782 THE BELL SYSTEM TECHNICAL JOURNAL, OCTOBER 1951 



lem of applying electron diffraction to the study of the structure of thin 

 surface films. He was the pioneer in utilizing electron diffraction in studies 

 of surface structure, and made a large contribution to the science and tech- 

 nology of this new and important analysis technique. While Germer, grad- 

 uating from his place as an aide to Davisson, worked independently on this 

 problem, he benefited from frequent discussions with Davisson. After Germer 

 had perfected an electron diffraction spectrometer, he operated it for a num- 

 ber of years as an analytical aid to many of the research and development 

 projects of the Laboratories. The interpretation of the patterns and the 

 determination of the crystalline structure of surface films were complex 

 problems. During the period that Germer was developing techniques and 

 getting order into the analysis of the patterns, Davisson of ten joined him 

 in puzzling out the crystal structure revealed in photographs of the diffrac- 

 tion patterns of many different kinds of surfaces. 



As a logical consequence of Davisson's interest in electron diffraction, he 

 next concerned himself with a variety of problems in electron optics. He 

 was one of the first to develop analytical procedures in the design of struc- 

 tures for sharply focusing electron beams. For many years, beginning in the 

 early 1930's, Davisson gave much attention to the analytical side of electron 

 optics and designed and constructed many structures for electron focusing. 

 Prior to his work much of the vacuum-tube development work in our lab- 

 oratories, as elsewhere where electron focusing was required, was largely 

 empirical. Unfortunately he did not publish much of the fine work that he 

 did, although he reported on portions of it to scientific and technical groups. 

 However, the effect of his work and his ever increasing knowledge of elec- 

 tron optics on the programs and men of our laboratories concerned with 

 electron dynamics was large. Dr. J. B. Fisk, Dr. J. R. Pierce, Dr. L. A. 

 MacCoU, Dr. Frank Gray and others of our laboratory obtained guidance 

 and inspiration from Davisson, the consultant and adviser. 



His work in electron optics came at a fortunate time in relation to our 

 laboratories' studies of the transmission of television signals over coaxial 

 conductor systems. Although it was possible to measure the amount and 

 characteristics of the electrical distortion of signal currents, there were not 

 available cathode ray tubes precise enough in their design for evaluating 

 the degradation in the picture's quality resulting from the passage of the 

 signal through the coaxial system. He undertook the development of a 

 cathode-ray tube for this test purpose employing the principles of electron 

 optics that he had worked out. In doing this he made one of his few excur- 

 sions into technology. There resulted from his work a cathode-ray tube of 

 great precision. By virtue of the fundamental design of the beam and de- 

 flecting system, the tube provided an extremely small rectangular spot on 



