The contributions of Arthur Robert von Hippel to electrical insulation research

The life and career of Prof. Arthur Robert von Hippel are reviewed. It is noted that he founded the Laboratory for Insulation Research at MIT in 1940, pioneering in materials research, measurements, and instrumentation evolving to the present-day MIT Center for Materials Science and Engineering and to the MIT Laboratory of Electromagnetic Electronic Systems. Particular attention is given to his conception that it may be possible to use atoms as building blocks for design purposes, with physicist as architect.<
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