Clinton Davisson

Clinton Davisson was an American physicist whose electron-diffraction experiments demonstrated the wave nature of electrons. He shared the 1937 Nobel Prize in Physics with George Paget Thomson.

Davisson–Germer experiment: An experiment in which electrons scattered from a nickel crystal produced diffraction patterns consistent with wave behavior. This experiment supplied the decisive diffraction evidence associated with Davisson’s work.
Bell Labs: An American industrial research laboratory founded by AT&T in 1925. Davisson conducted the electron-scattering research there.
Lester Germer: An American physicist who collaborated with Davisson on electron-scattering research at Bell Labs. Germer worked with Davisson on the experiments that produced the famous diffraction evidence.
Electron microscopy: Imaging that uses electron beams rather than visible light to resolve very small structures. Electron wave behavior underlies the resolving power of electron microscopes.
Electron diffraction: The scattering of electrons by matter in patterns governed by their wave properties. Davisson’s measurements established electron diffraction as evidence for matter waves.
Ernest Rutherford: A physicist who established the nuclear model of the atom and pioneered experimental nuclear physics. Davisson’s early research career included work under Rutherford at the University of Cambridge.
Nobel Prize in Physics: An annual international award recognizing major contributions to physics. Davisson shared the 1937 prize for discovering electron diffraction.
Transmission electron microscopy: A microscopy technique that forms images from electrons transmitted through a thin specimen. It uses electron transmission and scattering to reveal fine structural detail.
Matter wave: A wave associated with a material particle, described by quantum mechanics. The diffraction pattern showed that electrons behave as matter waves.
George Paget Thomson: A British physicist who demonstrated electron diffraction independently of Davisson. His independent results confirmed the wave behavior recognized in Davisson’s experiments.

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