Bruce H. Billings Explained

Bruce H. Billings
Birth Date:July 6, 1915
Death Place:Long Beach, California
Fields:Physics
Alma Mater:Harvard University
Johns Hopkins University
Awards:American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1952)

Bruce Hadley Billings (July 6, 1915 – October 21, 1992[1]) was an American physicist. He was president of the Optical Society of America in 1971.[2] and the Polaroid Corporation's chief physicist between 1941 and 1947.[3]

Billings was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy. He received his bachelor's degree in 1936 and his master's degree in 1937, both from Harvard University.[4] Billings obtained his Ph.D. in 1941 from Johns Hopkins University.[3] He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1952.[5]

In the 1950s and 1960s Billings was senior vice president for research at Baird-Atomic, Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he contributed to the development of analytical instrumentation for emission spectroscopy, dual-beam, recording infra-red absorption spectrometry, flame photometry, and investigated the potential of circular dichroism as the basis for instrumentation, a technology that Baird-Atomic, Inc. never commercialized.

Billings died in Long Beach, California, aged 77 from pancreatic cancer.[4]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Bruce H. Billings. Social Security Death Index. New England Historic Genealogical Society. July 20, 2011.
  2. Web site: Past Presidents of the Optical Society of America. 2009-02-22.
  3. 1956. Local Section News: Personalia: Dr. Bruce H. Billings. Journal of the Optical Society of America. 46. 306. 10.1364/JOSA.46.000306.
  4. News: Bruce Billings, optics pioneer, Polaroid's chief physicist; at 77. https://web.archive.org/web/20121023071936/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8765374.html. dead. 2012-10-23. 1992-10-31. The Boston Globe. 2009-02-22.
  5. Web site: Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B. American Academy of Arts and Sciences. July 20, 2011.