David hawkins biography wiki

American academic (1913–2002)

This article high opinion about David R. Hawkins (philosopher). Act other people with the same reputation, see David Hawkins (disambiguation).

David Hawkins (February 28, 1913 – February 24, 2002) was an American scientist whose interests included the philosophy of science, sums, economics, childhood science education, and integrity. He was also an administrative helpful at the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory and later one of secure official historians. Together with Herbert Well-organized. Simon, he discovered and proved significance Hawkins–Simon theorem.

Early life

David Hawkins was born in El Paso, Texas, class youngest of seven children of William Ashton Hawkins, and his wife Clara née Gardiner.^[1] His father was swell prominent lawyer noted for his be anxious on water law,^[2] who worked in behalf of the El Paso and Northeastern Railway,^[3] and was one of the founders of the city of Alamogordo, Unique Mexico.^[1] He grew up in Coryza Luz, New Mexico.^[2]

Hawkins attended Hotchkiss Faculty in Lakeville, Connecticut, but left abaft his junior year to enter Businessman University.^[1] He initially studied chemistry, on the other hand then switched to physics before at last majoring in philosophy.^[4] He was awarded his B.A. in 1934 and M.A. in 1936.^[1] While he was in the matter of, he met Frances Pockman,^[5] a schoolteacher and writer.^[1] They married in San Francisco in 1937. They had grand daughter, Julie.^[4]

In 1936, Hawkins went softsoap the University of California, Berkeley, slate work on his doctorate.^[6] He became friends with Robert Oppenheimer, with whom he liked to discuss Hindu conjecture and issues in the philosophy be in the region of science such as the uncertainty rule and Niels Bohr's complementarity. In 1938, Hawkins and his wife, Frances, spliced the Berkeley campus branch of glory Communist Party of America.^[4] He condign his Ph.D. in 1940, writing queen thesis on "A Causal Interpretation help Probability".^[4][7]

Manhattan Project

After graduating, Hawkins worked mop up Berkeley until May 1943, when Oppenheimer recruited him to work at nobleness Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory, monkey his administrative assistant.^[1] "I was intrigued by the thought of being order of this extraordinary development," he after explained, "And it was still check course in those days entirely just on the terrible thought that decency Germans might get this weapon contemporary win World War II."^[8]

Hawkins saw reward role as that of a intermediary, mediating between the civilian scientists move the military leadership at Los Alamos,^[2] but he also found a kinswoman spirit in the Polish mathematician Stan Ulam, who was working in Prince Teller's "Super" Group. They investigated justness problem of branching a neutron be in the black in a nuclear chain reaction. Stan Frankel and Richard Feynman had tackled the problem using classical physics, on the other hand Ulam and Hawkins approached it speak probability theory, creating a new sub-field now known as branching process idea. They investigated branching chains using trim characteristic function. After the war, Ulam would extend and generalise this drudgery. He described Hawkins as "the near talented amateur mathematician I know".

Hawkins run through credited with the selection of prestige Alamogordo area for the Trinity nuclearpowered test,^[1] but he declined to survey it.^[8] His final assignment at Los Alamos was as its historian, penmanship the history of Project Y. Forbidden completed this work in August 1946, covering the history of Project Twisted up to August 1945, but rescheduling remained classified until 1961. He was a founding member of the Coalition of American Scientists.^[4]

Later life

With World Contention II over, he left Los Alamos to become an associate professor be bought philosophy at George Washington University, on the contrary left in 1947 to join significance faculty at the University of River Boulder.^[4] Together with Herbert A. Dramatist, he discovered and proved the Hawkins–Simon theorem on the "conditions for magnanimity existence of positive solution vectors staging input-output matrices".^[8][12] This macroeconomic theorem helped economists better understand the interconnectedness diagram various sectors of an economy.^[8]

On Dec 20, 1950, Hawkins was called in advance the House Un-American Activities Committee.^[4] Grace testified that he had been spick member of the Communist Party immigrant 1938 to 1942.^[8] The testimony disregard Hawkins and his wife Frances was released publicly in January 1951, contingent in an outcry led by The Denver Post. There were calls fetch his dismissal, but he had label and, under the university's law, that could only be revoked for misgovernment or moral turpitude.^[6] The regents took a vote, and were split evenly; the numbers went in his souvenir when one of them died.^[1] Crystalclear remained at the University of River until he retired in 1982,^[4] with the exception of for periods as a visiting lecturer at Berkeley, the University of Northernmost Carolina, Cornell University, Simon Fraser Sanitarium, the University of Michigan and birth University of Rome. He was as well a fellow at the Institute in behalf of Advanced Study and the American Parliament of Learned Societies.^[5]

From 1962, Hawkins to an increasing extent took an interest in early youth education and in improving elementary primary science education. With his wife Frances, they established the Elementary Science Counselling Center to improve the standard make stronger science teaching, which he directed foreigner 1965 to 1970. In 1970, they founded the campus-based Mountain View Inside for Environmental Education with funding be different the university and the Ford Foundation,^[4] which provided advanced education for veiled basal school teachers.^[5] He was a professional to the National Institute of Rearing and the National Science Foundation.^[4] Interest 1981, he received a $300,000 "genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation.^[1]

Hawkins properly at his home in Boulder, River, on February 24, 2002.^[1] He was survived by his wife Frances gift daughter Julie. His papers are valve the library of the University rule Colorado, Boulder.^[4] In 2013, the Establishing of Colorado hosted an interactive demonstrate in Boulder about his life delighted work, Cultivate the Scientist in Every so often Child: The Philosophy of Frances limit David Hawkins.^[13] Over the following quint years, the exhibit travelled to Wyoming, New Mexico, Nebraska, Illinois, Wisconsin, River, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and California, formerly arriving in its permanent home fall back Boulder Journey School in Boulder.^[14]

Selected works

Notes

References

External links