Bill Parker (MIT)
Encyclopedia
William P. Parker is an artist
, scientist
, and entrepreneur
, best known for inventing the modern design of the plasma lamp. The invention occurred in 1971, when Parker was working as a student in a physics laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
and accidentally filled a test chamber to a greater-than-usual pressure with ionized neon
and argon
. Three years later, Parker was artist-in-residence at the Exploratorium
in San Francisco and created two installations using this technology, entitled Quiet Lightning and AM Lightning.
Parker has also exhibited at the MIT Museum
, the New York Hall of Science
, and the Housatonic Museum at Housatonic Community College
in Bridgeport, Connecticut
. He was the youngest Fellow
at the MIT Center for Advanced Visual Studies
. Plasma globes based on his designs were commercially popular in the 1980s and “are found in nearly every science museum in the world.”
In the 1980s, Parker founded Diffraction Ltd, a defense electro-optics developer that was purchased by the O'Gara Group in 2005. and in 2006 he spun off another company, Creative MicroSystems, focusing on microfluidics
. He maintains a studio in Waitsfield, Vermont
, and in 2008 he was elected to the Waitsfield select board.
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
, and entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
, best known for inventing the modern design of the plasma lamp. The invention occurred in 1971, when Parker was working as a student in a physics laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
and accidentally filled a test chamber to a greater-than-usual pressure with ionized neon
Neon
Neon is the chemical element that has the symbol Ne and an atomic number of 10. Although a very common element in the universe, it is rare on Earth. A colorless, inert noble gas under standard conditions, neon gives a distinct reddish-orange glow when used in either low-voltage neon glow lamps or...
and argon
Argon
Argon is a chemical element represented by the symbol Ar. Argon has atomic number 18 and is the third element in group 18 of the periodic table . Argon is the third most common gas in the Earth's atmosphere, at 0.93%, making it more common than carbon dioxide...
. Three years later, Parker was artist-in-residence at the Exploratorium
Exploratorium
The Exploratorium is a museum in San Francisco with over 475 participatory exhibits, all of them made onsite, that mix science and art. It also aims to promote museums as informal education centers....
in San Francisco and created two installations using this technology, entitled Quiet Lightning and AM Lightning.
Parker has also exhibited at the MIT Museum
MIT Museum
MIT Museum, founded in 1971, is the museum of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It hosts collections of holography, artificial intelligence, robotics, maritime history, and the history of MIT. Its holography collection of 1800 pieces is the largest in...
, the New York Hall of Science
New York Hall of Science
The New York Hall of Science occupies one of the few remaining structures of the 1964 New York World's Fair in Flushing Meadow-Corona Park in the borough of Queens in New York City. Today, it stands as New York City's only hands-on science and technology center...
, and the Housatonic Museum at Housatonic Community College
Housatonic Community College
Housatonic Community College is a two-year public college located in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It is currently one of the twelve colleges in the Connecticut Community Colleges system...
in Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Located in Fairfield County, the city had an estimated population of 144,229 at the 2010 United States Census and is the core of the Greater Bridgeport area...
. He was the youngest Fellow
Fellow
A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
at the MIT Center for Advanced Visual Studies
Center for Advanced Visual Studies
The Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT was founded in 1967 by artist and teacher György Kepes. Kepes, who taught at the new Bauhaus in Chicago, originally founded the Center as a way to encourage artistic collaboration on a large civic scale....
. Plasma globes based on his designs were commercially popular in the 1980s and “are found in nearly every science museum in the world.”
In the 1980s, Parker founded Diffraction Ltd, a defense electro-optics developer that was purchased by the O'Gara Group in 2005. and in 2006 he spun off another company, Creative MicroSystems, focusing on microfluidics
Microfluidics
Microfluidics deals with the behavior, precise control and manipulation of fluids that are geometrically constrained to a small, typically sub-millimeter, scale.Typically, micro means one of the following features:* small volumes...
. He maintains a studio in Waitsfield, Vermont
Waitsfield, Vermont
Waitsfield is a town in Washington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,659 at the 2000 census. It was created by Vermont charter on February 25, 1782...
, and in 2008 he was elected to the Waitsfield select board.