Background
Percy W. Bridgman was born on April 21, 1882, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the only child of Raymond Landon Bridgman, a newspaper reporter, and Mary "Maria" Ann Williams, who was an author of books on public affairs.
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, United States
Percy Bridgman joined Harvard University in 1900 and received his Bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics in 1904. He did his Master of Arts degree in physics from Harvard University in 1905 and received his Doctor of Philosophy degree from Harvard University in 1908.
Percy W. Bridgman House, 10 Buckingham Place, Cambridge, MA 02138, United States
The Percy W. Bridgman House, in Massachusetts, is a U.S. National Historic Landmark designated in 1975.
National Academy of Sciences (NAS), 2101 Constitution Ave NW, Washington, DC 20418, United States
In 1918, Percy W. Bridgman was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).
Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, St. James's, London SW1Y 5AG, United Kingdom
In 1949, Percy Bridgman became a Foreign Member of the Royal Society.
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 136 Irving St, Cambridge, MA 02138, United States
In 1917, Percy W. Bridgman was awarded the Rumford Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Franklin Institute, 222 N 20th St, Philadelphia, PA 19103, United States
In 1932, Percy Bridgman received the Elliott Cresson Medal from the Franklin Institute.
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Lilla Frescativägen 4A, 114 18 Stockholm, Sweden
Percy Bridgman received the 1946 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the physics of high pressures.
Society of Rheology, United States
In 1951, Percy Bridgman was awarded the Bingham Medal from the Society of Rheology.
Newton North High School, 457 Walnut St, Newton, MA 02460, United States
After his family moved to Newton from Cambridge Percy Bridgman did his schooling from the Newton North High School in Newton, Massachusetts, and graduated from there in the year 1900.
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, United States
Percy Bridgman joined Harvard University in 1900 and received his Bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics in 1904. He did his Master of Arts degree in physics from Harvard University in 1905 and received his Doctor of Philosophy degree from Harvard University in 1908.
Stockholm, Sweden
Some of the 1946 Noble Prize Winners at the Stockholm Concert, where they received their awards are shown. In addition to the Five 1946 Scientific Awards to Americans and The Literary Award to Herrman Hesse, prizes in previous years were also distributed. In the group here are left to right; Dr. Percy William Bridgman of Harvard University; Dr. James B. Sumner, Cornell; Dr. John Howard Northrop; and Dr. Wendell M. Stanley, both of the Rockefeller Institute of Medicine at Princeton; Dr. Otto Hahn, formerly of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Berlin, who received the 1944 Prize for Physics; and Dr. Herman J. Muller of Indiana University. The Hahn's Prize was kept secret until after the war. Presentation of the awards was made by King Gustave.
Percy W. Bridgman was born on April 21, 1882, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the only child of Raymond Landon Bridgman, a newspaper reporter, and Mary "Maria" Ann Williams, who was an author of books on public affairs.
Bridgman's family was highly religious and his father wanted him to join the church, but Percy Bridgman was more interested in studying science and not religion.
After his family moved to Newton from Cambridge he did his schooling from the Newton North High School in Newton, Massachusetts, and graduated from there in the year 1900.
Bridgman joined Harvard University in 1900 and received his Bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics in 1904.
He obtained his Master of Arts degree in physics from Harvard University in 1905 and received his Doctor of Philosophy degree from Harvard University in 1908.
Percy Bridgman also received Doctors, honoris causa from Stevens Institute (1934), Harvard (1939), Brooklyn Polytechnic (1941), Princeton (1950), Paris (1950), and Yale (1951).
After graduation, Bridgman worked as a research fellow from 1908 to 1910 at Harvard University. Bridgman was successively appointed an Instructor (1910), Assistant Professor (1919), before becoming Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in 1926. He was appointed Higgins University Professor in 1950.
His researches concerning the effects of high pressures on materials and their thermodynamic behavior commenced in 1905 and have continued throughout his career. He has carried out extensive investigations on the properties of matter at pressures up to 100,000 atmosphere including a study of the compressibility, electric and thermal conductivity, tensile strength and viscosity of more than 100 different compounds. He developed a method of packing which eliminated leak, and later introduced various methods of external support to pressure vessels as higher pressures were demanded. Bridgman has also contributed to crystallography, where he devised a method of growing single crystals; to the problems of electrical conduction in metals, where he discovered internal Peltier heat – a new electrical effect; and to the philosophy of modern physics. In the latter field, he is a strong supporter of the operational viewpoint, considering it meaningless to interpret physical concepts except as they are capable of observation.
Percy Bridgman also has contributed many papers to leading scientific journals and he is the author of Dimensional Analysis (1922), The Logic of Modern Physics (1927), The Physics of High Pressure (1931), The Thermodynamics of Electrical Phenomena in Metals (1934), The Nature of Physical Theory (1936), The Intelligent Individual and Society (1938), The Nature of Thermodynamics (1941), and, more recently, Reflections of a Physicist.
Bridgman's family was deeply religious; reading the Bible each morning and attending a Congregational Church. However, Percy Bridgman later became an atheist.
Quotations:
"Science is what scientists do, and there are as many scientific methods as there are individual scientists."
"Nature does not count nor do integers occur in nature. Man made them all, integers and all the rest, Kronecker to the contrary notwithstanding."
"By far the most important consequence of the conceptual revolution brought about in physics by relativity and quantum theory lies not in such details as that meter sticks shorten when they move or that simultaneous position and momentum have no meaning, but in the insight that we had not been using our minds properly and that it is important to find out how to do so."
"Coincidence is what you have left over when you apply a bad theory."
"The first business of a man of science is to proclaim the truth as he finds it, and let the world adjust itself as best it can to the new knowledge."
Percy W. 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, and the American Philosophical Society. He was an Honorary Fellow of the Physical Society of London.
Percy Bridgman was generous and a man of integrity and was highly admired by his colleagues and other members of the scientific world.
In addition, he was a perfectionist in every way, was fond of music and loved chess, handball, mountain-climbing, photography, and gardening.
In 1912, Percy W. Bridgman married Olive Ware, by whom he had two children.