Wendell H. Furry

Wendell Hinkle Furry was a professor of physics at Harvard University, and made notable contributions to theoretical and particle physics.He received his Ph.D from the University of Illinois in 1932.He made important contributions to the early development of Quantum Field Theory with J. Robert Oppenheimer, Vladimir Fock, and others.During World War II he worked on radar at MIT's Radiation Laboratory.He was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1949.

He was subpoenaed several times as a suspected communist by US Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, and invoked his 5th Amendment privilege in refusing to answer questions about his past membership in the Communist Party.He also refused to name other communists he had known.Furry was defended by newly-appointed Harvard president Nathan M. Pusey, who refused McCarthy's demands to fire him, and also by Nobel laureate in physics and fellow Harvard professor Edward M. Purcell. ["Time" magazine, [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,823208,00.html] ] He co-authored a general physics text of the time with Purcell and J. C. Street. ["Physics for Science and Engineering Students," W. H. Furry, E. M. Purcell, and J. C. Street, 1952, The Blakiston Company, New York. ]

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