JRS 5-11-98 –Earl W.
McDaniel
EARL W. McDANIEL
PHYSICS
Earl W. McDaniel, Regents
Professor of Physics, carved
a very important niche in
the history of Georgia Tech.
The rapid transition of
Georgia Tech from
primarily an undergraduate
institution to an
internationally recognized
research university was the
result of key individuals
doing outstanding research,
capturing the interest of
superb students, and
interacting with the
international community.
Earl McDaniel was such a
key individual.
Earl was one of a number of
post World War II
undergraduates in physics at
Georgia Tech to return after
receiving a Ph.D. and
become a distinguished
professor. During his
undergraduate days at
Georgia Tech, Earl did not
endear himself to the
Director of the School of
Physics, Joseph Howey. An
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EARL W. McDANIEL
ATOMIC CLOCK
undergraduate picnic at
which a keg of beer was
prominent seems to have
been the breaking point.
Earl and his roommate Pete
Rose also a physics major
consumed a little too much
beer during a softball game.
The behavior of the two did
fit with the decorum
expected by Joseph Howey.
Upon the completion of the
requirements for the Ph.D.
in physics at the University
of Michigan, Jim Boyd of
the School of Physics and
the Engineering Experiment
Station made a trip to Ann
Arbor to convince Earl to
come to work at Georgia
Tech. Jim Boyd was quite
instrumental in the early
days of research and
graduate programs at
JRS 5-11-98 –Earl W. McDaniel
Georgia Tech in putting
together packages for
promising young
professionals. Earl was
employed by the
Engineering Experiment
Station (now GTRI) at
Georgia Tech. He also was
listed as an assistant
professor in the School of
Physics. However Joseph
Howey remembering the
undergraduate experience
did not wish Earl teaching in
the School of Physics.
Earl was employed by EES
to develop a new research
area in radioactive carbon
14 dating. Although the
technology was new, Earl
did not feel that the field
promised the challenges of
research into fundamental
physics. His primary
ambition was to establish a
research center to
understand transport
phenomena in ionized gases.
In 1957, Earl found himself
in charge of a subcritical
nuclear reactor facility. The
facility would be the
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beginning of nuclear
engineering at Georgia
Tech. Again the facility was
within the Engineering
Experiment Station but had
participation from academic
units.
Earl was facing some
frustration in not being fully
accepted as a member of the
School of Physics. He had
hoped
EARL McDANIEL
FINAL ASSEMBLY OF
SUBCRITICAL REACTOR
that the undergraduate
incident would be forgotten
in view of his professional
accomplishments. Joseph
JRS 5-11-98 –Earl W. McDaniel
Howey, the Director of the
School of Physics, continued
to refuse giving any teaching
assignments to Earl.
Earl was approached by the
School of Electrical
Engineering and was listed
through 1960 in both physics
and electrical engineering.
In 1961-62 he became full
time in electrical
engineering and
distinguished himself in both
teaching and research.
When Vernon Crawford
succeeded Joseph Howey as
Director of the School of
Physics in 1964, Earl, at
Vernon’s invitation,
returned to physics.
While in electrical
engineering, Earl directed
the Ph.D. research of two
outstanding students, Carl
Lineberger and John
Hooper. Carl had an
outstanding research career
and was awarded several
prizes as well as being
elected to the National
Academy of Science. John
Hooper became a Regents
Professor in Electrical
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Engineering one year after
Earl, his thesis advisor had
become Regent’s Professor.
John went on to become
vice-chancellor for the
University System of
Georgia as well as first
director for the
Microelectronics
Laboratory at Georgia Tech.
Earl had a gift of attracting
outstanding students to his
research. Upon his return to
physics in 1964, Earl
employed an undergraduate
in mechanical engineering to
work with him in designing
a “drift tube” which would
be the basis of Earl’s
research for most of his
career at Georgia Tech. The
conceptual design was that
of Earl but the complex
mechanical details was
largely the work of the
mechanical engineering
student, Dan Albritton. Dan
stayed at Georgia Tech for
his Ph.D. under the
supervision of Earl
McDaniel. The
measurements of ion
transport properties in gases
in the new “drift tube” set
JRS 5-11-98 –Earl W. McDaniel
new standards. A
distinguished physicist in the
field, E. A. Mason,
remarked that the field of
ion transport falls into two
categories, the dinosaur age
of “Before Earl” and the
modern era of “After Earl.”
In the prestigious Physical
Review volume of “The First
Hundred Years,” Earl’s
paper with D.L. Albritton,
T.M. Miller, and D. W.
Martin on “mobilities of
+
+
Mass Identified H3 and H
Ions in Hydrogen,” (Phys.
Rev.171, 94-102 (1968)) has
been chosen as one of the top
100 papers published in the
Journal.
Dan Albritton after
receiving his Ph.D. at
Georgia Tech under the
direction of Earl McDaniel
went on to a distinguished
career and his appointment
as Director of the Aeronomy
Laboratory of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration in Boulder,
Colorado. Both John
Mosely and Tom Miller
followed as Ph.D. students
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and each had a distinguished
scientific career.
Although Earl and his
students set new standards
for the difficult
measurements of the
transport properties of ions
in gases, his books on the
subject bestowed
international recognition on
Earl as a world authority on
the subject. He wrote or
edited eight books. The
monographs included,
“Transport Properties of
Ions in Gases,” Atomic
Collisions: Electron and
Photon Projectiles,” and
“Atomic Collisions: Heavy
Particle Projectiles.” Earl
would frequently return
from an international visit
with a copy of one of his
books translated and
published in a foreign
language. For the most part
the publications were
“piracy” without permission
of the author or publisher.
Earl did not file any legal
action in these instances but
did receive some
gratification that the
JRS 5-11-98 –Earl W. McDaniel
scientific community felt the
books of sufficient
importance to provide the
demand for their
translation. Earl McDaniel
was an avid reader of both
fiction and classics. He was
an expert on the history of
the great military conflicts
and battles. He loved music.
Earl was a brilliant
conversationalist and had a
story for every occasion. He
enjoyed being in the
presence of the non-
conformist and being
challenged by new ideas and
concepts. Earl and his wife
Frances frequently
entertained guests as well as
students in their home. The
occasion was always one to
remember with pleasure.
Earl received a Fulbright-
Hays Senior Research
Scholarship along with a
Guggenheim Fellowship to
visit the University of
Durham in Durham,
England during the 1966-67
year. Earl knew very little
about the sport of rugby so
he became a willing recruit
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to one of the rugby teams in
Durham. On his return he
played with the Georgia
Tech rugby club on several
occasions. Earl retired his
rugby career for a
permanent position on the
physics faculty softball team
at the annual picnic with the
physics students. His
intimidating presence along
with favorable umpiring led
to many faculty victories
over the students.
As much as Earl enjoyed
learning he also enjoyed
teaching. In undergraduate
teaching, Earl had one
request, he did not like
teaching the same course
twice. A special request was
made to teach the
undergraduate course in
“Relativity.” The course
was about as far removed
from his research as any
offered in physics. Earl
taught the course and got
great satisfaction from
passing along the excitement
he felt from these
revolutionary concepts in
physics.
JRS 5-11-98 –Earl W. McDaniel
EARL W. McDANIEL
GEORGIA SCIENTIST
OF
THE YEAR-1971
In 1971 Earl McDaniel
was nominated and selected
as Georgia “Scientist of the
Year.”
Although the award did not
have national or
international prominence,
Earl valued the award as
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symbolic of the State of
Georgia recognizing the
scientific accomplishments
of a native son.
Earl McDaniel died May 4,
1997.
Earl was born April 15, 1926
in Macon, Georgia the son of
Mr. and Mrs. J. B.
McDaniel
Earl graduated from High
School a year early in
Macon, Georgia in 1943.
He entered Georgia Tech
after high school but left
shortly for service in the
Navy during World War II.
He was discharged in 1944.
After his discharge he
returned to Georgia Tech on
an accelerated program and
finished with a B.S. in
physics in 1948.
He received his M.S. in
physics from the University
of Michigan in 1950 and his
Ph.D. in 1954.
JRS 5-11-98 –Earl W. McDaniel
Earl returned to Georgia
Tech in 1954 and held the
following positions:
Assistant Professor 1954-56
Associate Professor 1956-61
Professor 1961-70
Regents’ Professor 1970-
1986
Regents’ Professor Emeritus
1986-1997
His consulting activities
included:
Georgia Power Company
(reactor physics) 1957-58.
Oak Ridge National
Laboratory (controlled
thermonuclear plasmas and
information center
activities) 1959-1997
Kaman Nuclear (upper
atmospheric physics) 1962-
63
Melpar Inc. (atomic
collisions) 1964-65
Institute for Defense
Analysis (information center
activities) 1965
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Franklin Gno Corporation
(gaseous electronics) 1968-
79.
Redstone Arsenal (electrical
discharges and gas lasers)
1970-81
United Technologies
Research Center (gaseous
electronics and gas lasers)
1976-81.
Earl was a Fellow of the
American Physical Society
and an active member of the
Divisions of Electron and
Atomic Physics and Plasma
Physics.
He served as President of
the Georgia Tech Chapter of
Sigma Xi during the year
1961-62.
He received research awards
from Sigma Xi in
1957,1961,1965, and 1969.
Earl was married to Frances
Scarratt of Atlanta in July
of 1948.
They had two children,
Linda McDaniel (McIntyre)
and Keith Bruce McDaniel.
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