physics

Hyatt M. Gibbs

Hyatt M. Gibbs 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 Hyatt M. Gibbs rather than just read about it. In short: Hyatt M. Gibbs (6 August 1938 – 3 September 2012) was a notable physicist and professor at the University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Hyatt M. Gibbs (6 August 1938 – 3 September 2012) was a notable physicist and professor at the University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences. Well known for research in nonlinear optics and quantum optics, he authored a book on optical bistability, and was a recipient of the Humboldt Research Award and Michelson Medal.

Education Gibbs attended Mars Hill College and North Carolina State University in his home state, where he earned an A.A. degree in 1958 and a B.S. degree in 1960, respectively. In 1965, he earned a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California at Berkeley with his thesis on Total Spin-Exchange Cross-Sections for Alkali Atoms from Optical Pumping Experiments.

Career After earning his Ph.D., Gibbs remained at U.C. Berkeley as an Acting Assistant Professor until 1967. He then joined Bell Labs in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey where he worked until 1980. During his work there he collaborated on numerous experiments, including research on optical energy transfer in crystals with Samuel L. McCall and Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize winner and the United States Secretary of Energy. For one year during this period, 1975 to 1976, he was an exchange scientist at Philips in Eindhoven, Holland. He was also a visiting lecturer at Princeton University from 1978 to 1979. In 1980 he moved to Tucson, Arizona to become a professor at the Optical Sciences Center at the University of Arizona. Here he founded the Optical Circuitry Cooperative in 1984, which conducted research relevant to optical processing, funded jointly by industry leaders in optics and optoelectronics. He remained its director until 1991 when the role was given to his collaborator, Dr. Nasser Peyghambarian. Gibbs was able to concentrate more fully on his research, particularly his work with Dr. Galina Khitrova (whom he married in 1986) and Dr. Stephan W. Koch on the quantum nano-optics of semiconductors. Gibbs became a professor emeritus in 2011, but continued his work until his death in 2012.

Honors Humboldt Research Award, 1998 Franklin Institute, Michelson Medal, 1984 American Physical Society, Fellow Optical Society of America, Fellow Franklin Institute, Fellow IEEE, Senior Member American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fellow

Asteroid Hyatt The unusual main-belt asteroid 221628 Hyatt was named in his honor on 3 July 2012 (M.P.C. 79912), just two months before he died. The asteroid was discovered by his son Alex Gibbs of the Catalina Sky Survey, who proposed the name to the Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union.

Personal life Gibbs' first marriage was to Lethia, with whom he had a son, Alex, and a daughter, Vanetta. His second marriage was to Galina Khitrova, with whom he collaborated professionally. On September 3, 2012, Hyatt M. Gibbs died in France at the age of 74 from mesothelioma complications.

References

External links Deprecated link at archive.today (archived August 14, 2012).

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hyatt M. Gibbs

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hyatt M. Gibbs 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 Hyatt M. Gibbs 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 Hyatt M. Gibbs 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 Hyatt M. Gibbs

In research: Hyatt M. Gibbs 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 Hyatt M. Gibbs 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: Hyatt M. Gibbs is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1938 births, 2012 deaths, American optical physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hyatt M. Gibbs 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 Hyatt M. Gibbs in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Hyatt M. Gibbs in simple terms?

Hyatt M. Gibbs (6 August 1938 – 3 September 2012) was a notable physicist and professor at the University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences.

Why does Hyatt M. Gibbs 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 Hyatt M. Gibbs?

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 Hyatt M. Gibbs.