Samuel D. Gehman

Samuel Dwight Gehman (December 7, 1903 – June 1, 1992) was an American physicist noted for development of a modulus-based measurement of rubber's glass transition temperature.

Personal

Gehman was born on December 7, 1903. He died in Akron, Ohio, on June 1, 1992.

Education

In 1922, he was one of eight sophomores selected for honors at the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his doctoral dissertation in 1929 on the topic Reflection of Soft X-rays.

Career

Gehman was recruited to Goodyear by Ray P. Dinsmore. He made influential studies of strain crystallization via x-rays, of rubber's dynamic properties, and of heat transfer in rubber. He managed physics research at Goodyear's research division and was renowned for developing the Gehman low-temperature twist test, which gave laboratories convenient and precise low-temperature stiffening measurements of rubber compounds. He was an inventor of approximately 70 patents.

In 1972, Gehman was listed at 10th out of the 100 top contributors to the world's rubber literature published between 1932 and 1970.

Gehman retired in 1968 following 40 years with Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.

Awards and recognitions 1965 - Fellow of the American Physical Society 1970 - Charles Goodyear Medal from the ACS Rubber Division