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|religion = |footnotes = |signature = }}Robert Williams Wood (May 2, 1868 – August 11, 1955) was an American physicist and inventor. He is often cited as being a pivotal contributor to the field of optics and a pioneer of infrared and ultraviolet photography. Wood's patents and theoretical work shed much light on the nature and physics of ultra-violet radiation, and made possible the myriad uses of UV-fluorescence which became popular after World War I.〔〔Wood, Robert W. (13 July 1920). "Flash-telescope." U.S. Patent No. 1,346,580. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.〕〔WOOD, ROBERT W. (22 May 1923). "Optical Method." U.S. Patent No. 1,455,825. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.〕〔Wood, Robert W. (29 June 1926). "Optical toy." U.S. Patent No. 1,590,463. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.〕 == Life == Born in Concord, Massachusetts, Wood attended The Roxbury Latin School with the initial intent of becoming a priest. But he decided to study optics instead when he witnessed a rare glowing aurora one night and believed the effect to be caused by "invisible rays". In his pursuit to find these "invisible rays", Wood studied and earned numerous degrees from Harvard, MIT and the University of Chicago. From 1894 to 1896 he worked with Heinrich Rubens at the Berlin University. Returned to the USA he taught briefly at the University of Wisconsin and eventually became a full-time professor of "optical physics" at Johns Hopkins University from 1901 until his death. He worked closely with Alfred Lee Loomis at Tuxedo Park, New York. He wrote many articles on spectroscopy, phosphorescence and diffraction. He is best known for his work in ultra-violet light. Another claim to fame was his debunking of N-rays in 1904. French physicist Prosper-René Blondlot claimed to have discovered a new form of radiation similar to X-rays, which he named N-rays. Some physicists reported having successfully reproduced his experiments; others reported that they had failed. Visiting Blondlot's laboratory at the behest of the journal ''Nature'', Wood surreptitiously removed an essential prism from Blondlot's apparatus during a demonstration. The effect did not vanish, showing that N-rays had always been self-deception on Blondlot's part.〔 Quote: "After spending three hours or more in witnessing various experiments, I am not only unable to report a single observation which appeared to indicate the existence of the rays, but left with a very firm conviction that the few experimenters who have obtained positive results, have been in some way deluded. A somewhat detailed report of the experiments which were shown to me, together with my own observations, may be of interest to the many physicists who have spent days and weeks in fruitless efforts to repeat the remarkable experiments which have been described in the scientific journals of the past year."〕 Wood identified a very low ultraviolet albedo (reflectivity, that is most of the ultraviolet is absorbed) region in the Aristarchus Plateau region of the Moon which he suggested was due to high sulphur. The area continues to be called Wood's Spot. In 1909, Wood constructed the first practical liquid mirror astronomical telescope, by spinning mercury to form a paraboloidal shape, and investigated its benefits and limitations. Wood has been described as the "father of both infrared and ultraviolet photography". Though the discovery of electromagnetic radiation beyond the visible spectrum and the development of photographic emulsions capable of recording them pre-date Wood, he was the first to intentionally produce photographs with both infrared and ultraviolet radiation.〔Seabrook (1941)〕 In 1903 he developed a filter, Wood's glass, that was opaque to visible light but transparent to both ultraviolet and infrared, and is used in modern-day black lights.〔 He used it for ultraviolet photography but also suggested its use for secret communication.〔 He was also the first person to photograph ultraviolet fluorescence.〔〔 He also developed an ultraviolet lamp, which is widely known as the Wood's lamp in medicine. The slightly surreal glowing appearance of foliage in infrared photographs is called the Wood effect.〔(【引用サイトリンク】work=PhotoNotes.org: Dictionary of Film and Digital Photography )〕 Wood also authored non-technical works. In 1915, Wood co-authored a science fiction novel, ''The Man Who Rocked the Earth'', with Arthur Train;〔Train & Wood (1915)〕 a sequel, ''The Moon Maker'', was published the next year.〔Train & Wood (1916)〕 He also wrote and illustrated two books of children's verse, ''How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers'' (1907) and ''Animal Analogues'' (1908). Wood participated in the investigation of several crimes including the Wall Street bombing.〔 Wood married in 1892 in San Francisco, Gertrude Hooper Ames, daughter of Pelham Warren and August Wood (Hooper) Ames, and granddaughter of William Northey Hooper, and Massachusetts Supreme Court judge, Hon. Seth Ames. He died in Amityville, New York.〔() (1980)〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Robert W. Wood」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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