his important contribution, Bogdan Maglich received an award from President John F. Kennedy at the White House. He was also made an honorary citizen in Switzerland.
Later, in the late 1960s, Maglich and R. Macek suggested a new idea called "the principle of self colliding orbits." They also proposed a machine called the "perceptron," which would make particle beams crash into themselves. In the early 1970s, this "perceptron" design became the basis for Maglich's "migmatron" idea, which was a concept for a fusion reactor where ions (charged atoms) would collide.
Working in Business
Bogdan Maglich wanted to find money to support his research on fusion energy. So, he started several companies. In 1974, he created the MIGMA Institute of High Energy Fusion and Fusion Energy Corp.
From 1985 to 1987, he was the main scientist and CEO of Aneutronic Energy Labs of United Sciences, Inc., also known as AELabs. During this time, he worked with the United States Air Force and Bechtel Corp. on a project. They tried to turn his migmatron idea into a small power source that could be used for spacecraft. From 1988 to 1993, he was the CEO of Advanced Physics Corporation, which was led by Glenn T. Seaborg.
In 1995, Maglich started HiEnergy Microdevices. This company later became HiEnergy Technologies, Inc. It developed and made equipment that could detect bombs using neutrons, based on his invention called "atometery."
After leaving HiEnergy Technologies, Maglich became the chief technology officer for California Science & Engineering Corporation (CALSEC).
About His Life
Bogdan Maglich's father was a lawyer and a member of the Yugoslav Royal Parliament. When Bogdan was 13, he and his mother were put in a concentration camp in Croatia. They were able to escape from the camp.
Maglich had five children. His daughters Angelica (born 1989) and Aleksandra (born 1991) are from his marriage to artist Victoria Vesna. He also had three older children: Marko (born 1960), Ivanka (born 1961), and Roberta (born 1972).
See also
- Pavle Savić
- Milan Bulajić
