VOL 22 NO 1 THE CHINA LAKER Business Name Special points of interest:  Who was Dr. Lauritsen  President Kennedy  Public Relations Corner Who Was... 1 President’s Message 1 Public Relations Corner 3 Presidential Timeline 4 Board of Directors 5 Future Museum Facility 11 Donation Application 12 Inside this issue: Dr. Charles Christian Lauritsen was, more than anyone else, the inspiration behind the establishment of the Naval Ordnance Test Station at Inyokern, California, which today goes by the name of the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) China Lake. The China Lake community has a technical laboratory and a street named for Lauritsen. Early Years. Born in 1892 in Holstebro, Denmark, Lauritsen graduated from Odense Technical School in 1911, and immigrated to America in 1917 with his wife Sigrid and young son, Thomas. He worked around the country at engineering and design jobs. In 1926 he attended a public lecture on physics given by Dr. Robert A. Millikan, head of a small college in Pasadena, California, that soon became the California Institute of Technology WHO WAS: DR. CHARLES C. LAURITSEN by Jack Latimer January 2016 President’s Message We pray you experienced a wonderful holiday with the love of family and friends all around. We certainly did here in the Indian Wells Valley! Amongst the eight Christmas parties in eight days that Bob and I attended (our culture here hasn’t changed that much!), we had fun with friends of the China Lake Museum—volunteers, Board, and Founders Club Members at the CLMF Annual Christmas Party at the Museum. A special thank you to our hard working Board and staff this year 2015, especially our unpaid volunteers and docents, who make the Museum come alive each day to our visitors, and keep our community far and wide engaged and educated about the China Lake history and (Con’t page 6) (CalTech). Inspired by Millikan, Lauritsen moved to Southern California to study physics under Millikan. In 1929 Lauritsen received his Ph.D. and joined the physics department faculty in 1930. The remainder of his academic career as a Professor of Physics was spent at CalTech until he retired in 1962. Work on X-rays. In 1928, while still a student at CalTech, he and Dr. Ralph D. Bennett developed X-ray tubes operating up to 750 kilovolts. These tubes were then used for radiation therapy of cancer patients in the Kellogg Radiation Laboratory, which was built as a treatment clinic in 1931. In 1932 Lauritsen converted one of his X-ray tubes into an accelerator of protons and helium ions and began to study nuclear reactions. One of Lauritsen’s most sig- nificant discoveries showed that protons could be captured by a carbon nucleus, releasing gamma rays. This process— called radiative capture— was applied to the study of nuclear (Con’t page 2) Newsletter Editor - Bettye Moody , OCR Text: VOL 22 NO 1 THE CHINA LAKER Business Name Special points of interest:  Who was Dr. Lauritsen  President Kennedy  Public Relations Corner Who Was... 1 President’s Message 1 Public Relations Corner 3 Presidential Timeline 4 Board of Directors 5 Future Museum Facility 11 Donation Application 12 Inside this issue: Dr. Charles Christian Lauritsen was, more than anyone else, the inspiration behind the establishment of the Naval Ordnance Test Station at Inyokern, California, which today goes by the name of the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) China Lake. The China Lake community has a technical laboratory and a street named for Lauritsen. Early Years. Born in 1892 in Holstebro, Denmark, Lauritsen graduated from Odense Technical School in 1911, and immigrated to America in 1917 with his wife Sigrid and young son, Thomas. He worked around the country at engineering and design jobs. In 1926 he attended a public lecture on physics given by Dr. Robert A. Millikan, head of a small college in Pasadena, California, that soon became the California Institute of Technology WHO WAS: DR. CHARLES C. LAURITSEN by Jack Latimer January 2016 President’s Message We pray you experienced a wonderful holiday with the love of family and friends all around. We certainly did here in the Indian Wells Valley! Amongst the eight Christmas parties in eight days that Bob and I attended (our culture here hasn’t changed that much!), we had fun with friends of the China Lake Museum—volunteers, Board, and Founders Club Members at the CLMF Annual Christmas Party at the Museum. A special thank you to our hard working Board and staff this year 2015, especially our unpaid volunteers and docents, who make the Museum come alive each day to our visitors, and keep our community far and wide engaged and educated about the China Lake history and (Con’t page 6) (CalTech). Inspired by Millikan, Lauritsen moved to Southern California to study physics under Millikan. In 1929 Lauritsen received his Ph.D. and joined the physics department faculty in 1930. The remainder of his academic career as a Professor of Physics was spent at CalTech until he retired in 1962. Work on X-rays. In 1928, while still a student at CalTech, he and Dr. Ralph D. Bennett developed X-ray tubes operating up to 750 kilovolts. These tubes were then used for radiation therapy of cancer patients in the Kellogg Radiation Laboratory, which was built as a treatment clinic in 1931. In 1932 Lauritsen converted one of his X-ray tubes into an accelerator of protons and helium ions and began to study nuclear reactions. One of Lauritsen’s most sig- nificant discoveries showed that protons could be captured by a carbon nucleus, releasing gamma rays. This process— called radiative capture— was applied to the study of nuclear (Con’t page 2) Newsletter Editor - Bettye Moody , China Lake Museum,China Laker - Newsletter,China Laker 2010s,China Laker 2016,Newsletter Jan 2016.pdf,Newsletter Jan 2016.pdf Page 1, Newsletter Jan 2016.pdf Page 1