16 Facts About Merle Tuve

Merle Anthony Tuve was an American geophysicist who was the Chairman of the Office of Scientific Research and Development's Section T, which was created in August 1940.

Merle Tuve was founding director of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, the main laboratory of Section T during the war from 1942 onward.

Merle Tuve was a pioneer in the use of pulsed radio waves whose discoveries opened the way to the development of radar and nuclear energy.

Merle Tuve obtained there his PhD in physics in 1927.

In 1925, with physicist Gregory Breit, Merle Tuve used radio waves to measure the height of the ionosphere and probe its interior layers.

Merle Tuve was among the first physicists to use high-voltage accelerators to define the structure of the atom.

Merle Tuve proposed that an electronically activated proximity fuze would make anti-aircraft fire far more effective, and led the team of scientists that developed the device, which proved crucial in the allies' victory in World War II.

Merle Tuve led in the development of the proximity fuze first at the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism and then later at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and made contributions to experimental seismology, radio astronomy, and optical astronomy.

In 1942, Merle Tuve was the founding director of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

Merle Tuve was the Director of Terrestrial Magnetism Research at the Carnegie Institution for Science.

Merle Tuve served on the first US National Commission for UNESCO, on the National Research Council Committee on Growth, and on the US Committee for the International Geophysical Year.

Merle Tuve was the first chairman of the Geophysical Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences and home secretary of the National Academy of Sciences.

Merle Tuve had two brothers: George Lewis Tuve, who was a professor of mechanical engineering and Richard Larsen Tuve, who was an inventor and chemist.

Merle Tuve was married in 1927 to Winifred Gray Whitman.

Merle Tuve was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1943.

Merle Tuve was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1950.