| Authorised form of name | Foster; John Stuart (1890 - 1964); physicist |
| Dates | 1890 - 1964 |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Place of birth | Clarence, Nova Scotia, Canada |
| Date of birth | 28 May 1890 |
| Place of death | Berkeley, California, USA |
| Date of death | 09 September 1964 |
| Occupation | Physicist |
| Research field | Experimental spectroscopy |
| Physics |
| Activity | Education:
Pictou Academy; Acadia and Mount Allison Universities; Yale; PhD 1924
Career:
Assistant Professor of Physics, McGill University, Montreal, Canada (1924); Professor of Physics, McGill University, Montreal, Canada (1930); Loomis, Sterling, National, International Research Fellowships (Copenhagen); served as a liaison officer for the National Research Council, working at the MIT-run Radiation Laboratory on radar research and development (1939-1945); directed the construction of a 100-MeV cyclotron (1944); chairman of the physics department, McGill University (1952-1954).
Awards/Medals:
Levy Medal 1930
Henry Marshall Tory Medal 1946 |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 16/05/1935 |
| Age at election | 45 |
| Proposer | Alfred Fowler |
| Niels Bohr |
| John Cunningham McLennan |
| Frank Watson Dyson |
| Ernest William Brown |
| James A Gray |
| Ralph Howard Fowler |
| Ernest Rutherford |
| Robert Williams Wood |
| Frank Dawson Adams |
| Owen Willans Richardson |
| John Stanley Plaskett |
| Arthur Stewart Eve |
| Relationships | Spouse: (m. 1920) Flora Curtis
Children: John S. Foster Jr. |
| OtherInfo | Made important contributions to the study of the "Stark effect".
His most important contribution to the war effort was a rapid scanner now known as the Foster scanner.
The crater Foster on the Moon is named after him. |
| Royal Society Obituary or Memoir | Click to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices) |
| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll
The Canadian Encyclopedia [URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20060512063414/http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0002996; last accessed: 17/09/2025]
Obituaries:
Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 1966 vol 12 pp 147-161, plate, by R E Bell
References:
D C Martin, 'Visit by the Assistant Secretary to some North American Scientific Institutions' in NR 1952 vol 9 pp 356-364 |
| Code | NA766 |
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| RR/38/17 | Referee's report by Ralph Howard Fowler, on a paper 'Effect of combined electric and magnetic fields on the helium spectrum' by John Stuart Foster | November 1928 |
| RR/38/20 | Referee's report by Ralph Howard Fowler, on a paper 'Relative intensities of stark components in hydrogen' by John Stuart Foster and Laura Chalk | November 1928 |
| RR/33/73 | Referee's report by Owens Willans Richardson, on a paper 'Stark patterns observed in helium' by John Stewart Foster | November 1926 |
| RR/64/15 | Referee's report by William Edward Curtis, on a paper 'Stark effect in iron and the contrast with pole effect' by John Stuart Foster and S F Panter | [April 1937] |
| RR/61/127 | Referee's report by William Edward Curtis, on a paper 'The stark effect in argon and krypton' by John Stuart Foster and C A Horton | April 1937 |
| RR/55/128 | Referee's report by Frank Twyman, on a paper 'Quantitative spectrographic analysis of biological material. I-A method for the determination of lead in cerebrospinal fluid' by John Stuart Foster, G O Langstroth and D R McRae | August 1935 |
| RR/69/101 | Referee's report by unknown referee, on a paper 'Effect of crossed electric and magnetic fields on the helium spectrum' by John Stuart Foster and E R Pounder | 1946 |
| RR/61/128 | Referee's report by Alfred Fowler, on a paper 'The stark effect in argon and krypton' by John Stuart Foster and C A Horton | April 1937 |
| RR/43/31 | Referee's report by Ralph Howard Fowler, on a paper 'The effect of combined electric and magnetic fields on the helium spectrum. — II' by John Stuart Foster | January 1931 |
| RR/38/21 | Referee's report by Ralph Howard Fowler, on a paper 'Patterns and paschen-back analogue in the stark-effect for neon' by John Stuart Foster and W Rowles | November 1928 |
| EC/1935/09 | Foster, John Stuart: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| RR/33/74 | Referee's report by Thomas Ralph Merton, on a paper 'Stark patterns observed in helium' by John Stewart Foster | November 1926 |
| RR/64/13 | Referee's report by Frank Twyman, on a paper 'Quantitative spectrographic analysis of biological material. III. A method for the determination of sodium and potassium in glandular secretions' by John Stuart Foster, G O Langstroth and D R McRae | [December 1937] |
| RR/64/12 | Referee's report by Rudolph Albert Peters, on a paper 'Quantitative spectrographic analysis of biological material. III. A method for the determination of sodium and potassium in glandular secretions' by John Stuart Foster, G O Langstroth and D R McRae | [February 1938] |
| RR/64/14 | Referee's report by William Edward Curtis, on a paper 'The stark effect in hydrogen and deuterium' by John Stuart Foster and Hawley Snell | [April 1937] |
| RR/64/16 | Referee's report by Frank Twyman, on a paper 'Quantitative spectrographic analysis of biological material-II' by John Stuart Foster and C A Horton | [April 1937] |
| RR/64/17 | Referee's report by Alfred Fowler, on a paper 'Quantitative spectrographic analysis of biological material-II' by John Stuart Foster and C A Horton | [April 1937] |
| RR/W/5/93 | Referee's Report by [John] Mellanby on a paper 'The submaxillary gland of the cat as studied through its secretions under nerve stimulation and adrenalin administration' by [George] O Langstroth, D R McRae and [George] W Stavraky | [April - May 1937] |
| MDA/N/1/163 | Correspondence between John Stuart Foster and the Royal Society | 19 August 1952-17 October 1958 |