Joseph Valasek was an American physicist and professor emeritus of physics at the University of Minnesota.
13 Facts About Joseph Valasek
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Joseph Valasek specialized in geometrical and physical optics, experimental optics and spectroscopy, and x-rays.
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Joseph Valasek is credited with the discovery of ferroelectricity, which he identified using Rochelle salts.
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Joseph Valasek's father worked as a journalist, office clerk, and assistant to a manager in a brewery.
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Joseph Valasek's maternal grandfather, Josef Pylik, was a physics teacher in Czechoslovakia.
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Joseph Valasek received his BS in 1917 in physics at the Case School of Applied Science.
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Joseph Valasek joined the University of Minnesota staff while in graduate school, becoming a teaching assistant in 1919.
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Joseph Valasek had observed that when placed in an electric field, the polarization of Rochelle salts increased as he turned up the field.
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In 1920 Joseph Valasek was promoted to instructor, and in 1922, he was appointed as an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota.
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Joseph Valasek continued to work at the university for the rest of his career, and was appointed to associate professor in 1927 and to full professor in 1941.
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Joseph Valasek retired from the University of Minnesota in 1965.
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Joseph Valasek was elected in 1921 a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
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Joseph Valasek's brother-in-law was Elmer Hutchisson, who was married to his sister Rose.