Henry Way Kendall was a distinguished American physicist who served as the Julius A. Stratton Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for nearly four decades. Born in Boston on December 9, 1926, he received his undergraduate degree from Amherst College in 1950 before earning his PhD in Nuclear Physics from MIT in 1955. Following postdoctoral work at Brookhaven National Laboratory, he joined Stanford University's physics faculty where he began his groundbreaking research collaborations. Kendall returned to MIT in 1961, establishing himself as a leading figure in experimental particle physics while also becoming deeply engaged in scientific policy and environmental advocacy.
Kendall's most significant contribution came through his collaborative work at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center from 1967 to 1973, where he, along with Jerome Friedman and Richard Taylor, conducted pioneering experiments involving deep inelastic scattering of high-energy electrons on protons and neutrons. Their meticulous measurements revealed that electrons scattered at much wider angles than expected under the prevailing model of nucleons as uniform entities, providing the first compelling experimental evidence for the existence of quarks as internal point-like structures within protons and neutrons. This revolutionary discovery fundamentally transformed particle physics by validating the theoretical quark model proposed by Murray Gell-Mann and George Zweig, ultimately reshaping the Standard Model of particle physics. Kendall's rigorous experimental approach and precise measurements established a new paradigm for understanding the fundamental constituents of matter, demonstrating that protons and neutrons possessed complex internal structures contrary to the mushy regions previously assumed.
Beyond his Nobel Prize-winning research, Kendall was instrumental in founding the Union of Concerned Scientists in 1969, serving as its chairman for over twenty-five years and applying his scientific expertise to address critical issues of nuclear safety and environmental protection. His commitment to responsible science extended throughout his career as he worked to assess and develop means to control the adverse effects of advanced nuclear technologies both on land and in space. Kendall's dual legacy encompasses both his transformative contributions to fundamental physics and his dedicated efforts to ensure scientific integrity in public policy. Though his life was tragically cut short in 1999 while exploring the natural world he sought to protect, his scientific discoveries continue to underpin modern particle physics while his advocacy work remains influential in the scientific community's engagement with societal issues.
