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Canadian-American physicist best known for his work in mass spectrometry and his discovery in 1935 of the uranium isotope 235U.
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Dempster was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees at the University of Toronto in 1909 and 1910, respectively. He travelled to study in Germany, and then left at the outset of World War I for the United States; there he received his Ph.D. in physics at the University of Chicago.
Toronto is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario.
With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021,
it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America.
In 1918, Dempster developed the first modern mass spectrometer, a scientific apparatus allowing physicists to identify compounds by the mass of elements in a sample, and determine the isotopic composition of elements in a sample.
During World War II he worked on the secret Manhattan Project to develop the world's first nuclear weapons.
The Trinity test of the Manhattan Project on 16 July 1945 was the first detonation of a nuclear weapon.
Enrico Fermi, John R. Dunning, and Dana P. Mitchell in front of the cyclotron in the basement of Pupin Hall at Columbia University
Dempster's mass spectrometer was over 100 times more accurate than previous versions, and established the basic theory and design of mass spectrometers that is still used to this day.
Dempster's research over his career centered on the mass spectrometer and its applications, leading in 1935 to his discovery of the uranium isotope 235U.
This isotope's ability to cause a rapidly expanding fission nuclear chain reaction allowed the development of the atom bomb and nuclear power.
Dempster was also well known as an authority on positive rays.
March 1940 meeting at Berkeley, California: Ernest O. Lawrence,
Arthur H. Compton,
Vannevar Bush,
James B. Conant,
Karl T. Compton,
and Alfred L. Loomis