Paul Leon Hartman (13 July 1913, Reno, Nevada – 20 May 2005, Ithaca, New York) was an American experimental physicist, known for making pioneering measurements of synchrotron radiation.
During WW II he worked with James Brown Fisk and Homer D. Hagstrum in the development of centimeter-wave generators for airborne radar.
[1] Paul’s research focused on UV physics, especially photoemission from ionic crystals and the production of excitons.
Yet he was perhaps best known for his early investigation, with colleague Diran Tomboulian, of the far-UV spectrum of synchrotron radiation emitted by relativistic electrons in circular orbits.
He spent three sabbatical leaves and many summers at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, studying the light induced by electron bombardment of the atmosphere.