physics

Hillard Bell Huntington

Hillard Bell Huntington 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 Hillard Bell Huntington rather than just read about it. In short: Hillard Bell Huntington (21 December 1910 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania – 17 July 1992 Troy, New York) was a physicist who (together with Eugene Wigner) first proposed, in 1935, that hydrogen could occur in a metallic state. He is also known for his work on the electromigration of atoms, which later became an important consideration in semiconductor electronics.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Hillard Bell Huntington (21 December 1910 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania – 17 July 1992 Troy, New York) was a physicist who (together with Eugene Wigner) first proposed, in 1935, that hydrogen could occur in a metallic state. He is also known for his work on the electromigration of atoms, which later became an important consideration in semiconductor electronics. Huntington was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and received his bachelor's (1932), master's (1933) and doctoral (1941) degrees from Princeton University. He taught at Culver Military Academy, University of Pennsylvania and Washington University in St. Louis. During World War II Huntington worked at the MIT Radiation Laboratory. Huntington joined the faculty of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1946. He served as chair of the physics department at RPI from 1961-1968. He was known as a specialist in diffusion and conduction processes in metals. He was an accomplished painter. Some of his paintings are displayed in the Hillard B. Huntington library, named in his honor, located in the Jonsson-Rowland Science center at RPI. RPI established the Hillard B. Huntington Award for graduate students in his honor. Ivar Giaever, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1973, was one of his students.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hillard Bell Huntington

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hillard Bell Huntington 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 Hillard Bell Huntington 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 Hillard Bell Huntington 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 Hillard Bell Huntington

In research: Hillard Bell Huntington 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 Hillard Bell Huntington 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: Hillard Bell Huntington is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1910 births, 1992 deaths, 20th-century American physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hillard Bell Huntington 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 Hillard Bell Huntington in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Hillard Bell Huntington 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 Hillard Bell Huntington out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hillard Bell Huntington in simple terms?

Why does Hillard Bell Huntington 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 Hillard Bell Huntington?

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 Hillard Bell Huntington.