Finding Aid to the Papers of Papers of Philip McCord Morse, 1927-1980Sponsor:This finding aid has been encoded by the Center for History of Physics, American Institute of Physics as part of a collaborative project supported by a grant from the National Endowment of the Humanities, an independent federal agency. Collaboration members in 1999 consisted of: American Institute of Physics, California Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, Rice University, University of Alaska, University of Illinois, and University of Texas. Publisher:American Institute of Physics. Center for History of Physics. Encoding Information:Machine-readable finding aid encoded in EAD v.1.0 by Clay Redding on March 15, 2000 from an existing finding aid using NoteTab Pro and C++ scripts created by James P. Tranowski (provided by Elizabeth Dow, Special Collections, University of Vermont). Any revisions made to this finding aid occurred as part of the editing and encoding process. Reviewed by [name, institution] on [date] . Finding aid written in English. Description of the CollectionLocation of collection:Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Institute Archives and Special Collections. Title and dates of collection:Papers of Philip McCord Morse, 1927-1980 Papers/Records created by:Morse, Philip McCord, 1903- Size of collection:29 records cartons Short description of collection:This collection documents the career of Philip Morse. Morse served on the faculty at MIT from 1931-1969, and was a leader in the field of operations research. The papers consist of biographical information; correspondence; notes; committee minutes; course material; reports; trip diaries; manuscripts; research data and graphs; and reprints and other printed material. Languages Represented:English Selected Search TermsThese papers have been indexed in the International Catalog of Sources for History of Physics and Allied Sciences (ICOS) using the following terms. Those seeking related materials should search under these terms. Biography of Philip McCord MorsePhilip McCord Morse (PM) was born August 6, 1903 in Shreveport, Louisiana. His parents, Allen Crafts Morse, a telephone engineer, and Edith McCord Morse, soon moved to Cleveland where PM grew up. In 1921 PM started attending Case Institute, but he took the following year off to work in the Radiolectric Shop that he owned with friends. Upon his return to Case he began studying physics with Professor Dayton C. Miller and received his B.S. degree in 1926. That fall PM went to Princeton University with the help of a scholarship. There, his gas discharge research with Karl Taylor Compton formed the basis for his thesis, "A Theory of the Electric Discharge through Gases." He spent the summer of 1928 at the University of Michigan as a research associate for an industrial research project on electric gas discharge. In his final year at Princeton PM received the Porter Ogden Jacobus Fellowship which is given to the graduate student with the highest standing. During this year he worked with Edward U. Condon to produce the book Quantum Mechanics. In April of 1929 PM married Annabelle Hopkins and received his Ph.D. in Physics two months later. That summer he worked for Bell Laboratories under the guidance of C. J. Davisson. PM was an instructor at Princeton for the 1929 academic year, and the following summer he returned to the University of Michigan, this time as a special lecturer in quantum mechanics. PM spent the next year on a Rockefeller Fellowship studying with Arnold Sommerfeld in Munich, Germany, and with N. F. Mott and W. S. Massey in Cambridge, England. At the behest of M.I.T.'s new president, K. T. Compton, PM joined the Physics Department as an associate professor in 1931. His research concentrated on acoustics and on astrophysics. His work on the theory of sound absorption resulted in his 1936 book, Vibration and Sound. Contacts with colleagues at the Harvard Observatory led to the formulation of calculations on the opacities of stellar interiors. Arnold Lowan's W. P. A. work at Columbia on the construction of Mathematical Tables also interested PM. He participated in the various mathematical tables projects carried on by the N. B. S. and other federal programs throughout his career. Beginning in 1933, PM became the Graduate Registration Officer for the Physics Department, and he continued in this guidance role until 1965 whenever he was at M.I.T. PM was promoted to associate professor in 1934 and professor in 1938. In response to the growing threat of war, scientists began to change the focus of their research, and PM was no exception. His association with the Radiation Laboratory started in 1941. There, he identified the similarities of certain ideas used in acoustics to microwaves. At Harvard he served as chairman of a National Research Council project that studied ways to reduce the noise and vibrations made by fighter and bomber planes. During this time he also worked on a N. D. R. C. project for the U. S. Navy, studying methods of countering the new acoustic mines that the Germans were using. In 1942 PM went to Washington, D. C. to organize and direct a civilian task force to evaluate the United States antisubmarine program. While directly connected with the Navy, the Anti-Submarine Warfare Operations Research Group (ASWORG) was funded by the N. D. R. C. The group not only evaluated data, but also visited Naval bases to make direct observations. Before disbanding the group wrote a report about their efforts. Volume one, Methods of Operation Research, was declassified and widely used after 1950. For his war work PM received the U. S. Medal of Merit. In 1945 PM returned to M.I.T. and helped to establish the Acoustics Laboratory with Richard Bolt and Leo Beranek. PM's return was shortlived, however. The Associated Universities Inc. wanted to start a civilian nuclear research laboratory in connection with the Atomic Energy Commission. In July 1946 PM became the scientific director of the Brookhaven National Laboratory. At this time PM was also an active member in the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists (the Einstein committee) which sought to educate the public about atomic power. By 1948 Brookhaven was a firmly established facility and PM returned briefly to M.I.T. His assistance was again sought for public service. PM went to Washington to organize an Operations Research team for the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The result was the Weapons Systems Evaluation Group (WSEG), and PM served as its Deputy Director and Director of Research until 1950. The WSEG's civilian unit became the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) in 1956, and PM served on their Board of Trustees. A similar group, RAND, was established to advise the Air Force in 1948, and PM was on their Board of Trustees until 1962. Finally, in 1950 PM returned to M.I.T. for a longer stay, although his public service activities never ceased (see Chronology on p. 6). PM's interest in the new discipline, Operations Research, continued at M.I.T. He was instrumental in promoting wide acceptance of O/R for non-military uses. By 1952 the Institute offered summer courses in O/R and the O/R Center became an official interdepartmental facility in 1956. PM served as director from 1956 until 1969. PM initiated another interdisciplinary program at M.I.T. in an effort to introduce students and professors alike to the research uses of computers. The Committee on Machine Methods of Computation began in 1952 with PM as chairman. This committee supervised research assistantships that were given to graduate students using computers. In 1955 PM convinced I.B.M. to install a rent-free computer in a building that was partially paid for by I.B.M. Part of the agreement allowed other New England schools to use the facility. This arrangement eventually became the New England Regional Computing Program (NERComp). By 1957 the new Compton Laboratory was dedicated as M.I.T.'s Computation Center with PM as director, a position he held until 1967. The Center received funds from N. S. F. and the Rockefeller Foundation to supplement their costs. After several expansions timesharing was introduced in the 1960's. PM remained active outside of M.I.T. despite his numerous Institute commitments. His promotion of O/R was not limited to M.I.T. He helped to organize the first International Operations Research Conference in 1957. The International Federation of O/R Societies originated at this conference. International interest in O/R led to a 1959 NATO conference where the Advisory Panel on Operations Research (APOR) began with PM as chairman. The panel, in association with the United States Advisory Group for Aeronautical Research and Development, started training programs, organized conferences, and sponsored visiting consultants to NATO countries. Another APOR was started by PM in 1964 for the Organization for Educational and Cultural Development. This panel emphasized that O/R could be used for many problems that were not military or industrial. Other international O/R projects that PM was associated with include lecture tours in Japan, India, Israel, and Taiwan sponsored by the Ford Foundation and in Australia sponsored by the Fulbright Foundation, as well as a fact-finding trip to Nigeria and Tunisia that was associated with the International Relations Committee of the National Academy of Sciences. PM's endeavors helped to prove the myriad applications of O/R. His study of the M.I.T. library was one of the first of its kind. Other studies helped him to develop some of his queuing theories. PM became an emeritus professor at M.I.T. in 1969. He lives with his wife in Winchester, Massachusetts (as of 1981). For more information on PM's activities, memberships, and honors please see the Chronology which follows this brief biography. PM's autobiography, In At the Beginnings: A Physicist's Life (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1977), provides a more in-depth discussion of his life and achievements.
Scope and Contents of CollectionThe Philip Morse (PM) Papers consist of biographical information; correspondence; notes; committee minutes; course material; reports; trip diaries; manuscripts; research data and graphs; and reprints and other printed material. PM's association with M.I.T. spans almost fifty years. After his retirement he remained as a senior lecturer until 1980. He was not only active with research and teaching responsibilities in the Physics Department, but he was also active in administrative and policy decisions of the Institute. Series II reflects the wide-range of interests that PM pursued at M.I.T. He was a member of both Physics Department committees and general faculty committees. As his Department's Graduate Registration Officer he was involved with a number of graduate policy committees such as Hrones' Committee on the Future of the Graduate School, and the Graduate Center Committee. His work with educational policy was not limited to graduate students, however. He was a member of committees that concerned continuing education and education for industrial personnel as well as an ad hoc committee on humanities and an undergraduate policy committee. Much of the material in Series II dates from 1951 when PM returned to M.I.T. and began developing interdisciplinary programs in Operations Research and in computation. His files chart the progress of computation at M.I.T. through the minutes, notes, and reports from such early committees as the Hill Committee on Computation, the Committee on Machine Methods of Computation and Numerical Analysis, as well as from the later Committee on Information Processing.There is some material from the Computation Center which PM directed, including a position paper on the facility. Besides general administrative material there is correspondence, memos, reports, and grant proposals which concern the establishment of a time-sharing arrangement at the Center. PM's early interest in computers is shown in Series II which contains a 1933 memo about Vannevar Bush's differential analyzer. The collection contains less information about the Operations Research Center which PM also directed. The minutes of the Committee on Operations Research and the material from the Operations Research summer course do provide a background for the establishment of the Operations Research Center. PM's administrative and committee involvements became more numerous after World War II, but he first served on the Library Committee in 1932, and he supported the library's growth whenever he returned to M.I.T.The Library Committee and the general library files (Series II) contain budget data, collection development material, correspondence, reports, minutes, and statistics. The planning of Project Intrex is documented in this section. PM further supported M.I.T.'s library through research. His 1956 article, "Attendance and the Use of the Science Library at M.I.T." concerns one of the first applications of Operations Research to library circulation records. A sampling of the distributed surveys, circulation cards, and data sheets were kept in Series IV to document the methodology used in this early survey. Another study done in 1962 resulted in the book Library Effectiveness. PM's notes and data sheets for the book are in Series IV. PM's writings (Series IV) provide the most complete record of his research work in the collection. These files contain notes, calculations, graphs, and tables as well as correspondence, manuscript drafts, and reprints. In many cases the progress of an article or a book can be traced from raw data to finished product; there are even some book reviews. The files also contain course information and notes and some of this material provided the groundwork for a text. In addition the collection contains manuscript material that PM wrote prior to his arrival at M.I.T., including early acoustical research work he did at Cambridge with E.C.G. Stueckelberg. While there is little material from the 1940's when PM was working primarily for the federal government there is some Operations Research (O/R) data. Series IV helps to show PM's many research interests and the gradual progression his interests took; while acoustical studies were dominant in the thirties the emphasis later changed to include computers and O/R. It is interesting to note that PM's writings and speeches were increasingly geared towards a more general audience in this later period. Both Series II and III should be checked for further information about PM's research. The Alphabetical Subject Files (Series III) form the largest part of the collection and are primarily concerned with PM's non-M.I.T. activities. His pursuits, however, were often interrelated and there is no clear demarcation between M.I.T. and non-M.I.T. interests. For example, the section on acoustics (Series IIA) concerns PM's work in that area while at M.I.T. Series III should be checked for special subjects that are not clearly separated between the Institute and outside activities. PM belonged to many professional groups and often served on their committees (see Chronology on page 6). His memberships and committee activities are well-documented in the collection. There is a great deal of material for a number of organizations such as the Acoustical Society of America, the American Institute of Physics, the American Physical Society, and the National Academy of Science/National Research Council. PM was instrumental in founding other organizations, including the Operations Research Society of America and the International Federation of Operations Research Societies, and his files trace the beginnings and the development of these societies. PM's concerns about science in a modern world and his attempts to educate laymen about science are evidenced in his papers. He was Honorary Vice Chairman of the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists, Inc. (the Einstein Committee) and his files contain administrative, policy, and planning information from the committee's inception until it disbanded in 1949 (Series IIIA).There are also financial reports, minutes, agendas, and publicity material from the E.C.A.S. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists was one result of the E.C.A.S.; Series III contains material from PM's position on its Board of Sponsors. PM was also a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Federation of American Scientists, and his papers contain information from these organizations. During World War II PM left academia to work for the government and he continued to serve in public positions after the war. PM's work with O/R really began with the civilian task force he organized to study the Navy's antisubmarine program. The papers contain little from this war work, but his later consultations with the government and the military about O/R are well-documented. PM was on the Steering Committee of the Navy's Operation Evaluation Group and he served on an Ad Hoc Review Committee for the Army's O/R office as well as the Advisory Committee for the Army's Ordnance Research and Development Division. He served on both the Technical Review Board and the Board of Trustees for the Institute for Defense Analyses and the correspondence, minutes, and memos in the collection include information on I.D.A.'s project with the Weapons System Evaluation Group. There is correspondence and reports in Series III from the Rand Corporation for which PM was a trustee. He was also on the Advisory Panel to the Technical Analysis Division of the Institute for Applied Technology which assists non-military agencies of the government in Systems Analysis and O/R. Not all of PM's governmental positions were concerned with Operations Research. He was the first director of the Brookhaven National Laboratory. While most of his files remained at Brookhaven, Series III does contain correspondence, memos, and press releases that were prior to and after his term as director as well as some copies of PM's replies to correspondents while he was director. Also included is a 1946 planning report about the Laboratory. Throughout his career PM was interested in the publication and revision of standard mathematical tables. He worked with Arnold N. Lowan of Columbia on the Works Project Administration's Mathematical Tables Project during the 1930's and he continued to serve on Mathematical Table committees for the National Academy of Science/National Research Council and for the National Bureau of Standards.In 1954 he organized a Conference on Mathematical Tables. Many of these tables were published by the N.B.S., and PM's work on this project is documented throughout Series III. PM was an active consultant for non-governmental organizations. He worked closely with Leo Beranek and Richard Bolt at M.I.T. When they started Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Inc. PM became an associated consultant for the firm.His long association with Bolt and Beranek is evidenced in Series III. PM's consulting work for Romo-Woolridge's fellowship program is documented in his papers. There is also some information that relates to his role as advisor for Physics Today and his position on the editorial board of Science. In 1959 the North Atlantic Treaty Organization conducted a study of O/R in N.A.T.O. countries. The report on the findings led to the establishment of an Advisory Panel on Operations Research (A.P.O.R.) with PM serving as chairman.The panel helped to set up conferences, consulting and other exchange programs in N.A.T.O. countries. The work of the A.P.O.R. up to 1965 is well documented in Series III through correspondence, minutes, trip diaries, reports, and printed material. A group of O/R experts,with PM as chairman, met in 1962 for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (O.E.C.D.). The group sought to place an emphasis on the uses of O/R in the public domain as opposed to already established military and industrial uses of O/R. The meeting led to O.E.C.D. the founding of an Advisory Panel on O/R for the O.E.C.D. As a consultant to the Scientific Affairs Division of O.E.C.D. PM served on this panel. The A.P.O.R. held symposiums in member countries on issues of national import, with the O.E.C.D. providing speakers. Material in the collection about the O.E.C.D.'s panel includes reports, correspondence, speeches, support documents, trip diaries, and financial data. Through a Ford Foundation grant PM traveled to Japan, India, Israel, and Taiwan where he delivered lectures on O/R. Extensive correspondence about the planning of this trip is in Series III. Also documented is a Fulbright Foundation trip PM took as a visiting lecturer on O/R in Australia. PM's expertise about international O/R programs was used by the National Academy of Science/National Research Council's Commission on International Relations. The Commission set up a Panel to study Systems Analysis and O/R in less developed countries. PM served on the panel and went on fact finding missions to Nigeria and Tunisia. The panel's 1975 report and supporting documents can be found in the collection. Organization of CollectionOrganized into the following series: I. Biographical Material; II. Massachusetts Institute of Technology; III. Alphabetical Subject Files, subseries A-B as follows: A. 1933-1956; B. 1956-1980; IV. Writings Arrangement of CollectionFor the most part the collection's original order remains intact, especially within individual folders. The later accession was interfiled into the first group and some folders were rearranged to insure alphabetical consistency. Access to CollectionThere are no restrictions on access to this collection. Restrictions on Use of CollectionRequests for permission to publish material from the collection should be directed to the Institute Archivist. Provenance and Acquisition InformationThe papers were given to the Institute Archives by Professor Morse in 1977 and 1981. Accession numbers: 77-30, 78-2, 81-21. Processing InformationThis collection was processed by Mary Jane McCavitt in August 1981. Processing of the collection was funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Other Related MaterialsCollections that relate to PM in the M.I.T. Archives and Special Collections include the records of the M.I.T. Computation Center, 1950-1964 (AC 62), the transcript of a lecture by PM (Acc. no. 77-109), and the records of the M.I.T. Libraries (AC 47). Series Descriptions
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