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James Edward Zimmerman

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James Edward Zimmerman (February 19, 1923 – August 4, 1999) was born in Lantry, South Dakota. He was a coinventor of the radio-frequency superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) and he is credited with coining the term.

Career

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While at NIST, Zimmerman introduced two important innovations in SQUID magnetometry:

  • Fractional-turn SQUID, improving the coupling efficiency
  • SQUID gradiometer, improving sensitivity to nearby fields

In addition, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, he also gave a major contribution to the development of low-power closed-cycle Stirling refrigerators, to reach temperatures in the range 4K - 8K with the purpose of cooling SQUID devices and small-scale superconducting electronics without resorting to liquid helium dewar vessels. A major achievement was the use of plastic parts made in the laboratory, which would be assembled in a totally non-magnetic cryocooler (refrigerator), in order not to interfere with highly sensitive SQUIDs.. Later, he was also involved in the development of pulse tube cryocoolers.

Education

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South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, B.S. Electrical Engineering 1943
Carnegie Institute of Technology, ScD Physics 1951 – 1953

Awards

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  • NIST Fellow
  • Samuel Wesley Stratton Award, the highest award for scientific achievement conferred by NIST
  • In 1987 he became one of the first to make a SQUID using the newly discovered high-temperature superconductors.

Trivia

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On New Year's Eve of 1969, he participated in an historic experiment, conducted at MIT in collaboration with David Cohen and Edgar Edelsak recording the first human magnetocardiogram using a SQUID sensor.