physics

Peter C. Waterman

Peter C. Waterman 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 Peter C. Waterman rather than just read about it. In short: Peter Cary Waterman (June 14, 1928 — June 3, 2012) was an American applied mathematician and physicist, known for his fundamental contributions to theory and computation of wave scattering in electromagnetics, optics and acoustics. He has introduced the extended boundary condition and T-matrix methods, widely used in the analysis of scattering in complex structures.

Key takeaways

Peter C. Waterman belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
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Reference excerpt

Peter Cary Waterman (June 14, 1928 — June 3, 2012) was an American applied mathematician and physicist, known for his fundamental contributions to theory and computation of wave scattering in electromagnetics, optics and acoustics. He has introduced the extended boundary condition and T-matrix methods, widely used in the analysis of scattering in complex structures.

Biography Peter Cary Waterman was born on June 14, 1928, in Albany, New York. He graduated of Bethlehem Central High School in 1946 and received a bachelor's degree in physics from Syracuse University in 1951. From 1952 to 1953, he served as a physics instructor at Union College. He was later admitted to of Department of Applied Mathematics at Brown University under Alcoa Research Fellowship, receiving a master's degree. Studying elastic wave scattering under the supervision Rohn Truell, he received his PhD degree in applied mathematics in 1958. Briefly serving as a researcher on gas mixtures at Linde Company, Waterman subsequently worked in the Research and Advanced Development Division of Avco from 1959 to 1965. His work at Avco focused on acoustic scattering. In 1965, he joined Mitre Corporation, where he resumed his work on wave scattering. After leaving Mitre in 1975, he worked as a consultant to various companies, including Digital Equipment Corporation and Panametrics, as well as teaching a graduate-level course on wave propagation at Northeastern University. He was a visiting professor at the Institute of Theoretical Physics at University of Gothenburg in 1980. In 1990, he joined Pedersen Research, Inc, where he resumed his work on electromagnetic and acoustic scattering. Waterman resumed his professional activities into his 80s, serving as a consultant to US Army. Waterman's research was influential in light scattering communities. In 1965, he introduced the extended boundary condition method for the computation of electromagnetic scattering at objects with arbitrary shapes. He subsequently introduced the concept of T-matrix for acoustic scattering, which he later extended to electromagnetic and elastodynamic problems. The method has attracted significant attention from the computational physics community: in 1975, it was subject to an international symposium at Ohio State University, where it was hailed as "a major development [in computational physics] in the last ten years." Waterman married Katherine Adella Dearstyne in 1954. They had three children, including Jonathan Waterman. They divorced in 1975. He married Karen Marlene Gates in 1996. Residing in West Yarmouth, Massachusetts, Waterman died on June 3, 2012. In 2012, Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer published a special issue in honor of Waterman's scientific legacy, which featured an unreleased paper from 1964 by Waterman and close collaborator John George Fikioris. Peter C. Waterman Award, given annually by Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer to early-career researchers on electromagnetic scattering, is named after him. Waterman was a member of American Physical Society and Electromagnetics Academy, as well as a technical program committee member for the joint IEEE AP-S/URSI International Symposium.

Selected publications Journal articles Waterman, P. C. (1959). "Orientation dependence of elastic waves in single crystals". Physical Review. 113 (5): 1240. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.113.1240.* Waterman, P. C.; Truell, Rohn (1961). "Multiple scattering of waves". Journal of Mathematical Physics. 2: 512–537. doi:10.1063/1.1703737. Fikioris, J. G.; Waterman, P. C. (1964). "Multiple scattering of waves II: "Hole corrections" in the scalar case". Journal of Mathematical Physics. 5: 1413–1420. doi:10.1063/1.1704077. Waterman, P. C. (1965). "Matrix formulation of electromagnetic scattering". Proceedings of the IEEE. 53 (8): 805–812. doi:10.1109/PROC.1965.4058. Waterman, P. C. (1969). "New formulation of acoustic scattering". Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 45: 1417–1429. doi:10.1121/1.1911619. Waterman, P. C. (1971). "Symmetry, unitarity, and geometry in electromagnetic scattering". Physical Review D. 3 (4): 825–839. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.3.825. Waterman, P. C. (1975). "Scattering by periodic surfaces". Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 57: 791–802. doi:10.1121/1.380521. Waterman, P. C. (1976). "Matrix theory of elastic wave scattering". Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 60: 567–580. doi:10.1121/1.1911619.

References

External links Special issue at Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer on Waterman's life and work

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Peter C. Waterman

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Peter C. Waterman 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 Peter C. Waterman 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 Peter C. Waterman 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 Peter C. Waterman

In research: Peter C. Waterman 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 Peter C. Waterman 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: Peter C. Waterman is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1928 births, 2012 deaths, 20th-century American mathematicians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Peter C. Waterman 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 Peter C. Waterman in 20 minutes

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Close the page and write down what Peter C. Waterman means in your own words.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Peter C. Waterman in simple terms?

Why does Peter C. Waterman 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 Peter C. Waterman?

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 Peter C. Waterman.