John Eugene Kunzler

John Eugene Kunzler (April 25, 1923 – January 11, 2006) was an American physicist who conducted pioneering research into the field of superconducting magnets.^[1][2]

John Eugene Kunzler
Born	April 25, 1923 Willard, Utah, United States
Died	January 11, 2006(2006-01-11) (aged 82) Port Murray, New Jersey, United States
Alma mater	University of California, Berkeley
Awards	John Price Wetherill Medal James C. McGroddy Prize
Scientific career
Fields	Superconductivity
Institutions	Bell Labs

Biography

He was born on April 25, 1923, in Willard, Utah, the son of John Jacob Kunzler and Mary Frieda Meier Kunzler. He married Lois McDonald Kunzler on December 29, 1950, and had four daughters (Carol, Marilyn, Bonnie & Kim).^[3]

Kunzler earned degrees in physical chemistry at the undergraduate level in 1945 at the University of Utah and earned his doctorate in Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley in 1950.^[4]

A resident of the Port Murray section of Mansfield Township, Warren County, New Jersey, he died on January 11, 2006, at the age of 86.^[5]

Career

He has conducted pioneering research into superconducting niobium magnets.^[2]

He owned several critical patents in the area of superconducting magnets, including an early patent filed on September 19, 1960.^[1]

In 1982, he became the Director of the Future Device Research Center at the AT&T Bell Laboratories.^[6]

Awards and honors

• 1962 — Fellow of the American Physical Society^[7]
• 1964 — John Price Wetherill Medal (shared with Howard Aiken, John Kenneth Hulm, and Bernd Matthias)^[8][9]
• 1968 - Nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics^[10]
• 1979 — American Physical Society International Prize for New Materials (shared with John Kenneth Hulm and Bernd T. Matthias)^[11]

See also

• John Kenneth Hulm
• Niobium

References

1. Rogers, Madolyn Bowman. "Superconducting magnets", Symmetry magazine, December 1, 2008. Accessed March 30, 2023. "In 1954, G.B. Yntema at the University of Illinois and, in 1959, Stanley Autler at MIT, independently wound superconducting coils with cold-worked niobium and produced magnetic fields close to 10 kilogauss, an order of magnitude higher than before. The gauss race was on. The prize went to metallurgist John E. "Gene" Kunzler, whose group at Bell Labs produced 15 kilogauss using an alloy of molybdenum-rhenium. Kunzler filed for a patent (see image) on September 19, 1960, beating Autler's patent filing by 15 days. Kunzler's patent was issued first, on April 14, 1964."
2. Khurana, Anil. "Superconductivity Seen Above the Boiling Point of Nitrogen", Physics Today, April 1987. Accessed March 30, 2023.
3. Who Was Who In America 2006-2007: With World Notables, p. 135. Marquis Who's Who, 2007. ISBN 9780837902661. Accessed March 30, 2023. "Kunzler, John Eugene, physicist; b. Willard, Utah, Apr. 25. 1923; s. John Jacob and Freida (Meier) K., m. Lois McDonald, Dec. 29, 1950"
4. "John Kunzler is 1979 Kamerlingh Onnes medalist",Physics Today, July 1979 (Volume 32, Issue 7). Accessed March 30, 2023. "Kunzler earned a BS degree in physical chemistry from the University of Utah in 1945 and a PHD in the same field from the University of California at Berkeley in 1950."
5. "Alumni 1950:", p. 37, Catalyst Magazine of the University of California, Berkeley, June 16, 2015. Accessed March 30, 2023. "We have learned from his daughter, Marilyn Barber, that John Eugene Kunzler (Ph.D. Chem) passed away on January 11, 2006, after a brief battle with cancer... He had made his home in Port Murray, NJ."
6. Dr. John E. Kunzler, National Academy of Engineering. Accessed March 30, 2023.
7. APS Fellow Archive: Letter K, American Physical Society. Accessed March 30, 2023. "John Eugene Kunzler [1962] Bell Telephone Laboratories"
8. "Dr. Bernd T. Matthias to be honored by Franklin Institute", University of California, San Diego, October 7,1964. Accessed March 30, 2023."Dr. John Kenneth Hulm of Westinghouse Research Laboratories and Dr. John Eugene Kunzler, of Bell Telephone Laboratories, are also scheduled to receive Wetherill Medals for their work with superconductive materials."
9. "Ex-Willard Man Earns High Award", Box Elder News, October 6, 1964. Accessed March 30, 2023, via Newspapers.com. "Dr. John Eugene Kunzler, a native of Willard, will receive John Price Wetherill Medal from the Franklin Institute on Oct. 21."
10. Nomination archive: J E Kunzler, The Nobel Prize. Accessed March 30, 2023.
11. James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials, American Physics Society. Accessed March 30, 2023.

External links

• nae.edu
• symmetrymagazine.org
• w2agz.com