Francis Sears

Francis Weston Sears (October 1, 1898 – November 12, 1975) was an American physicist. He was a professor of physics at MIT for 35 years before moving to Dartmouth College in 1956.^[1] At Dartmouth, Sears was the Appleton Professor of Physics.^[2][3] He is best known for co-authoring University Physics, an introductory physics textbook, with Mark Zemansky. The book, first published in 1949, is often referred to as "Sears and Zemansky", although Hugh Young became a coauthor in 1973.

Francis Weston Sears
Born	(1898-10-01)October 1, 1898 Plymouth, Massachusetts
Died	November 12, 1975(1975-11-12) (aged 77) Hanover, New Hampshire
Citizenship	USA
Alma mater	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Known for	University Physics Debye–Sears effect
Spouse	Mildred Cornwall
Scientific career
Fields	Physics Acousto-optics Education
Institutions	Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dartmouth College

In 1932 he collaborated with Peter Debye in the discovery of what is now called the Debye–Sears effect, the diffraction of light by ultrasonic waves.^[4][5]

Sears was a fellow of the Optical Society of America, and was active in the American Association of Physics Teachers, serving as its treasurer from 1950 to 1958, followed by successive one-year terms as president-elect and president.^[6] He retired to Norwich, Vermont and died in Hanover, New Hampshire, of a stroke on November 12, 1975.^[7][8][6]

Awards

• 1961 — Oersted Medal of the American Association of Physics Teachers^[2][9]

Books

• Sears, Francis W. (1935). An Introduction to Optics. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
• Sears, Francis W. (1946). Electricity and Magnetism. Reading, Massachusetts. Addison-Wesley^[10]
• Sears, Francis; Mark Zemansky; et al. (1948). College Physics (1st ed.). Addison Wesley.^[11]
• Sears, Francis W. (1950). An Introduction to Thermodynamics, the Kinetic Theory of Gases and Statistical Mechanics. Addison Wesley. 2nd edition, 1953^[12][13]
• Sears, Francis W. (1950). Mechanics, heat and sound. Cambridge, Massachusetts. Addison Wesley.
• Sears, Francis (1958). Mechanics, Wave Motion, and Heat (1st ed.). Addison Wesley.^[14]
• Francis W. Sears (1975). Thermodynamics, Kinetic Theory, and Statistical Thermodynamics. Addison Wesley. ISBN 020106894X.^[15]

See also

• MIT Physics Department