Samuel Tolansky facts for kids

Samuel Tolansky (born Turlausky) was a British physicist who lived from 1906 to 1973. He was a very important scientist! A crater on the Moon is named after him, close to where the Apollo 14 mission landed. He also worked with NASA on the Apollo program, which sent astronauts to the Moon. He was even considered for a Nobel Prize.

Early Life and Family

Samuel Tolansky's parents were Jewish people who came from Lithuania. He met his wife, an artist named Ottilie Pinkasovich, in Berlin. They got married in 1935.

Education Journey

Samuel Tolansky went to school in Newcastle, England. He first attended Snow Street Primary School, then Rutherford College for boys from 1919 to 1925.

After that, he studied at Armstrong College, which was part of Durham University. In 1928, he earned a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree with top honors. He also got a special diploma in teaching.

From 1929 to 1931, he did more research at Armstrong College. Then, he traveled to Berlin, Germany, to learn how to make very shiny films by evaporating materials. This is also where he met his future wife.

Later, he went to Imperial College London. There, from 1932 to 1934, he studied interferometry. This is a way of using light waves to measure things very precisely. He also started writing a book about the tiny details in light spectra and how they relate to atoms.

Amazing Career in Physics

Samuel Tolansky started working at the University of Manchester in 1934. He stayed there until 1947, moving up from an assistant to a senior lecturer. While at Manchester, he continued his work on atoms and their tiny parts.

During World War II, he used his skills in optics to study uranium-235, a material important for nuclear energy. He also developed a new method called "multiple-beam interferometry," which made it possible to measure surfaces with incredible accuracy. He also wrote a book called "Introduction to Atomic Physics."

In 1947, he became a Professor of Physics at Royal Holloway College, part of the University of London. This college was originally only for women. Samuel Tolansky helped support the idea of allowing male students to attend, which finally happened in 1965.

He was recognized for his important work. In 1947, he became a member of the Royal Astronomical Society, which studies space. In 1952, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, a very high honor for scientists in the UK.

He also won the C. V. Boys Prize in 1948 for his work in optics. In 1961, he received a Silver Medal from the Royal Society of Arts.

One of his special interests was studying the optics of diamonds. Because of this, he examined Moon dust brought back by the Apollo 11 mission, the first time humans landed on the Moon. He wanted to see how light behaved when it hit the Moon dust.

In 1969, he even appeared on a BBC astronomy TV show called The Sky at Night. He explained how big space is and introduced a fun idea of "2-dimensional 'Flatlanders'" to help people imagine different dimensions.

See also

In Spanish: Samuel Tolansky para niños