Another Fowler Free

The recent letter to the editor from Victor van Lint ( Physics Today,December 2024, page 11) warrants a follow-up: There was yet another Fowler at Los Alamos, Joseph L. Fowler, who during the 1940s used measurements of magnetic-flux compression to discern the dynamics of explosively driven metal shells. That work was a precursor to magnetic-flux-compression generator development led by Clarence “Max” Fowler around 1960. Max remarked to me around 1971 that Fowler was a very common name, but not as generally common as variations on “Martin,” such as “Martino” and “Martinez.”