physics

Henry A. Bumstead

Henry A. Bumstead is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Henry A. Bumstead rather than just read about it. In short: Henry Andrews Bumstead (March 12, 1870 – December 31, 1920) was an American physicist who taught at Yale from 1897 to 1920. In 1918 he was scientific attache to the United States embassy in London.

Key takeaways

Henry A. Bumstead belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Henry A. Bumstead to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Henry A. Bumstead from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Henry Andrews Bumstead (March 12, 1870 – December 31, 1920) was an American physicist who taught at Yale from 1897 to 1920. In 1918 he was scientific attache to the United States embassy in London. In 1920 he was Chairman of the National Research Council.

Education Henry was a high school student in Decatur, Illinois. In 1887 he went to Johns Hopkins University, initially as a student in a pre-medical program. He studied mathematics with Fabian Franklin and took up an interest in that subject. He studied physics with Henry Augustus Rowland and found his calling there. In 1891 he obtained the bachelor's degree and continued at Johns Hopkins as an assistant in the physics laboratory and a graduate student. He studied thermodynamics, electrostatics, and the electromagnetic theory of light.

Career Henry Bumstead became an instructor at the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University in 1893, working with Charles S. Hastings. At the same time he became a student of Willard Gibbs, learning vector analysis and continuing the study of thermodynamics and the electromagnetic theory of light. He was awarded the Ph.D. in 1897, composing a thesis A Comparison of Electrodynamic Theories. Bumstead became an assistant professor in 1900. In 1905 Bumstead spent a sabbatical year at the Cavendish Laboratory. Performing an experiment suggested by J. J. Thomson, Bumstead examined the effect of X-rays (then called Röntgen rays) when applied to lead and zinc, finding that "twice as much heat is produced in lead compared to zinc". When Arthur Williams Wright retired in 1906, Bumstead became professor of physics at Yale College and Director of the Sloan Physics Laboratory. In World War I Bumstead was selected to serve as the head of the Scientific Section in London under Admiral William Sims, Commander of the American Forces countering the U-boat campaign in the North Atlantic:

The American headquarters in London comprised many separate departments, each one of which was responsible to me as the Force Commander, through the Chief of Staff, they included such indispensable branches as...the Scientific Section, Professor H. A. Bumstead, Ph.D. In 1920 Bumstead was elected Chairman of the National Research Council. He was a member of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, the United States National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.

Personal life In 1896 Bumstead married Luetta Ullrich, daughter of John Ullrich, a banker of Decatur, Illinois. The couple had two children, John Henry (born 1897) and Eleanor (born 1902). John Henry became a medical doctor in 1923, after study at Johns Hopkins University. He later joined Yale Medical School. Eleanor married William E. Stevenson, a president of Oberlin College (1946–59).

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Henry A. Bumstead

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Henry A. Bumstead claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Henry A. Bumstead before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Henry A. Bumstead ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Henry A. Bumstead

In research: Henry A. Bumstead appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Henry A. Bumstead in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Henry A. Bumstead is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1870 births, 1920 deaths, American expatriate academics in the United Kingdom, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Henry A. Bumstead outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Henry A. Bumstead in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Henry A. Bumstead means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Henry A. Bumstead out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Henry A. Bumstead in simple terms?

Henry Andrews Bumstead (March 12, 1870 – December 31, 1920) was an American physicist who taught at Yale from 1897 to 1920. In 1918 he was scientific attache to the United States embassy in London.

Why does Henry A. Bumstead matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Henry A. Bumstead?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Henry A. Bumstead.