Biography
Born in Findlay, Ohio, Bennett attended Carnegie Institute of Technology from 1920-22 and Ohio State University; the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Sc.M. in physical chemistry, 1926; and the University of Michigan, Ph.D. in physics, 1928. Bennett was elected to a National Research Fellowship in Physics and in 1928 and 1929 studied at the California Institute of Technology. In 1930 he joined the Physics faculty at Ohio State. Following service in World War II, Bennett worked at the National Bureau of Standards, the University of Arkansas, and the United States Naval Research Laboratory. In 1961, he was appointed Burlington Professor of Physics at North Carolina State University (emeritus in 1976). Bennett held 67 patents.
Bennett made scientific history in the 1930s pioneering studies in plasma physics - the study of gases ionized by high-voltage electricity. Bennett invented radio frequency mass spectrometry in (1955). Bennett's radio frequency mass spectrometer measured the masses of atoms. It was the first such experiment in space. He also researched gases ionized by high voltage electricity. This research was used in later thermonuclear fusion research.
Read more about this topic: Willard Harrison Bennett
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