Which USD alumnus won a Nobel Prize 80 years ago?

E.O. Lawrence won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1939 for his work on the cyclotron, which uses an electric field to accelerate charge particles. Most cyclotrons are utilized in medicine and physics research.

E. O. Lawrence

He also has an element on the periodic table named after him, Lawrencium.

The Archives and Special Collections at the University of South Dakota has multiple books about Lawrence in the Chilson Collection. This is one of my favorites:

• Childs, Herbert. An American Genius; the Life of Ernest Orlando Lawrence. New York: Dutton, 1968. QC16.L36 C5. His years at USD are on pages 47 – 60.

Image from the USD Photograph Collection.

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