Description of the Collection
American Institute of Physics. Center for History of Physics.
College Park, MD 20740
Papers of Léon Brillouin, 1877-1972
8.25 linear feet (17 boxes)
Brillouin, Léon, 1889-1969
This collection includes the work of three generations of French physicists: Léon Brillouin (1889-1969), his father, Marcel Brillouin (1854-1948), and Léon's maternal grandfather, Éleuthère Mascart (1837-1908). The Mascart papers cover the period 1877-1910, are mostly photocopies, and includes notes and correspondence. The Marcel Brillouin portion of the collection covers the period 1887-1943 and includes correspondence, scientific notes and notebooks centered on his research on tides and the physics of the earth, bibliographies and reprints of his writings. The papers of Léon Brillouin comprise the remainder of the collection and primarily cover the period after he came to the United States, 1941-1968. It includes mostly correspondence and, manuscripts and notes relating to his work on Brillouin scattering, relativity, and information theory.
See below for information on access and restrictions.
English
Selected Search Terms
These 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.
Bloch, Felix, 1905-
Bohr, Niels Henrik David, 1885-1962.
Born, Max, 1882-1970.
Brillouin, Marcel, 1854-1908.
Carstoiu, John.
Curie, Marie, 1867-1934.
Ewald, Paul Peter, 1888-1985.
Kelvin, William Thompson, Baron, 1824-1907.
Langevin, Paul, 1872-1946.
Lorentz, H. A. (Hendrik Antoon), 1853-1928.
Love, A. E. H. (Augustus Edward Hough), 1863-1940.
Magiros, Demetrios G.
Manneback, Charles.
Mascart, Éleuthère Élie Nicolas, 1837-1908.
Pauli, Wolfgang, 1900-1958.
Planck, Max, 1858-1947.
Rosenfeld, L. (Leon), 1904-1974.
Schrodinger, Erwin, 1887-1961.
Sommerfeld, Arnold, 1868-1951.
Szent-Gyorgyi, Albert, 1893-
Wigner, Eugene Paul, 1902-
Harvard University.
International Business Machines Corporation.
Brillouin scattering.
Electromagnetic waves -- Scattering.
Elementary particles.
Gravitation.
Gravity.
Hydrodynamics.
Information theory.
Nuclear physics.
Quantum theory.
Radiation.
Relativity (Physics)
Autobiography.
Laboratory notebooks.
Manuscripts.
Physicists.
Biography of Éleuthère Élie Nicolas Mascart
The son of a teacher, Éleuthère E. N. Mascart was born in Quarouble, France, February 20, 1837. He received his doctorate from the École Normale in 1864. Shortly thereafter he married Mlle. Briot, daughter of Charles Auguste Briot, professor of mechanics at the Sorbonne and at the École Normale Superieure.
After teaching secondary education, he became professor of physics at the College de France in 1872, a chair he held for the rest of his life. In 1884 he was elected to the French Academy of Sciences and served as permanent secretary and later president.
Mascart's scientific career was marked not by great discoveries but by a steady stream of experimental and theoretical work in optics, electricity, magnetism, and meteorology, including spectroscopic exploration (using photographic detection techniques) of the ultraviolet region of the solar spectrum and determined the relative wavelengths of the principal emission lines of ten selected metals. This work won for Mascart the 1866 Prix Bordin.
Mascart's many years of research in refraction and optics was recognized by the French Academy of Science when he was awarded the Grand Prix in 1874. His work in optics also led to the publication of his three-volume Traité d'optique (Paris, 1889-1893).
Another area of research for Mascart was electricity and magnetism. Once again he incorporated his research into textbooks: first into his two-volume Traité d'électricité statique (Paris, 1876) and then into his two-volume Lecons sur l'électricité et el magnétisme, written with J. Joubert (Paris, 1882-1886), which was the first French textbook that attempted to treat simultaneously the work of Maxwell, Kelvin, and Helmholtz. It became a standard work for engineers as well as for physicists.
Mascart's third major area of scientific activity was meteorology. He became director of the Bureau Central Météorologique (1878). He helped organize an international scientific polar expedition, as well as a French expedition to Cape Horn. The major goal of the latter was to map the magnetic field of the earth, a subject on which he published an extensive textbook, Traite de magnetisme terestre (Paris, 1900).
Mascart's general prestige is reflected in his election in 1892 as a foreign member of the Royal Society and his election in 1900 as vice-president of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, the first time this post was ever held by a non-British citizen.
Mascart died at the age of seventy-one in Paris in 1908 (
Dictionary of Scientific Biography, s.v. "Mascart, Éleuthère Élie Nicolas.").
Biography of Marcel L. Brillouin
Marcel Louis Brillouin was born in Melle, Deux-Sèvres, France, 19 December 1854. His father was a painter and the family lived in Paris. He was a student at the École Normale Supérieure (1874-1878) and an assistant at the Collège de France, to the well-known physicist Mascart, whose daughter he later married in 1888. In 1881 Brillouin obtained doctorates in both mathematics and physics. From 1900 he was professor of mathematical physics at the Collège de France until his retirement in 1931. He became a member of the Académe des Sciences de Paris in 1921.
Brillouin was a prominent theoretical physicist, but he was also a very skillful experimenter. In his long career, he published more than 200 papers and books. His scientific interests were in meteorology, the kinetic theory of gases, liquids, solids, thermodynamics of liquids and solids, plasticity, and melting conditions, the propagation of electricity.
About 1900 Brillouin spent considerable time building a new model of the Eötvös balance. This is described in a long paper published by the Académie des Sciences in 1908. There followed papers on Helmholtz' flow and surfaces of discontinuity. From 1918 to 1922, Brillouin tried to find an explanation of Bohr's condition of stable atom trajectories. The problem of an electromagnetic source in uniaxial or biaxial crystals led to papers of interest for crystal optics. From 1925 most of Brillouin's research centered on physics of the earth, especially tides. He lectured on these subjects at the Collège de France and the Institut Poincaré (1930). His lectures on tides were edited by J. Coulomb, but most of them remained unpublished.
Brillouin died in Paris in 1948 (
Dictionary of Scientific Biography, s.v. "Brillouin, Marcel Louis.").
Biography of Léon N. Brillouin
Léon Nicolas Brillouin was born in Sèvres, Seine-et-Oise, France, August 7, 1889. His father was the physicist Marcel Brillouin. He received his Ph.D. in 1920 from the University of Paris where he became a professor in 1928 and served until 1932. For the next fourteen years he was a professor at the Collége de France.
Brillouin was General Director of the French National Broadcasting System from 1939 to 1941. He made several trips to the United States as visiting professor at various American universities. He became a Fellow of the American Physical Society, President of the French École Libre des Hautes Etudes, a member of the Applied Mathematics Group at Columbia University and Research Lecturer at Cruft Laboratory of Harvard. In 1949 he became a U. S. Citizen. From 1953 he was adjunct professor at Columbia University. Many companies used his services as a consulting engineer in radio including the International Business Machines Corp. where he was named Director of Electronics Education. He published more than 200 papers, 12 pamphlets and 15 books.
He became one of the founders of solid-state theory, and made contributions to the engineering of radio antennas and to transmission of electric waves in cables, and studies of the motion of electron beams in magnetrons and in traveling-wave tubes.
Brillouin died in 1969.
Scope and Contents of Collection
This collection includes the work of three generations of French physicists: Léon Brillouin (1889-1969), his father, Marcel Brillouin (1854-1948), and Léon's maternal grandfather, Éleuthère Mascart (1837-1908). A significant portion, especially of the earlier papers, is in French.
The Mascart papers are contained in the first four folders and cover the period 1877-1910. Included are photocopies of notes and correspondence to Mascart primarily from Lord Kelvin (1877-1908), a reprint of "The Life and Work of Lord Kelvin" written by Silvanus P. Thompson, several reprints by Mascart and Kelvin on electricity, and a typed list of his honors.
The Marcel Brillouin portion of the collection comprises nearly six boxes and includes correspondence to him (1887-1939), some of which are photocopies; scientific notes and notebooks (ca. 1900-1943), many centered on his research on tides and the physics of the earth, oceanography, and meteorology; bibliographies and reprints of his writings; and reprints of others writings. One file contains correspondence between Brillouin and H. A. Lorentz from 1911 regarding Marie Curie and Paul Langevin. In addition to his son, Léon, other correspondents included M. Planck, H. Fischer, and A. Summerfeld, Augustus E. H. Love, and Rolin Wavre.
The papers of Léon Brillouin comprise the remainder of the collection and cover the period after he came to the United States, 1941-1968. Most of the correspondence is incoming, international in scope, and includes among the signatures those of Niels Bohr, Felix Bloch, Max Born, P. P. Ewald, A. D. Fokker, Jean Loiseau, Rene Lucas, Charles Mannebak, Erwin Schrodinger.
The manuscript files often include his notes, corrections, informational materials, and sometimes correspondence related to his topic. They relate to Brillouin's most important post-WWII research such as Brillouin scattering, relativity, and information theory.
There is a significant collection of reprints by others, that are annotated or have annotations laid in which are organized in the following topics: general relativity, gravity propagation, nuclear and particle physics, atomic clocks, and quantum theory. The remainder of the reprints are arranged alphabetically by author.
Also included is Brillouin's undated student notebook (ca. 1911) of lectures by Paul Langevin in which he gives details of relativity theory shortly before Einstein published his work.
The addition to the papers consists primarily of manuscripts, notes and correspondence. The most significant manuscript is that of
Relativity Reexamined which includes notes and correspondence. Also included are published volumes of Wave Propagation in Periodic Structures and Science and Information Theory with annotated "corrections," insets, and comments.
The correspondence is from the 1960s, sporadic and mostly personal in nature.
The remainder of that series includes the French version of an autobiography "Revue D'une Carriere Scientifique" written for the American Institute of Physics in 1962 and revised in 1966;a scrapbook kept by Mrs. Brillouin; and documents relating to Brillouin's death and estate matters.
Organization of Collection
The papers are organized in four series: I. The Papers of Éleuthère Mascart, 1877-1910; II. The Papers of Marcel Brillouin, 1887-1943; III. The Papers of Léon Brillouin, 1911-1969 (bulk, 1943-1969); IV. Addition to the Papers of Léon Brillouin, 1953-1972.
Arrangement of Collection
Files arranged chronologically.
Access to Collection
Open to qualified researchers without restrictions.
Restrictions on Use of Collection
Use of primary source material in the Niels Bohr Library requires prior approval through an Application for Access, which includes a statement of research purpose and the names and addresses of two scholars as references. Access applications can be obtained by contacting the Library (telephone 301-209-3177; or e-mail nbl@aip.org). The application can also be printed from our website.
Provenance and Acquisition Information
The major portion of this collection was in the possession of Léon Brillouin and was deposited at the Neils Bohr Library by his widow, Marcelle Brillouin, in 1970. A small addition to the collection was received after her death in 1986. According to the Brillouin family, most of his earlier correspondence and papers were lost during World War II.
Processing Information
The bulk of the collection was processed shortly after its deposit in the early 1970s, and an item-level finding aid was created.
Though the addition was deposited in 1986, it was not processed until 2000. The papers were mostly in brown envelopes or single items with no particular organization.. An artificial organization was created to facilitate access. For preservation reasons, the scrapbook was dismantle and the items placed in acid free envelopes and folders in the collection. At that time this revised finding aid was created which includes the entire collection.
Other Related Materials
- Oral History Interview with Léon Brillouin, 1962
- Revue D'une Carriere Scientifique, an autobiography of Léon Brillouin
Materials Separated from Collection
Photographs in the collection have been removed to the Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, but photocopies of the photographs remain with the collection.
Series Descriptions
Series I, The Papers of Éleuthère Mascart, 1877-1910
Box 1
This is Brillouin's small collection of materials from his maternal grandfather. Includes photocopies of penciled scientific notes (no date); correspondence to Mascart from Lord Kelvin, 1877-1908; offprints, 1894-1910.
Series II, The Papers of Marcel Brillouin, 1887-1943
Boxes 1-6
This is Brillouin's collection of his father's papers. Includes correspondence, scientific notes and notebooks, many of which relate to his research on tides and the physics of the earth, bibliographies, and reprints.
Series III, The Papers of Léon Brillouin, 1911-1969 (bulk, 1943-1969)
Boxes 7-14
This series relates to the career of Léon Brillouin and covers primarily the period after he came to the United States. It includes mostly correspondence, manuscripts, and notes. Some of the correspondents include Bohr, Born, Manneback, Schrodinger. The manuscripts and notes relate to some of Brillouin's most important post-WWII work such as Brillouin scattering relativity, and information science. Of interest also are his ca. 1911 student notebooks of lectures by Paul Langevin on the theory of relativity.
Series IV, Addition to the Papers of Léon Brillouin, 1953-1972
Boxes 15-17
This series consists primarily of manuscripts, notes, and correspondence. The correspondence is sporadic and mostly personal in nature. The most significant manuscript is that of Relativity Reexamined. Also includes the French version of an autobiography "Revue D'une Carriere Scientifique," a scrapbook, and documents relating to his death and estate matters.
Container List
Series I, Papers of Éleuthère Mascart, 1877-1910
Box 1
Folder 1
Penciled scientific notes, cover page says "L. Kelvin" (Mascart's Handwriting?) Photocopies, No date
Correspondence to Mascart from Lord Kelvin (Photocopies), 1877-1908
Box 1
Folder 2
3 pp. ALS, 4/18/1877
Box 1
Folder 2
2 pp. ALS, 5/28/1880
Box 1
Folder 2
2 pp. Hand other than Kelvin, signed by Kelvin, 2/4/1882
Box 1
Folder 2
4 pp. ALS, 4/28/1882
Box 1
Folder 2
2 pp. ALS, 10/24/1883
Box 1
Folder 2
1 p. ALS, 1/11/1884
Box 1
Folder 2
4 pp. ALS, 7/8/1888
Box 1
Folder 2
4 pp. ALS, 6/4/1889
Box 1
Folder 2
2 pp. ALS, 6/23/1889
Box 1
Folder 2
7 pp. ALS, 6/2/1890
Box 1
Folder 2
4 pp. ALS, 4/27/1891
Box 1
Folder 2
4 pp. ALS, 9/16/1891
Box 1
Folder 2
4 pp. Hand other than Kelvin, signed with post-script by Kelvin, 1/14/1892
Box 1
Folder 2
1 p. ALS, 9/28/1893
Box 1
Folder 2
2 pp. ALS, 10/1/1893
Box 1
Folder 2
2 pp. ALS (pencil), 2/2/1895
Box 1
Folder 2
1 p. Hand other than Kelvin, signed by Kelvin; pencilled notes in French on petrographie by Mascart (?), 2/4/1895
Box 1
Folder 2
1 p. ALS, 6/23/1896
Box 1
Folder 2
3 pp. ALS, 4/27/1897
Box 1
Folder 2
8 pp. ALS, 6/10/1900
Box 1
Folder 2
4 pp. ALS, 12/30/1900
Box 1
Folder 2
4 pp. ALS, 1/22/1903
Box 1
Folder 2
1 p TLS, 2/16/1904
Box 1
Folder 2
1 p. TLS, (date sometime between 2/19/1904 and 3/16/1904) 1904
Box 1
Folder 2
1 p. TLS, 3/16/1904
Box 1
Folder 2
3 pp. ALS from Frances A. Kelvin (Lady Kelvin) to Mme. Mascart, 8/16/1907
Box 1
Folder 2
1 p. Hand other than Kelvin to Mme. Mascart, signed by Kelvin, 10/3/1907
Box 1
Folder 2
4 pp. ALS to Mme. Mascart, 10/13/1907
Box 1
Folder 2
3 pp. ALS, 10/28/1907
Box 1
Folder 2
4 pp. ALS from Bottomley to Mme. Mascart, 12/?/1907
Box 1
Folder 2
1 p. Printed appreciation of condolences on the death of Kelvin, 1/1908
Box 1
Folder 2
3 pp. ALS from Bottomley to Mme. Mascart, 1/25/1908
Box 1
Folder 2
4 pp. ALS from S.A. Thompson to Mascart with enclosure: The Kelvin Lecture, The Life and Work of Lord Kelvin, by S. A. Thompson, signed by the author, 6/26/1908
Box 1
Folder 3
Offprints, Mascart, Lord Kelvin, and P. Janet, 1894-1910
Box 1
Folder 3
Mascart, E., Electricite Moderne, 17 pp. 1894
Box 1
Folder 3
Kelvin, Lord, Nineteenth Century Clouds Over the Dynamical Theory of Heat and Light, 1900
Box 1
Folder 3
Medaille Offerte a M. Mascart, 1902
Box 1
Folder 3
Janet, P., La Vie et les Oeuvres de E. Mascart, 1910
Box 1
Folder 4
List of Mascart's Honors, No date
Series II, Papers of Marcel Brillouin, 1887-1943
Letters to Marcel Brillouin, 1887-1939
Box 1
Folder 5
3 pp. ALS A. E. H. Love, 8/2/1887
Box 1
Folder 5
4 pp. ALS A. B. Basset, 5/6/1888
Box 1
Folder 5
2 pp. Hand other than Kelvin, signed by Kelvin, 8/17/1904
Box 1
Folder 5
1 p. ALS Max Planck (in German with notes in French re Lachan written on back), 12/13/1905
Box 1
Folder 5
p.c. ALS Max Planck, 12/18/1905
Box 1
Folder 5
4 pp. ALS Léon Brillouin (photocopy), 12/31/1912
Box 1
Folder 5
4 pp. ALS Léon Brillouin (photocopy), 1/20/1913
Box 1
Folder 5
4 pp. ALS Léon Brillouin (photocopy), 2/22/1913
Box 1
Folder 5
7 pp. ALS Léon Brillouin (photocopy), 3/13/1913
Box 1
Folder 5
3 pp. ALS H. Fischer and A. Sommerfeld, 12/18/1913
Box 1
Folder 5
4 pp. ALS Léon Brillouin, n.d.
Box 1
Folder 5
1 p. ALS R. Wavre, 3/12/1939
Box 1
Folder 6
Correspondence between M. Brillouin, J. Perrin and H. A. Lorentz regarding Langevin-Curie Affair, 1911
Box 1
Folder 7
Scientific Notebook, 1918
Box 1
Folders 8-10
Three Bound volumes of handwritten lecture notes. Spine label, "Brillouin - Marees - Red. Coulomb, 1929, 1930, 1931
Box 2
Marcel Brillouin, Scientific Notebooks, 1926-1934
Box 3
Marcel Brillouin, Notebooks, 1935-1943
Box 4
Folders 1-9
Marcel Brillouin, Notebooks, undated
Materials relating to Marcel Brillouin
Box 5
Folder 1
Three tide charts, n.d.
Box 5
Folder 2
Marcel Brillouin, pencilled writings in French, 12/1937, on blank reverse sides of printed pages (probably proof sheets from Comptes Rendus des Seances de l'Academie des Sciences). 1937
Box 5
Folder 3
Mathematical calculations written on envelope 1943
Box 5
Folder 4
Scientific notes, 5/20/1913 (postmark) pencilled on back of envelope addressed to Marcel Brillouin. 1913
Box 5
Folder 5
Notes and calculations about papers by Love, Zenneck, and Whittaker. Also two papers of Marcel Brillouin reprinted from Comptes Rendus, annotated. 1908
Box 5
Folder 6
Notes titled "Barriere circum Atlantique" n.d.
Box 5
Folder 7
Notes on reverse side of proof sheets from Annales de Physique, 21 pp. n.d.
Box 5
Folder 8
Scientific notes, 2 pp. n.d.
Box 5
Folder 9
Bibliographies of Marcel Brillouin's scientific writings, 4 vols. ca. 1904-1930
Reprints of Marcel Brillouin's papers
Box 5
Folder 10
Fonctions spheriques multipolaires non antipode. Recurrences. Comptes Rendus, t. 195, p. 1185 1932
Box 5
Folder 10
Oscillations d'un liquide pesant dans bassin cylindriques en rotation. Gauthier-Villars, Paris 1933
Box 5
Folder 10
Fonctions spheriques. Formules generales de recurrences. Developpement des fonctions non antipodes en senries de polynomes de Legendre et de Laplace. Compes Rendus, t. 196, p. 184 1933
Box 5
Folder 10
Equations aux derivees partielles du 2e ordre. Domaines a connexion multiple. Fonctions spheriques non antipode. Annales de l'Institut Poincare, pp. 173-206 1936(?)
Box 5
Folder 10
Qu'apprendon de l'interieur du globe par les mesures failtes a sa surface? Pesanteur. Magnetisme. Annales de l'Institut Poincare, t. 8, p. 11 1938
Box 5
Folder 12
"30 ans d'Enseignement au College de France, 1900-1931" 1931
Box 5
Folder 13
Jubile scientifique de M. Marcel Brillouin; allocutions prononcees a la ceremonie du 17 Decembre 1935, Gauthier-Villars, Paris 1936
Box 5
Folder 14
Liste et ordre des allocutions, typescript, 1 p. n.d.
Box 5
Folder 14
Allocution pour H. Abraham. Holograph draft signed M.B., 9 pp. ; final typescript, carbon copy, 4 pp. n.d.
Box 5
Folder 14
Comite a la memoire des savants francais victimes de la bararie allemande, Paris n.d.
Box 5
Folder 14
Henri Villat, "Notice necrologique sur M. Marcel Brillouin." Comptes Rendus, t. 226, p. 130 1948
Reprints By Others, 1879-1944
Box 6
Courtier, M. A. (8 items)
Box 6
Doodson, A. T. (5 items)
Box 6
Fichot, E. (1 item)
Box 6
Floquet, Gaston (Thesis) (1 item)
Box 6
Giraud, G. (2 items attached, letter enclosed)
Box 6
Humbert, Pierre (Several items attached, holograph notes)
Box 6
Hylleraas, E. A. (1 item)
Box 6
Perthes, J. (1 item)
Box 6
Proudman, J. A. (4 items)
Box 6
Thysse, M. J. Th. (1 item, 2 letters enclosed)
Box 6
Wavre, R. (5 items)
Box 6
Zuiderzee, published report, 1926
Series III, Papers of Léon Brillouin
Correspondence, A-B (to L. Brillouin), 1943-1968
Box 7
Folder 1
Alger, P. L. to Richardson (copy to Brillouin), 1943
Box 7
Folder 1
Alsina, F., 1968
Box 7
Folder 1
American Ethical Union, 1967
Box 7
Folder 1
Baranger, P., 1960
Box 7
Folder 1
Blachman, N. M., 1956
Box 7
Folder 1
Bloch, F., 1945, 1951
Box 7
Folder 1
Bohr, N., 1951-1959
Box 7
Folder 1
Born, M., 1959 (2), 1960 (2), 1962
Box 7
Folder 1
Bridgman, P. W., 1942, 1959
Box 7
Folder 1
Brillouin, J., 1963 (3)
Box 7
Folder 1
de Broglie, L, 199-59
Box 7
Folder 1
Brouwer, D., 1959
Box 7
Folder 1
Briiche, I. E., 1959
Box 7
Folder 2
Correspondence/Cecchi (with reprint of thesis), 1965
Correspondence, Ch-F
Box 7
Folder 3
Choynowski, M. (2), 1960
Box 7
Folder 3
Courtuies, H., 1945
Box 7
Folder 3
Cramer, H. (4), 1959
Box 7
Folder 3
Crane, H. R., 1968
Box 7
Folder 3
Dockx, S., 1965
Box 7
Folder 3
Doodson, A. T., 1948
Box 7
Folder 3
Dubois, Ph., 1956
Box 7
Folder 3
Elsasser, Walter M. (4), 1956-1965
Box 7
Folder 3
Errera, J. (2), 1964-1965
Box 7
Folder 3
Ewald, P. P. (2), 1941, 1964
Box 7
Folder 3
Fierz, N., 1959
Box 7
Folder 3
Fokker, A. D. (2), 1966
Correspondence, Ga-Kr
Box 7
Folder 4
Gabor, D. (3), 1956-1959
Box 7
Folder 4
Girard, A., 1965
Box 7
Folder 4
Goldstein, G. D., 1966
Box 7
Folder 4
Greig, J. (2), 1959
Box 7
Folder 4
Grigorian, A. (2), 1962-1965
Box 7
Folder 4
Hirschfelder, J. (2), 1959-1960
Box 7
Folder 4
Hsu, H. (With two reprints), 1967
Box 7
Folder 4
Infeld, L., 1966
Box 7
Folder 4
Janet, M. (3) w/manuscript by R. Thom, 1964-1965
Box 7
Folder 4
Kastler, A., 1964
Box 7
Folder 4
Kihlberg, A., 1964
Box 7
Folder 4
Kirk, G., 1964
Box 7
Folder 4
Kowarski, L., 1961
Box 7
Folder 4
von Krbek, F. (MSS attached), 1933
Correspondence, L-R, 1943-1968
Box 7
Folder 5
Lamb, W. E. (2), 1961
Box 7
Folder 5
Loiseau, J. (MSS attached), 1964
Box 7
Folder 5
Lowdin, P., 1960
Box 7
Folder 5
Lucas, R. (6), 1960-1968
Box 7
Folder 5
Manneback, C. (6), 1965-1968
Box 7
Folder 5
Morot-sir, E., 1964
Box 7
Folder 5
Parodi, M. (2), 1948-1959
Box 7
Folder 5
Pauli, W., 1943
Box 7
Folder 5
Proudmann, J., 1948
Box 7
Folder 5
Redfield, A.C., 1948
Box 7
Folder 5
Riess, K., 1953
Correspondence, S., 1942-1968
Box 7
Folder 6
Schawlow, A. L., 1968
Box 7
Folder 6
Schrodinger, E. (10), 1942-1959
Box 7
Folder 6
Seeger, R. J. (4), 1957
Box 7
Folder 6
Segre, E., 1964
Box 7
Folder 6
Societe Francaise des Electroniciens et des Radioelectriciens, 1963
Box 7
Folder 6
Suworoff, N. P. (in Russian with French translation and two reprints attached), 1965
Box 7
Folder 6
Szent-Gyorgyi, A., 1962
Box 7
Folder 6
Szilard, L., 1961
Correspondence, U-Y, 1954-1968
Box 7
Folder 7
Ulam, S. M., 1964
Box 7
Folder 7
Vaga, T. (With MSS attached), 1969
Box 7
Folder 7
Van der Pol, B., 1954
Box 7
Folder 7
Vantroys, L., 1956
Box 7
Folder 7
Van Vleck, J. H., 1964
Box 7
Folder 7
Vogel, T., 1966
Box 7
Folder 7
Wigner, E. P., 1964
Box 7
Folder 7
Wilson, J. A. (With two MSS attached), 1968
Box 7
Folder 7
Yvon, J. to Lucas, R. (copy to Brillouin), 1966
Box 7
Folder 8
Student notebook of lectures by Langevin., ca. 1911
Box 7
Folder 9
Biographical materials
Box 7
Folder 10
Correspondence with Thomas Kuhn regarding the project on the Sources for the History of Quantum Physics. (4 items), 1961-1962
Box 7
Folder 10
Correspondence with James King regarding project on the History fo Recent Physics in the United States. (4 items), 1962
Box 7
Folder 11
List of addresses
Box 7
Folder 12
Biography of Léon Brillouin by D. W. Harding
Box 7
Folder 13
Notebook, Annuaire du College de France; a bibliography of Brillouin writings from 1932 with brief biographical notations. Attached are two copies of "Titres et Travaux Scientifiques,: biographical and bibliographical information, 1921-1931
Box 7
Folder 14
Awards to Léon Brillouin, 1940s and 1950s
Box 8
Folder 1
Manuscript Biography of Marcel Brillouin, 1968
Box 8
Folder 2
Souvenirs sur Henri Abraham (carbon copy), 3 pp., 1968
Box 8
Folder 2
Letter from A. Kastler to Brillouin inviting him to write "Souvenirs.", 1967
Box 8
Folder 2
Souvenirs sur Paul Langevin. Holograph draft addressed to Andre Langevin, 8 pp., 1968
Box 8
Folder 3
Manuscripts, notes and correspondence, including a discussion between Brillouin and Léon Rosenfeld on "Revue de Metaphysique et de Morale", 1956-1962
Box 8
Folder 3
Solitaire ou Embrigade, typescript, 13 pp. In La Nouvelle Nouvelle Revue Francaise. 1956
Box 8
Folder 3
Science et Imagination, carbon copy of transcript, 12 pp. 1961
Box 8
Folder 3
Transformations et Atavars de la Notion de la Champ, typescript, corrected, 7 pp. (International Academy for Philosophy of Sciences, Paris), 1961
Box 8
Folder 3
Revue de Metaphysique et Morale, 1962
Box 8
Folder 3
Letter from Brillouin to L. Rosenfeld, 2 carbon copies, annotated, 2 pp. 1961
Box 8
Folder 3
Academie Internationale de Philosophie des Science, report by L. Brillouin, (discussion between Brillouin and Rosenfeld), typescript, 5 pp. (With two sheets of holograph notes attached.)
Box 8
Folder 3
The Crepuscule of Science, letter to the editor of Nature. (Carbon copy of typescript), 1 p., 1962
Manuscripts and Notes
Box 8
Folder 4
La Fleche du Temps, annotated, 20 pp., 1964
Box 8
Folder 4
The Arrow of Time, copy, 19 pp., 1964
Box 8
Folder 4
Reprint by Rene Sudre "Revue Scientifique: La Droite et la Gauche.", 1966
Box 8
Folder 5
"La Limite de Validite des Theories Physiques," typescript, 28 pp., 1966
Box 8
Folder 5
Typed extracts from Dialogues Philosophiques, by E. Renan and holograph notes., no date
Box 8
Folder 6
"General Relativity Theory of Gravitation and Experiments."(draft typescript and, in part, holograph), 10 pp., 1965
Box 8
Folder 6
Annotated reprint "La Relation Masse-Energie en Gravitation," by Brillouin and R. Lucas, with notes, 1966
Box 8
Folder 7
"Deplacement Cosmique vers le Rouge et Radiation Thermique Interstellaire," Draft typescript, 3 pp., with notes, 1967
Box 8
Folder 8
Qu'Entend-on par Systeme de Reference en Mecanique? Discussions de Graves Hypotheses sous-entendues. Typescript, xerox copy, 20 pp. Includes correspondence and published version. 1968
Box 8
Folder 9
"Birth and Growth of the Brillouin Scattering." presented at the International conference on Light-Scattering in Solids, 1968, NYU Typescript, 3 pp. (mimeograph). Includes correspondence and Brillouin's first paper, "Diffusion de la Lumiere par un Corps Transparent Homogene (Comptes Rendus, May 1914); "Brillouin Scattering," typescript dated 2/1/1965, 4 pp. and Miscellaneous material relating to the conference.
Box 8
Folder 10
Preface to Japanese Translation of Science and Information Theory. Typescript, carbon copy, 2 pp. first edition, 1956 or second edition, 1961.
of Science and Information Theoryfirst edition, 1956 or second edition, 1961
Box 8
Folder 11
Faut-il Veritablement Incurver l'Univers? Draft, in part typescript, in part holograph 6 pp. Faut-il Courber l'Univers? Holograph draft, 3 pp. and notes, 1965-1966
Box 8
Folder 12
"The Problem of Ocean Tides," typescript, carbon copy, 3 pp., n.d., correspondence, notes and typescripts relating to tides; issue of European Scientific Notes, Oct., 1948.
Box 8
Folder 13
"La Liberte et L'Observation dans les Science Experimentales; Reflexions d'un Physicien," typescript, 14 pp., n.d.
Box 8
Folder 14
"Imagination et Information Scientifiques," holograph draft, 6 pp. with notes, n.d.
Box 8
Folder 15
Quantum theory notes., n.d.
Box 8
Folder 16
Information Theory and Knowledge., n.d.
Box 8
Folder 17
Particle physics (includes glass slides) 1960
Box 8
Folder 18
Perihelion Precession of Mercury (General Relativity), 1966
Box 8
Folder 19
Bohr theory of the atom (electromagnetic charge interaction), n.d.
Box 8
Folder 20
The nature of scientific thought, 1962
Box 8
Folder 21
"Poincare - Notes" Includes holograph notes, reprints, typescripts extracted from works about Poincare and astronomy.
Box 8
Folder 22
Notebook on special relativity, 1966
Box 8
Folder 23
Notes labeled "Schwarzschild solution rediscussed", n.d.
Box 8
Folder 24
Outlines of lectures on applied mathematical physics, 1943-1949
Box 8
Folder 25
Reviews of Léon Brillouin's book,"Vie, matiere et observation", 1959-1960
Box 8
Folder 26
Science and Information theory, 1st ed., 1956. Reviews and correspondence, 1956
Box 8
Folder 27
La Science et la Theorie de l'information, 1956-
Box 8
Folder 28
Scientific uncertainty and information, Reviews and correspondence, 1964
Box 8
Folder 29
Letters and reprints relating to Slavic translations of Brillouin's Science and Theory of Information by H. H. Harkevitch, 1960
Box 8
Folder 30
Reviews of Brillouin's books, 1958-1962
Box 9
Reprints by Brillouin, some annotated, some with notes, 1921-1967
Reprints and Correspondence relating to John Carstoiu and Demetrios G. Magiros, 1960s
Box 10
Folder 1
Carstoiu Papers and Correspondence, 1967-1968
Box 10
Folder 2
Correspondence regarding Magiros paper controversy, 1968
Box 10
Folder 3
Magiros typescripts, 1960s
Box 10
Folder 4
Magiros reprints, 1960s
Reprints by others grouped by subject
Box 11
Folder 1
Reprints on General Relativity, 1958-1967
Box 11
Folder 2
Reprints on Gravitational Radiation, 1966-1969
Box 11
Folder 3
Reprints on Particle Physics, 1956-1958
Box 11
Folder 4
Reprints on Atomic Clocks, 1966-1968
Box 11
Folder 5
Reprints on Quantum theory, 1966-1968
Box 12
Reprints by others, A - F, 1923-1967
Box 13
Reprints by others, G - S, 1943-1968
Box 14
Reprints by others, Sp-W, 1944-1968
Series IV, Additions to Papers of Léon Brillouin, 1953-1972
Box 15
Folder 1
McGraw-Hill Publishers, 1945
Box 15
Folder 2
Notes on E. J. Post's Sagnac Effect, 1967
Box 15
Folder 3
Notes and Reprints on Gravitation, 1960s
Box 15
Folder 4
Articles on Gravitation, 1968-1969
Box 15
Folder 5
Reprints on Relativity, 1960s
Box 15
Folder 6
Manuscripts and Notes on "Il faut repenser la Relativite", 1968
Box 15
Folder 7
Manuscript, "Reexamination of Relativity", 1969
Box 15
Folder 8
Manuscript and Notes, "Some Problems about Restricted Relativity", 1968
Box 15
Folder 9
Manuscript and Notes, "Quantum Theory vs. Relativity", 1968
Box 15
Folder 10
Examples and Discussion, "Doppler Effect", 1968
Box 15
Folder 11
Manuscript and Notes on Relativity, 1969
Box 15
Folder 12
Manuscript and Notes, "Gravitation and Relativity", 1968
Box 15
Folder 13
Manuscript, "Relativity Reexamined", 1966-1967
Box 15
Folder 14
Manuscript and Notes "Relativity Reexamined", 1969
Box 15
Folder 15
Manuscript, "A Gravistatic Problem with Spherical Symmetry", 1968
Box 15
Folder 16
Manuscripts on Relativity, 1969
Box 15
Folder 17
Manuscripts on Relativity, 1969
Box 15
Folder 18
Annotated volume, "Wave Propagation in Periodic Structures", no date
Box 15
Folder 19
Annotated volume, "Science and Information Theory", 1960
Box 16
Folder 1
Photographs (Brillouin family, friends, and colleagues)
Box 16
Folder 2
Correspondence, 1959-1969
Box 16
Folder 3
Correspondence, 1968-1969
Box 16
Folder 4
Correspondence on Arthur Holly Compton, 1969
Box 16
Folder 5
Correspondence with R. Lucas re Mannheimer, 1966-1969
Box 16
Folder 6
Correspondence on artwork, 1953-1955
Box 16
Folder 7
Artwork - Modigliani, 1959
Box 16
Folder 8
Reprints about Paul Langevin by Andre Langevin, Luce Langevin, B. Kouznetzov, 1966, 1971, 1972
Box 16
Folder 9
Items from Scrapbook kept by Mrs. Brillouin
Box 16
Folder 10
A. Kastler "La vie et l'oeuvre de Léon Brillouin" 1970
Box 16
Folder 11
Autobiography "Revue D'une Carriere Scientifique" (2 copies), 1966
Box 17
Folder 1
Léon Brillouin's death, 1969
Box 17
Folder 2
Letters of condolence, 1969
Box 17
Folder 3
Post-mortem letters to Brillouin, 1969-1972
Box 17
Folder 4
Post-mortem correspondence, 1969-1973
Box 17
Folder 5
Correspondence regarding royalties, 1975-1982
Box 17
Folder 6
Family death certificates
Box 17
Folder 7
Personal items, appraisals, estate returns and agreements
Box 17
Folder 8
Passports and miscellaneous items