James Kemp

(1927-1988)
James C. Kemp
Physicist & Professor

Inventor of the PEM and Initiator of So Much Relevant Research

Professor James Kemp, physicist at the University of Oregon, developed photoelastic modulators (PEMs) in the late 1960s for the advanced measurement of a wide range of polarization properties important to academic and industry researchers and professionals worldwide. Professor Kemp used the PEM to measure the polarization of light emitted from stars, thereby proving the existence of magnetic “white dwarf” stars.

This discovery provided the evidence used to award the Nobel Prize in physics to an astronomer at the University of Chicago (Chandraheskar) who had predicted the existence of such stars more than 40 years earlier.

James C. Kemp

James C. Kemp was born in Detroit, Michigan, on 9 February 1927, and died of cancer in Eugene, Oregon, on 29 March 1988 after a distinguished career as a physicist and astronomer.

His first degree was in Slavic languages. In 1960 he completed a PhD in electrical engineering at Berkeley, under Jerome R. Singer. Immediately thereafter, he joined Erwin Hahn in the physics department at Berkeley, to work on spin resonance. In 1961 Kemp came to the University of Oregon. For the remainder of the decade he and his students were engaged in magneto-optical studies of color centers in alkaline-earth oxide crystals. In 1969 he developed a piezo-optical birefringence modulator that allowed rapid and convenient measurement of circularly polarized light. This device played a crucial role in his subsequent development as an astrophysicist.

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James C. Kemp

Professor James Kemp, Ever-Curious Astrophysicist

Not too long into his 27-year tenure at the University of Oregon Physics Department, Jim Kemp formed a support group to help provide both community and financial support for the University’s central-Oregon based Pine Mountain Observatory. Friends of Pine Mountain Observatory (FOPMO) grew quickly into an active support group, fueled by Kemp’s eager curiosity for all things astronomical. This fueled an increased awareness of the observatory throughout the region. Particularly in summer months, steady streams of both amateur astronomers and beginning-level, curious tourists from cities and towns far and wide throughout the Northwest and beyond headed to the 6300 ft. elevation of the observatory to look through the numerous telescopes into the dark sky of Central Oregon.

Everyone who was involved, whether as a curious, first-time-to-the-observatory tourist or as an involved FOPMO board member, was directly or indirectly influenced by Dr. Kemp’s infectious scientific curiosity. Below is a paragraph from the minutes of a board meeting on April 13, 1985 in which Kemp shared with the board an exciting new research project he and his assistants were working on.

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“New Project: A polarimetric planet search. This project has been on my mind for years, and at last we have started on it. Planets orbiting around stars produce polarized light, due to reflection of the star’s light. Jupiter-sized planets some 30 million miles from a star would cause a polarization of about 1 part in a million, in the total light from the star plus planet. With a recent improvement in the polarimeter on the 24” telescope, such detection is now in our range. We begin with the bright stars Vega and Regulus, and will later add Altair and other bright stars. Ten nights’ data on Vega are already slightly exciting – we may have already detected “something” going around Vega, emitting variable, reflected light. But we are settling down to many months of work on this project. The 32” telescope’s polarimeter, temporarily in the shop for improvements, will be brought into this project also, by summer.”