Boyd Wheeler Bartlett was an American military officer, professor, school administrator, and physicist.

Education

Bartlett graduated from Bowdoin College

Bowdoin College

Bowdoin College , founded in 1794, is an elite private liberal arts college located in the coastal Maine town of Brunswick, Maine. As of 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranks Bowdoin 6th among liberal arts colleges in the United States. At times, it was ranked as high as 4th in the country. It is...

 in 1917. He graduated from the United States Military Academy

United States Military Academy

The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...

 in 1919 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

. With the reductions in the military ranks in progress in the years following World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, many officers resigned their commissions during those years, as did Bartlett in 1922. He was granted a doctorate from Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

 in 1933. He did postgraduate studies and research with Arnold Sommerfeld

Arnold Sommerfeld

Arnold Johannes Wilhelm Sommerfeld was a German theoretical physicist who pioneered developments in atomic and quantum physics, and also educated and groomed a large number of students for the new era of theoretical physics...

 at the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich

Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich

The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich , commonly known as the University of Munich or LMU, is a university in Munich, Germany...

 from 1934 to 1935. While in Munich, he co-authored two papers with Sommerfeld on theoretical electromagnetism.

Career

After Bartlett returned from Europe, he began a teaching career in physics at Bowdoin College as Professor of Physics. When World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 started, he was called up as a Colonel and assigned to the United States Military Academy

United States Military Academy

The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...

. The head of the Physics Department there, Gerald Counts, was reassigned to Europe, and Bartlett stepped in as acting head of the Department. When Counts returned after the war, Bartlett served as deputy head of the Department, later, through a number of reorganizations and departmental name changes, he became head of the Department of Electricity, predecessor to the Department of Electrical Engineering. He retained this position until his retirement and promotion to Brigadier General in 1958.

Since 1952 at the U. S. Military Academy, an award for excellence in electrical engineering has been a tradition. In 1981, it was named the Brigadier General Boyd Wheeler Bartlett, USA Honor Award.

Honors

• The United States Legion of Merit
  Legion of Merit
  The Legion of Merit is a military decoration of the United States armed forces that is awarded for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements...
  
  – For “exceptional foresight and success in instituting a course in atomic physics during the war” and outstanding leadership.

Selected Literature

• B. W. Bartlett Variation of the Principal Magnetic Susceptibilities of Certain Paramagnetic Crystals with Temperature, Phys. Rev. 41 (6) 818 - 832 (1932). Bowdoin College and Columbia University. Received 19 July 1932.

• Arnold Sommerfeld and B. W. Bartlett Über die longitudinale Widerstandsänderung im Magnetfelde nach der elementaren Theorie, Physikalische Zeitschrift 36 894-899 (1935)

• Arnold Sommerfeld and B. W. Bartlett Über die longitudinale Widerstandsänderung im Magnetfelde nach der elementaren Theorie, Zeitschrift für technische Physik 16 500 (1935)

• B. W. Bartlett Coefficients of Friction Greater than Unity, American Journal of Physics 12 (2) 48 (1944). United States Military Academy, West Point, on leave of absence from Bowdoin College.

• B. W. Bartlett Physics at the United States Military Academy, American Journal of Physics 12 (4) 78-91 (1944). United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, on leave of absence from Bowdoin College.

• B. W. Bartlett Coefficients of Friction Greater than Unity, American Journal of Physics 12 (2) 48 (1944). Colonel, U. S. Army, United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, on leave of absence from Bowdoin College.

• B. W. Bartlett, P. M. Honnell, and F. H Mitchell Mass Production in the Elementary Electronics Laboratory, American Journal of Physics 16 (4) 224-230 (1948). Bartlett: United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, on leave of absence from Bowdoin College. Honnell: At publication at Washington University, St. Louis, MO. Mitchell: At publication at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL.